….Says nationwide tour was legitimate governance exercise, not influence peddling
Ex-Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, has strongly refuted allegations of inducement surrounding Professor Amin Alhassan’s reappointment as Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
In response to a news report published on Monday, 7 April 2025 of The Herald with the headline “Cash for Contract Controversy Rocks NMC Over Reappointment of GBC Boss”, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh described the claims as disinformation and an attempt to portray a legitimate governance exercise as a fraudulent scheme.
In the report, some GBC workers alleged that inducements were paid to Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh and Deputy Executive Secretary Alexander Nii Katey Bannerman to facilitate Prof Alhassan’s reappointment. Specifically, the report referenced payments for fuel, accommodation, and per diem allowances provided during a nationwide tour of GBC installations between December 2023 and February 2024.
However, in a detailed rebuttal, the NMC Chairman explained that the tour was part of a deliberate and strategic plan to familiarise the Commission with GBC’s operations and interact with staff at various regional offices.
“I proposed the tour at a Commission meeting to give members a first-hand understanding of GBC’s operational challenges,” he stated. “Unfortunately, due to cost and logistical concerns, only the late Obeng Manu was able to join me during part of the tour in the Bono Region.”
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh embarked on the tour across multiple regions including Kintampo, Sunyani, Goaso, Kumasi, Wa, Damongo, Bolgatanga, Gambaga, Tamale, Koforidua, Ho, Amedzofe, Kete Krachi, Bimbilla, Yendi, Sefwi Wiawso, Cape Coast, and Sekondi-Takoradi. He concluded the exercise in Accra with visits to Obonu FM in Tema, Adjankote, and the GBC Broadcasting House.
He indicated that all travel allowances provided were in accordance with GBC’s standard rates for officials and that the visits were transparent and fully documented. “There was nothing opaque or untoward. At each location, I held meetings with staff and reported their concerns at a final durbar in Accra,” he added.
According to Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, the tour directly influenced several governance outcomes, including a new policy allowing regional GBC offices to retain part of their internally generated revenue to address delays that had hampered operations.
Touching on Prof Alhassan’s reappointment, the NMC Chairman said that during the durbar, union leaders praised the Director-General’s performance and advocated for the renewal of his mandate. He also revealed that many staff members had privately endorsed Prof Alhassan, comparing his tenure favourably with that of former GBC head Mr William Ampem Darko.
The NMC’s Finance and Administration Committee subsequently reviewed GBC’s financial performance and audit reports from the Auditor-General, which had been in arrears prior to Prof Alhassan’s appointment. Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh stated that all indicators were positive and supported the case for reappointment.
“The committee unanimously recommended the reappointment, which was duly approved by the Commission and communicated to the Office of the President in line with the law,” he explained.
He further noted that the legal framework—specifically Article 172 of the 1992 Constitution and the National Media Commission Act, 1993 (Act 449)—vests the NMC with the authority to appoint heads of state-owned media in consultation with the President, not the government. “Even in the event of presidential dissent, the Commission’s decision stands,” he affirmed.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh dismissed claims by the GBC Divisional Union Chairman questioning the legitimacy of Prof Alhassan’s reappointment and reiterated that the same procedure was used in appointing managing directors of other state media outlets such as Graphic Communications Group Ltd, New Times Corporation, and the Ghana News Agency.
“Union concerns cannot override the constitutional authority of the NMC,” he emphasised. “We have acted transparently, legally, and in the best interest of public broadcasting.”
Below is what Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh sent to The Herald titled: RE : CASH FOR CONTRACT CONTROVERSY ROCKS NMC OVER REAPPOINTMENT OF GBC BOSS
I write to react to your publication of Monday April 7, 2025 with the headline ” Cash for Contract controversy rocks NMC over reappointment of GBC Boss,
The story makes the claim that the reappointment of Prof Amin Alhassan as Director General was based on inducements of members of the National Media Commission.
The story makes a direct reference to money paid to the Chairman of the NMC YAW BOADU-AYEBOAFOH and the Deputy Executive Secretary, Alexander Nii Katey Bannerman towards a nationwide tour of offices and facilities of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation between December and February, 2024.
As reflected in the story, the payments were for fuel, accommodation and abated per diem. The tour was a well- thought out exercise, to have first hand information about the operations of the corporation and interaction with the staff.
Such acts are critical in functional governance but the story has given it a twist and through disinformation and malinformation, presented it as fraudulent and a means of buying a position.
Indeed, at a meeting of the NMC, I made a proposal for members of the Commission to tour all the installations and offices of the GBC to give us first hand insight into the operations of the corporation.
However, due to the cost and possible inconvenience the other members of the Commission could not join in the tour except the late Obeng Manu who joined me when I got to the Bono Region.
The tour commenced in December immediately after the Christmas. I visited Kintampo, Sunyani and Goaso, which lasted four days.
It was followed with a tour of the facilities in Kumasi. The next stage took me to Wa, Damongo, Bolgatanga, Gambaga and Tamale.
That lasted eight days. The third stage, which also lasted eight days took me to Koforidua, Ho, Amedzofe, Kete Krachi, Bimbilla and Yendi.
I then visited Sefwi Wiawso, Cape Coast and Sekondi-Takoradi before touching base with Accra visiting Obonu in Tema, Adjankote and Broadcasting House ending with a durbar of management and staff of the corporation.
The funds released were the prevailing rates at the GBC for all categories of staff based on rank. I spent close to 30 days between December and February 2024 undertaking the trips.
There was nothing neither opaque nor untoward about the tours since at each of the stations, I held meetings with the staff and took note of their concerns, which I shared at the durbar in Accra to conclude the tours.
Based on some of my findings, I engaged the National Security and National Communications Authority about the encroachments at Adjankote and how they needed to support GBC to protect key national communications installations at the place.
At the level of the corporation, the board has approved a new policy where regions are now required to keep a portion of the revenue they generate and transmit the other portion to Accra instead of the previous situation where they were transferring all revenue to Accra before receiving their allotted portion, which often delayed and affected their operations, about which all the regions made complaints to me and sought my assistance to reverse.
It is imperative to relate the tour of the GBC facilities to some of the programmes we pursued when I served as Chairman of the Commission. First we engaged and visited all the constitutive bodies with representation on the Commission to strengthen the relations between them and the Commission and to motivate them to have keener interest in the affairs of the Commission.
With that done, we resolved to visit private media houses throughout the country.
I personally visited radio stations in the Greater Accra, Ashanti , Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions, whilst other members visited some in the Upper West and Greater Accra regions.
The visits to the GBC offices and installations constituted the third leg of the nationwide familiarisation tours to give the Commission an appreciation of the media scene.
But before the Commission discussed the tour, the union formally requested a meeting with the Commission over some pressing issues. I pleaded with the union to let us hold the meeting at GBC which they generously agreed to.
When we meet, each of the leaders present recounted how Prof Alhassan had improved the place and welfare of staff and thus pleaded that the Commission should renew the appointment when it was due. I thanked them and explained that since I was not an executive chairman, I would convey their message to the Commission, which I dully did.
Thereafter, a number of staff called me privately to advise that the request of the union must be taken seriously since that reflected the position of a large majority of staff.
Some of them said for as long as they could remember, Prof Alhassan had done much to improve the wellbeing of the staff and if they could recollect, it was only Mr William Ampem Darko whose performance could be compared with what Prof Alhassan had achieved.
They noted that he was pursuing a concrete arrangement for the payment of Long Service Awards to retired staff who had occupied official bungalows to the detriment of serving staff.
At the durbar with management and staff to conclude the tour, it became apparent that the Divisional chairman had dissociated himself from the request of the union for the reappointment of Prof Alhassan.
I pointed out that since the union leaders who made the request were present at the durbar, there was no need for the Divisional chairman to make a claim that the union had never made such a request and that he could confer with his colleagues such that they would present a common front and resolve their differences.
In examining the possibility of the renewal of the appointment of the Director General, the Finance and Administration Committee of the Commission requested information from the board of GBC, the financial performance of the corporation before and after Prof Alhassan took office, as was the case with the other three state-owned media, Graphic, Times and GNA.
The committee further examined audit reports from the Auditor General, which had been in arrears for several years until the appointment of Prof Alhassan.
All the indicators were positive. The committee unanimously recommended the reappointment to the main meeting for approval, which was done in line with the procedure and within the law, after which the decision was communicated to the Office of the President as required by law.
But it must be noted that even if there is dissent from the President about the appointment, the decision of the Commission will prevail.
Indeed and beyond all manner of so much since the Supreme Court affirmed that the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and the National Media Commission Act 1993 (Act 449) vest the power and authority to appoint Chief Executive Officers of the state-owned media in the Commission , in consultation with the President, not the government, whilst consultation is not a term of art, it is difficult to appreciate where the Commission erred in law and practice, in the reappointment of Prof Alhassan, as is being claimed and misrepresented by the union of the GBC.
The procedure used in renewing the appointment at GBC was the same followed in the reappointment of the Managing Directors of Graphic Communications Group Ltd and New Times Corporation, as well as the General Manager of the Ghana News Agency.
More important, I was the Executive Secretary of the NMC, when the Commission made the first appointments of the CEOs, following the Supreme Court ruling. Since then the NMC, has made several appointments based on the same procedures.
It must be noted that the union at GBC cannot impugn the authority and power of the NMC in the legitimate and lawful exercise of its functions in accordance with Article 172 which provides that ” Except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, the National Media Commission shall not be subject to the directions or control of any person or authority in the performance of its functions”.