I read with utmost surprise the article which appeared at the feature Colum of Myjoyonline.com the 1st of this month captioned “When Will GBC Respect Civil and Public Service Condition in Ghana”, written by one George Bangbeu. I want to state here that all that Mr Bangbeu sought to do was to throw dust into the eyes of people who may not be privileged to information at the GBC’s Regional FM station, Radio Upper West. I will therefore like to correct the misinformation and misconception perpetuated by Mr Bangbeu.

Mr Bangbeu stated that the current Acting Regional Director of GBC in the Upper West Region Mr Chris Alalbila “has wormed his way into the board of governors of the Wa Polytechnic as a government appointee” and that his suitability as the Regional Director is questionable. This seems to suggest that once he, Mr Alalbila has become a board member of the Wa Polytechnic he will compromise his work as the Acting Regional Director of the GBC. What I want Mr Bangbeu to know is that Mr Alalbila is not a representative of the GBC on the board. Therefore when issues about the institution come up Mr Alalbila with other members of the board will deal with them in his capacity as a board member and not a representative of the GBC. So the issue of suitability does not arise here.

Secondly, Mr Bangbeu also stated that the same Chris Alalbila flirted with both the NDC and the NPP and at a point doubled as a media coordinator for both parties in the region. That statement is not true and cannot be substantiated. Assuming that the statement is true then it is a confession that Mr Chris Alalbila after all was being neutral by working for both leading parties in the country as a professional without singling out one. Mr Alalbila is also said to have been awarded a contract during the NPP administration which he sold to a contractor in the region. I think Mr Bangbeu will do himself and Ghanaians good if he discloses who awarded Mr Alalbila the contract, what the nature of the contract was and whom Mr Alalbila sold the contract to as claimed.

Mr Bangbeu sought to dispute the fact that GBC is not the best station in the country by citing Mr Alalbila as having violated the civil and public service conditions. What violations is Mr Bangbeu talking about here? Is it a crime to work in a region for twenty years when you have not been transferred? Or is Mr Bangbeu telling us that Mr Alalbila has been acting as a Regional Director for twenty years for which reason morale is very low at the station? In any case who says morale is very low at the station? I am one of the average workers at the station but I can say without fear of contradiction that things have changed for the better since the Acting Regional Director assumed office almost a year now.

Through his ingenuity the station has acquired computers for four departments. The departments are Radio news, Technical, Accounts and the Regional Director’s Office itself. This has in no small measure improved upon the operations of the station. The station under his leadership has been hooked to internet to facilitate research by programme staff and reporters. The revenue of the station has also increased by more than 200 percent monthly as against what was collected by his predecessor every month. To operate an open door policy, the quarterly general meeting of staff, which stopped for years, has also been revived and more than three of such meetings have been held so far. At least the workers have the opportunity to put their problems across and make suggestions on how to move the station forward during such meetings. Indeed these innovations cannot be attributes of someone whose ability to lead is questionable.

The other issue Mr Bangbeu touched on was the fact that workers of the station are looking forward to see the Acting Regional Director go on leave. I am sure some of the workers have seen him gone on leave until the late 2002 when Mr Samuel Dadzie a correspondent for GTV left for Accra on transfer. Since then Mr Alalbila has worked as a regional correspondent for both Radio Ghana and Ghana Television alone until a new correspondent was posted to the region in September 2007. The question here is how could he have gone on leave when there was no any other correspondent for the station in the region? Besides, I want Mr Bangbeu to know that there are several types of Mr Alalbila who have worked in certain regions for more than 20 years without transfer. One example is Mr Abraham Dimmie of URA Radio in Upper East Region. Indeed no worker transfers himself or herself from one station to the other. Moreover Mr Alalbila has never refused transfer to any part of this country. It is the preserve of Management to effect transfers.

On the allegation that only English Language is spoken on Radio Upper West, how does Mr Bangbeu reconcile the fact that the station’s local bulletin is read in Sissala and Dagaare and not in English? What about the Morning shows and other programmes on health, education, agriculture, road safety and environment in Dagaare and Sissala? Are they not local languages? That statement is absolutely not true.

As for the problem of poor reception of GTV in the region occasionally, there is no dispute about that. However, Mr Bangbeu should understand that quite often the problem is a national one and not peculiar to the region. And as usual, efforts have always been made to ensure that the station rectifies whatever problem within its powers to provide one of the best services to the people. Under the leadership of the Acting Regional Director, measures have been put in place to ensure that the station continues to operate even when there is an interruption of electricity to the station by the Northern Electricity Department.

Mr Bangbeu concluded his article by saying that because the Acting Regional Director does not want to be exposed through his shady deal he has not gone on leave for the past twenty years. I will like to remind Mr Bangbeu that Mr Alalbila assumed office as the Acting Regional Director not more than a year now and could therefore have been investigated by his predecessors if indeed he was involved in any shady deals.

Contrary to what Mr Bangbeu thinks, many people in the region have said that Mr Alalbila is one of the correspondents of GBC who has contributed significantly to the development of the Upper West Region. In fact not only the people of Upper West but also some communities in the Northern Region who were hooked to the national electricity grid through a story he did on Radio Ghana’s popular programme called “GHANA TODAY”. Mr Alalbila’s contribution to the region was officially recognized by the Regional Coordinating Council just last year during the celebration of Ghana’s 51st Anniversary. This is the citation that was read for Mr Alalbila. “A journalist by profession and a GBC correspondent since 1987, you accepted posting to the Region in 1989, six years after the creation of the Upper West Region. Your passion for the job and love for the people you serve made you bring to known what was unknown and into the limelight what was obscure in the region. You were seen on uncountable occasions using your own resources particularly your personal car to execute programmes just to ensure that no activity whatsoever is left uncovered. You endeared yourself to the good people of the region and beyond by your presentation of accurate, factual, true and unexaggerated stories through your painstaking investigations which have attracted massive government and donor interventions in the region all of which have impacted positively on the lives of the people. Indeed, you have left a mark on the media landscape by exposing all the potential and development challenges in the region to the outside world, and therefore [you] will forever be remembered by the famous Radio Ghana’s Current Affairs programme “Ghana Today”. In appreciation of the immeasurable contribution rendered to mankind in the region and the Wa Municipality in particular, the Regional Coordinating Council confers on you this coveted award”, end of citation.

Certainly this recognition, the first of its kind in the region, cannot be meant for people whom Mr Bangbeu sought to portray.

To conclude what Mr Bangbeu who I suspect is hiding his identity has attempted to do is to give a dog a bad name and hang it. The little advice I have for people like Mr Bangbeu is to bring on board good ideas on how best to improve on the operations of the station and stop writing about what does not exist.



Credit: Sualah Abdul-Wahab GBC Wa.
Email: sualahbiyarg@yahoo.com