"The media must be given special attention in such a time" - UPP National Chairman

The National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Kenneth Nana Kwame Asamoah has asserted that media personalities in Ghanaian must be given preferential attention by the government in the fight against coronavirus to boost their reportaging effort to the public.

According to him, the media seems to have been disregarded during the provision of incentive to frontline workers in such a challenging time yet their service to the nation cannot go unnoticed judging from their daily coverage from different locations to get Ghanaians informed.

“The media must be given special attention in such a time. Aside doctors and nurses, the next in line is the Ghanaian media. Failure for them to get the country informed makes the government work very tough. The country cannot do without the media especially in such a challenging time," he said.

"You (media) are one of the frontline workers the government should have included in providing essentialities just like the doctors and nurses. The communication bill for the next three months should have been made free as a reward to the service the media is providing,” he said.

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UPP on Friday, April 24, 2020 gave out over 500 bags of Tiger brand rice to the media in the capital of the Ashanti Region, Kumasi at Sports Hotel, Asokwa. The donation according to Nana Kwame Asamoah is the corporate responsibility of political party to support government to help fight the COVID-19 in the country. 

He disclosed that the party executives undertook a similar approach by giving out 5kg bags of rice in the Greater Accra Region during the three-week lockdown to media personalities and needed to do same at Greater Kumasi to support the fight.

“We have already given out bags of rice to the media in the Greater Accra and our next stop was the Greater Kumasi during the three week lockdown. Unfortunately, the ban was lifted and that does not annul our purposes of reaching out to our fellows in Kumasi.

“I am purposely here in the name of UPP executives to give out rice to support the work of the media,” he added.

He urged the various reporters to keep up the good work and further advised Ghanaians to observe the social distancing instructions, application of alcohol-based sanitizers and the wearing of facemasks.

“If anyone has nothing serious to do in town, there is no need to pay a visit, stay at home. Even though the lock down has been lifted, yet coronavirus is still in effect. My appeal to Ghanaians is to stay safe by adhering to the preventive measures and treat them serious enough,” he said.