The brawl between the National Media Commission and the Auditor-General over the salary of Ghana News Agency boss is continuing with the NMC barring teeth. Below is an unedited letter from the National Media Commission (NMC), to the Auditor-General, Mr. Edward Dua-Agyeman. Dated September 10, 2008, it was signed by its Chairman, Mr. Paul Adu-Gyamfi and copied to, among others, the Chief of Staff and Minister of Finance. "Dear Sir, APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL MANAGER OF GHANA NEWS AGENCY Your letter dated July 31, 2008 and titled "RECOVERY OF UNAUTHORISED SALARY TO THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE GHANA NEWS AGENCY" addressed to the General Manager of the Ghana News Agency has been referred to us as the appointing authority. We have also received a copy of a letter titled "CERTIFICATION OF SALARY ARREARS FOR THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE GHANA NEWS AGENCY". Since both letters relate to the appointment of the General Manager of the Ghana News Agency and result from the exercise of our constitutional mandate of appointing the heads of state-owned media, we wish to bring the following to your attention:

1. You stated that the requirement of NMC's consultation with His Excellency is "not limited to the disclosure of the identity of the prospective office holder only but should include the financial terms and conditions of service." Since these words do not form part of the Constitutional provision, they amount to an attempt to interpret the meaning of the Constitution respectfully, which does not fall under your ambit and therefore constitutes a constitutional danger on your part.
2. The right to consultation regarding the appointment of Chief Executive Officers of the State-owned media belongs to His Excellency the President and the Office of the President is the right authority to complain on the adequacy of our consultations, not the Auditor-General.
3. Your attempt to pronounce upon the procedures involved in the execution of the employment contract of the General Manager of Ghana News Agency suffers from the same weakness of locus and mandate referred to above.
4. The Director of Budget asked for "verification" and "advice" on the "computations" of the saIary. Your subsequent letter to the General Manager of Ghana News Agency seeking to declare his salary unauthorised for non consultation with His Excellency the President went beyond the request made to you by the Director of Budget.
5. Your letters have the potential of intermeddling in the appointment process of the Heads of State-owned Media organisations and as a result create problems between the office of His Excellency the President and the National Media Commission. We believe this should be avoided. The Commission has had excellent relationship with the Office of His Excellency the President and would not want any avoidable problems to be created.
6. Appointments of Heads of State-owned Media organisations are the constitutional responsibility of the National Media Commission in consultation with the President as you rightly acknowledged in your letter. The question as to ,whether or not the Commission has adequately consulted the President, being a constitutional and legal matter, we suggest, should be left to the National Media Commission and the Office of His Excellency the President or other constitutional entities with the mandate to resolve interpretive conflicts if they ever occur. Any attempt, therefore, to create a wedge between the National Media Commission and the Presidency would be vigorously resisted.
7. For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to inform you that the Minister of Information has no power under the 1992 Fourth Republic Constitution to exercise any supervisory role over the four state-owned media houses.
8. We shall therefore be extremely grateful if you could take immediate steps to remove the unauthorised embargo you have placed on the salary of the General Manager of Ghana News Agency as your act is ultra vires," the letter concluded.

Source: Daily Dispatch