Story: Fauziatu Adam & Dana Sherne
Government is to establish a national information portal, the Ghana Database Project, to make important economic and cultural information widely available to investors, tourists and Ghanaians.
Speaking at a meeting with the Greater Accra Regional Minister and District Chief Executives (DCE) in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Baba Jamal, said that the project would help brand Ghana from inside by publicising information on the Internet.
The enterprise, which is expected to begin on July 1 and end within eight weeks, would allow everyone to easily access information on each of the 158 districts in the country.
The Ministry of Information, in partnership with the District Assemblies, is to collect relevant information on each district’s infrastructure, including major towns and landmarks, schools, government agencies and hospitals, as well as the contact information for all of these institutions.
The portal would also make demographic information such as population size, major ethnic groups and main languages available to the public.
Mr Jamal added that the project would include major tourist attractions and the investment potential of the districts. All of this information would be available on the website for all stakeholders.
“We will brand our districts to make them more attractive and encourage foreign firms to invest in Ghana,” he said.
According to him, the portal would allow each district to control its own branding, complete with slogans to establish a sense of belonging and pride in that area’s heritage. For example, the Central Region adopted the slogan, “Centre of Excellence,” and the Volta Region adopted the slogan, “Very Reliable.”
Mr Jamal added that each car registered in the district would have that slogan embossed on its license plate.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Ashiettey Armah, said that such branding is “long overdue,” adding that he would do everything in his power to support the project.
Mr Jamal’s meeting with the regional minister and DCEs, as well as staff from the Ministry of Information, was the culmination of his two-week tour throughout the different regions of the country.
His talk also focused on the management of government information on the ground level as well as the diffusion of tension between the DCEs and the Information Service Officers (ISO). Mr Jamal warned that ISO’s who did not conform to government policy could be fired.
He reprimanded all ISOs who did not propagate the ideas of the government, adding that “outside of the office, you have no opinion except those in line with party policy.”
He advised that this could best be accomplished by maintaining good rapport with the DCEs and their staff.
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