Kabral Blay-Amihere is the new Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), a position he will hold for the next two years. He could be re-elected for the same duration at the end of the first tenure, according to the statute setting up the media regulatory body.
He takes over from Paul Adu-Gyamfi, former President of the Ghana Bar Association after overshadowing Rev. Fred Deegbe of the Christian Council of Ghana. The former Ghanaian envoy to both Sierra Leone and La Cote d�Ivoire, Kabral, as he is fondly known among his colleagues in the inky fraternity, has a checkered print journalism history.
His active media history witnessed an intense struggle among others frontline journalists for the preservation of democracy in the country. Expectedly, he had his share of the tribulations which went with the enterprise in those days.
In one of his escapades with the Ghanaian junta, he was arrested and detained over an editorial. Soldiers intercepted him while he was traveling in his car in Accra. He was released the following day and compelled to publish a statement prepared by the military in The Independent, in which he apologized for his irresponsible take on the 31 December military parade.
George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the Commission confirmed the appointment when Daily Guide contacted him yesterday. He said the election was done by the membership of the Commission yesterday, in line with its convention. As former President of the Ghana Journalists� Association (GJA) he took the association to new heights.
He recently presented a scary prognosis about Ghana�s oil discovery when he warned it could fuel corruption to disturbing levels.�With oil, you are bound to have demand for corruption, somebody will be ready to kill�, he warned at a workshop held to disseminate findings of a study on Corruption Issues.
The expectations of media practitioners will be high given the professional pedigree of the man who will now chair the NMC.A cross-section of media practitioners could not hide their excitement when they heard the news.
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