By Edmund Mingle
 |
| Chief Justice Georgina T. Wood |
The Chief Justice, Justice Mrs.
Georgina Theodora Wood, has called for high level of integrity at all levels of
the Ghanaian society to deal with the nation’s development challenges.
Citing corruption as a major menace
which has to be tackled, she said there was an urgent need for men of integrity
to deal with the challenges.
“Ghana needs men of integrity, able,
visionary and decent leaders urgently,” she said, and bemoaned the increasing
politicization of corruption in the country.
Addressing the 18th annual
Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards ceremony at the Banquet Hall in
Accra on Saturday night, the Chief Justice, who was the guest speaker, said it
was regrettable that “greed, corruption, abuse of office, nepotism have become
the bane of Ghana.”
The awards had the theme, “Promoting
healthy and fruitful Partnership in governance: the role of the media.”
The situation, she noted had been
worsened by the blame game by the political parties over corruption issues.
According to her, the situation had
been worsened by the blame game by the political parties over corruption
issues.
Describing the situation as dangerous
to the nation’s democratic and economic growth, the Chief Justice, indicated
that tendency undermines the country’s ability to deal with effectively the
corruption menace.
“Unhealthy politicization of corruption only
breeds equalization,” which she said does not help in nation building.
Touching on the performance of the
media, Justice Wood commended the media for its contribution to the sustenance
of Ghana’s democracy and good governance, but noted that there was more room
for improvement.
She particularly lauded the role the
media play in the coverage of the 2012 presidential election petition, and
noted that although there were a few violations of the rules of court by
journalists, the performance was generally good.
The Chief Justice also criticized the
media for allowing its platform to be use by people to attack the Justices
after the ruling on the petition, describing the attacks as unwarranted and
should have been prevented, especially where there are avenues to channel
grievances against Judges for redress.
“This is very dangerous and does not
promote national cohesion,” she stressed.
She lauded the theme for the event,
saying she was glad that the media recognized the need for quality partnership
with other arms of government and sections of society.
Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, United Nations Resident Coordinator, who chaired the
event, lauded the contribution of the media towards socio-economic progress,
saying the UN appreciates the work of journalists and would continue to promote
interventions to protect their welfare.
“A strong media
equals a strong democracy,” he said.
Mahama Ayariga,
Minister of Information and Media Relations, for his part, congratulated the
nominees and promised the media of a stronger partnership with government to
help in addressing the societal challenges.
He said the
government appreciates and recognizes the critical role of the media as reliable
development partners, and called for more development oriented journalism.
“It is critical that
the media focuses more on developmental issues and reduce the attention of
politics,” he said, adding that there was a need for less partisanship in
national discourse.
Kabral Blay-Amihere,
Chairman of the National Media Commission, also lauded the theme and the desire
for increased partnership in governance.
He, however, warned
that the quest for partnership should not result in the media losing its focus
from its core mandate of playing a watch-dog role.
Dr. Roland Affail Monney, President of
the GJA, in his welcome address, reiterated the call for the passage of the Freedom
of Information Bill and the Broadcasting Bill, to improve access to information
and effectively regulate the broadcast industry, respectively.
“The GJA considers the passage of the
broadcasting law as crucial to promoting greater professionalism and decency on
our airwaves.
“We cannot afford to leave the
development of an influential medium as broadcasting, to chance,” he said.
END
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