On Thursday, 14th October 2021, the newly elected members of the Executive Council of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) were sworn into office at a ceremony at the GIBA Secretariat in Kokomlemle, Accra. The members of the new Executive Council were elected at an Annual General Meeting held in Kumasi on 26th August 2021 with the mandate to manage the affairs of the association for the period 2021 to 2024.

The chairman for the occasion, Dr. Chief P. A. Crystal-Djirackor, Chairman of the GIBA Council of Elders, swore the Executive Council into office and charged them “to stay focused, unwavering and committed without any form of bias” since they play “a very critical role in ensuring that, members of GIBA and indeed the broadcast media remains strong, balanced and professional in their delivery of services to the nation”.

The newly sworn-in President of GIBA, Cecil Thomas Nee Lante Sunkwa-Mills, the Consultant for MultiChoice and GOtv Ghana Limited, in his acceptance speech stated that the newly elected Executive Council will focus on key areas of development for broadcast membership such as providing support to enhance local content and multilingualism on members’ platforms with relevant policy support.

He also affirmed GIBA’s determination to create and promote an environment which will foster the free flow of ideas, knowledge, information and content for building knowledge societies, and enhancing creativity, innovation and cultural diversity citing Ghana’s good showing of above average score of 72/100 in the recent Free Media index- a global benchmark for media freedom.

He also noted that the recent inauguration of the new Governing Board of the National Communications Authority, the regulator, and the approval of 133 FM radio stations which included some new applications from closed down stations in 2017 and existing stations which had applied for a renewal of expired FM stations is definitely some good news for the industry and support for the expansion of free media operation and expression in Ghana.

He expressed his profound gratitude to the outgoing President of GIBA and his team of Council Member for their promotion of equal partnership and involvement of private TV and radio stakeholders in the Digital Migration process discussions, interceding in policy formulation, deep and fruitful engagements with regulators, suppliers and stakeholders such the Ministry of Communications, National Communications Authority, Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, KNet, Audiovisual Rights Society of Ghana and the Ghana Music Rights Organization to mention a few.

Mr. Sunkwa-Mills noted the deep collaborations between GIBA and other stakeholders in the promotion of various educational campaigns throughout the membership stations in the country on Road safety, AIDS campaigns, the COVID-19 pandemic prevention protocols to mention a few.

Mr. Sunkwa-Mills brings on board a wealth of knowledge and experience in business development, banking and in the broadcast sector gained from across Africa spanning over two decades.

Joining him at the Council are Mr. Ernest Boateng of Global Media Alliance operators of eTV Ghana, Happy FM and Y FM, who serves his second term as Vice President, Mr. Matthew Martin Anderson of Aseda FM, Prince Hari Crystal of Crystal TV Group, Mr. Kwabena Amponsah of Top Media Ltd., Mr. Kwame Adu-Mante of Focus 1 Group operators of Spice FM, Pluzz FM and Beach FM, and Mr. Abdulai Awudu of Adom FM.

Present at the ceremony were stakeholders from the National Media Commission, Media Foundation for West Africa, Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana, Ghana Journalists Association and friends of the media.