Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), in collaboration with Parliamentary Training Institute (PTI) and Parliamentary News Africa (PNAfrica), has held a day’s intensive capacity building training programme for 30 journalists from selected media houses across the country.
The programme, according to the organisers, forms part of a year-long media capacity building aimed at equipping journalists who report on parliamentary issues to effectively disseminate accurate and timely information to the public.
The training also afforded participants to understand the importance and role of MoPA in the scheme of running effective and efficient democratic governance as a good number of Ghanaian populace do confuse the role of MoPA with that of Parliament and parliamentary service.
Executive Director for PNAfrica, Mr Sammy Obeng, told participants that the training programme was not a one-off thing as most capacity building trainings tend to do.
“Today’s training is just for the introductory stage, this is being done to lay the foundation and also understand the mandate of MoPA and how it connects with other agencies to encourage citizens’ participation in the country’s democratic governance.
…We believe by the end of the year-long training, your capacities would be built and solidify to properly understand parliamentary proceedings, appreciating all technicalities in parliamentary information dissemination, to help navigate the thin line between media freedom and breach of parliamentary privileges as well as make parliamentary reporting relevant to Ghanaians in promoting citizens participation in governance,” he said.
In an address, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, explained that as a ministry they deal with matters affecting Parliament and further serve as a bridge between Parliament, the executive and the citizenry.
According to him, MoPA will need the support of the media to educate and inform the populace on their core mandate.
“It is for these reasons that I must commend PTI and the Public Affairs Department of Parliament, the young and energetic men of PNAfrica and the MoPA for this collaboration to train journalists.”
“We have identified our commonalities and pooled our resources to enhance and deepen the role of Parliament in the country.
Story: Franklin Asare-Donkoh