MTN Ghana has initiated the Bright Conversations series to host and celebrate distinguished personalities whose ideas, thoughts and services have helped influenced our society positively.
The first of the MTN Bright Conversations series hosted Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, the immediate past chairperson of the National Media Commission under the theme Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng @ 70; Reflections on the media as a lived experience’.
Speaking on a wide range of issues, the former NMC Chairperson shared a lot of his life’s experiences and said the time had come for Ghana to have a holistic discussion
on what the media space, especially broadcasting, needed to do.
The MTN Bright Conversations Series was chaired by Prof. Kwame Karikari; a communications professor.
“The time has come to conduct a major comprehensive national conversation and to take a look at how best we can resource the NMC and make the constitutional
provisions of media freedom and independence work for us,“ Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng said.
“Our journalists must be a bit more adventurous, they must be a bit more curious to think outside the box. Look for new angles and these are the things that I think
can happen now but are not happening,” the Former NMC Chair stated.
One of the shocking revelations he made about the challenges of being Editor is captured below.
“I was an editor for about six hours. I went to work in the morning and
by noon, I was fired,” he said.
He continued that, “The state owned media for me is a vitally important part of the
media mix. We need it because that is what belongs to all of us”
On the use of Technology by older people he said”Technology is creating
communities and these communities are supposed to be inclusionary, but if you are not within it, then at some point you find yourself left out. My advice to the people of my age is they should keep up with technology’’.
Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng is a consultant in media, culture and communication. He is the immediate past Chairman of the National Media Commission of Ghana. He is also the immediate past President of the African Communication Regulators Network and the former President of the Ghana Association of Writers.
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A renowned stateswoman and the Executive Director of the Salt and Light Ministries, Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee took her turn for the Bright Conversations series on the 16th of
June 2021 at MTN house. The conversation was under the theme Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee shares her life in Public Service: Defines parameters.
Sharing her experience and views on the current state of affairs, Mad. Joyce Aryee encouraged citizens to engage their leaders at different levels and provide suggestions on how things can be done to improve conditions in the
country.
“Public service is self-explanatory… However, as a people, we have always placed
people at the top on too high a pedestal. You go to a community and the chief is held in such high esteem, plus his officials, and everyone is angling to get the chief to be a friend and I think we have carried that into our political life, without recognising that,
really, the politician is our representative. We have said, through our ballot, that he is
capable of representing us, where the laws are made and where public policy is implemented.”
“We must move away from demanding solely for our rights without accepting to uphold our responsibilities,” she added.
Rev. Dr. Joyce Rosalind Aryee is the Founder and Executive Director of Salt and Light
Ministeries. A Management and Communication Consultant, she serves on the boards of diverse organisations including Newmont Ghana Gold Limited and Newmont Golden Ridge Limited. She has also received many prestigious awards including Ghana’s second highest national award, the Companion of the Order of the Volta in 2006. She was recently conferred a Doctor of Communication Arts degree (Honoris Causa) by Central University (May 2021).
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com