Northern Region GJA launches awards

The Northern Regional Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has launched its maiden awards to honour journalists and media practitioners in the region for their contribution towards promoting peace and development in the area.

The awards which was on the theme “Promoting Peace in Northern Ghana: the Role of the Media” formed part of activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the association and also sought to encourage journalists in the region to continue to produce excellent articles that will promote peace and development of the region.

Slated for August 31, the awards would see journalists competing for eight categories including, Health, Sanitation and Environment, Rural and Agriculture, peacebuilding, crime and court, Gender and Child Rights, Young Promising Female Journalist and Overall best journalist.

Some individuals would also be given meritorious awards for their selfless service and leadership in promoting peace in the region.

Abide by the ethics

Speaking at the launch in Tamale last Friday, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Saeed who was the guest of honour admonished journalists to always abide by the ethics of the profession to promote the sustenance of peace in the region.

He commended journalists in the region for their enormous contribution to the restoration of peace in conflicts areas in the region, particularly in Dagbon and Bunkpurugu.

“Journalists in the region have done very well in reporting issues particularly chieftaincy conflicts, they contributed a lot to the realization of the current peace enjoyed in Dagbon and Bunkpurugu” he said

Mr. Saeed lauded the GJA for the initiative and pledged his support for the awards to make it a success.

Work hard

The General Secretary of GJA, Mr. Edmund Kofi Yeboah urged members of the association not be driven by the awards but focus on working hard to impact lives in the society, stating that “take into consideration the need for peace and work hard with professionalism”

As the fourth arm of the government, he said it was incumbent on journalists to keep check of the government and other public institutions to ensure that the interest of the citizenry was always served.

Addressing needs of journalists

On his part, the Vice Chairman of the Northern Region Chapter of GJA, Mr. Yakubu Abdul-Majeed said in spite of the enormous contribution of journalists in the region towards the development of the area, they were faced with numerous challenges ranging from lack of resources to poor remunerations.

“Offices of some of the media practitioners in the region are in a dilapidated state, in fact some of the chairs and tables used in the offices are even older than the journalists in those offices, some don't even have offices at all, hence the general public find it very difficult to locate them” he stated.

He, therefore, appealed to the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), various organizations and institutions to extend a helping to hand to ameliorate the plight of journalists as “we are recognized as partners in development”.