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The first rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei, has stressed the need for Ghanaians to preserve the integrity and independence of vital governance institutions, and warned that failure to do so can destabilise the country.

Delivering the second commemorative lecture to mark the 80th anniversary of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in Accra last Friday, Prof. Adei said current perceptions about the integrity of the Electoral Commission (EC) “constitutes the greatest threat to national stability.”

Therefore, he said, there was the need to maintain the independence and neutrality of the EC, and charged the GBC to use its position as a public service broadcaster to lead the debate in preserving the integrity and independence of governance institutions.

The lecture, which had the topic: “GBC at 80: The Relevance of Public Service Broadcasting”, also touched on the need for a national government and the need to improve funding for GBC.

Prof. Adei, who received a standing ovation at the end of the one-and-half hour lecture, said it was crucial to insulate the security services, especially the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) from undue political influence.

Again, he said, the country must maintain an independent judiciary and exercise “utmost circumspection” in the appointment of Supreme Court judges.

Implement CRC recommendations

Prof. Adei charged the government to urgently implement the original recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).

For instance, he said, the proposals for a National Long Term Perspective Plan, an Independent National Development Planning Commission, the election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives and the review of the term of the presidency were supposed to be implemented. 

Prof. Adei argued that the Mills’s administration’s White Paper on the CRC recommendations was wrong and not good for Ghana.

“Prof. E.V.O Dankwah’s so-called Implementation Review Committee is equally bad. How dare anybody suggest that a committee can do a better job compared with the work of one of the best commissions in Ghana’s history, which actually gathered the will of Ghanaians,” he said.

National government

Prof. Adei, who is a recipient of the Companion of the Order of the Volta, suggested the need for Ghana to have a national government in which all citizens, irrespective of their ethnic or political affiliations, had the chance to serve in government and public institutions.

He said the constitution made it possible to form a government which reflected the national character of Ghana, and indicated that a national government could be formed by a statesman leader without any need for constitutional change.

Prof. Adei said the situation where competent people from other ethnic groups or political persuasions were excluded from appointments to government and public institutions was inappropriate.

“We cannot have a situation whereby at any time a large segment of the country’s high level human resources are excluded from the governance of the country.  Worst still whole regions are made to feel they do not matter by being denied appropriate representation in government and at the cabinet level while others at the President or ruling party’s “IMF” or World Bank” are over represented.

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)

Prof. Adei, who is a former board chairman of the GBC, said despite the scores of commercial and private media houses, the country still needed an independent PSB.

He said there was a way that PSB brought value addition that other private media houses did not replicate when it came to national interest.

He charged GBC to continually adapt and improve its technology, sharpen its public centred programming and consciously reach out to the diverse Ghanaian publics.

On funding of GBC, Prof. Adei proposed a one-time tax of about GH¢20 per a television or radio set sold or at the point of clearing at the ports.

Besides, he said, there should be a mechanism that did not subject GBC’s grant to the whims of the government.

He again proposed the placing of PSB levy on the electricity bill of all consumers above a minimum threshold that excluded the poor.

GBC Board Chairman

The Board Chairman of the GBC, Mr Richard Kwame Asante, urged the public to embrace the expected increase in the licence fee to support the operations of the GBC.

He gave an assurance that GBC would continue to play its role as a standard bearer in broadcasting by providing high quality programmes for the public.