The National Media Commission (NMC) has inaugurated an eight-member Governing Board for the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and urged the members to work with the management to improve the working conditions of staff. The Board is chaired by Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, a veteran journalist and former Editor of the Daily Graphic. It has Mr. Alexander Mawusi Kofi Buadi, an educationist; Nana Sefa Twum, Ms. Ivy Hoetu, a telecom engineer; Mr. Kwasi Adu-Mante, a lawyer; Reverend Helena Opoku Sarkodie, a broadcaster; Mr. Emmanuel Ahene-Affoh, a property management expert and Mr Albert Kofi Owusu, General Manager, GNA, as members. Inaugurating the Board at the head office of the Agency in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, the NMC Chair, said the welfare of workers was important to the Commission. 'We know the constraints under which you are working,' he noted, charging the new Board to work assiduously to address the challenges to better the lots of the staff of the Agency. Mr Ayeboafo assured the Board of the N MC's support to enable it to deliver effectively on its mandate, adding that the Commission was available to give advice when consulted. 'We want to give you our fullest assurance that we will not at any moment attempt to interfere in how you go about discharging your responsibilities,' he said, stressing that the Commission would 'not be a cloak in the wheel of the operations of the Board.' Mr Ayeboafo also appealed to the staff and management of the Agency to support the new Board. Nana Gyan Apenteng, Chair of the new Board, said the GNA stood in a 'very unique' position in the country's media landscape, one which was to feed other media and that the direction of the Agency to become a leader in financial reporting was one that excited the new Board. 'GNA was cast to feed the other media, but now we know that new financial models have emerged and we have to be innovative…it is quite exciting that we have to be part of the new model, ideas that are emerging and I believe that if you look at the caliber o f people we are going to work with, there is every assurance that we can take this forward,' he said. He also expressed the new Board's commitment to building on the successes chalked by previous ones. 'Coming here now, you can see a lot of progress and it is good for the new members that we are inheriting something good on which we can build,' he said. Mr Ransford Tetteh, Chair of the immediate past Board, touted the achievements of the Board, including strengthening the workforce by recruiting new staff, securing a $3 million grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the retooling and refurbishment of the head office as well as selected regional offices. Again, he said, the Board fought for the Agency to retain 33 per cent of its Internally Generated Fund for its operations. Mr Tetteh, however, bemoaned the current condition of state-owned media, describing them as 'a pale shadow of themselves', saying they must be retooled and repositioned to fight truth decay in the country. Mr George Sarp ong, Executive Secretary of the NMC, expressed the Commission's commitment to continue to support the state-owned media to enable them to thrive. Source : Ghana News Agency