A four-member delegation of the Information Services Department (ISD) led by the Acting Chief Information Officer, Mr David Owusu-Amoah, paid a courtesy call on the Korean Ambassador to Ghana, Mr LIM Jung Taek in Accra to discuss areas of collaboration in Communication and Public Relations.
Addressing the delegation, Mr Jung-taek, commended the ISD for its tremendous communication role over the past decades.
He also expressed admiration for the role government Public Relations Officers play in the respective government institutions and encouraged them to do more for the development of Ghana.
On the issue of media advancement, the Ambassador applauded the Ghanaian media for their maturity and bi-partisan conduct in news reporting, reiterating that it was a move to build a peaceful and prosperous nation.
On his part, Mr Owusu-Amoah applauded the Korean Government for its commitment and consistent relationship with Ghana, which had spanned many years and added to Ghana’s development in education and Technology.
He echoed the need for the Korean Government to continue to support Ghana in communication to enhance the work of government PROs.
Touching on the mandate of ISD, Mr Owusu-Amoah explained that the Department is a wing of the Ministry of Information in charge of disseminating government policies, programmes and projects to the general public and also soliciting feedback from the people to the government.
He added that the ISD has offices in various regions and districts across the country headed by regional and district information officers to enhance the role of information dissemination.
He also mentioned that the ISD has officers present in some foreign missions to represent the interest of the government.
Mr Owusu-Amoah said ISD was going through a transformational agenda aimed at retooling the Department to carry out its functions effectively and also to be able to compete in the era of media pluralism and advancement.
The Head of the PRCD, the Public Relations Coordinating Division (PRCD), Mrs Ethel Codjoe Amissah, explained the role of her Division, narrating that it has the mandate of posting well-trained PROs to the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS) as well as the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) to manage the flow of information between the government and the public.
According to her, over ninety PROs had been posted to the various MDAs and RCCs and it was the responsibility of the Division to coordinate the activities of these PROs in areas of reporting, training and monitoring, adding that it was on that premise that the Division had instituted an awards scheme to recognize and award PROs who have distinguished themselves as far as government PR was concerned.
She was of the view that constant training of these PROs would bridge the communication gap between the government and the citizens and also bring sanity to the PR profession.
The visit was also to officially invite the ambassador to the 3rd Government PR Excellence Awards and Dinner scheduled to take place on 18th February 2023.
Mabel Addo, ISD
