The live telecast of the ongoing election case is a “waste of time” and creating huge cost for the nation, according to a labour consultant and former Employment and Social Welfare Minister, Austin Gamey.
He says the number of hours the live broadcast consumes is having adverse effects on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Tagging it as a problem for the country, Mr. Austin Gamey, in an interview with Radio Gold, called for the case to be pre-recorded and played in the evenings in order not to interrupt working hours.
He said the live telecast does not add any value to Ghana’s yield and has burdened the economy.
He stated that “the clamouring for direct telecasting of these proceedings is a burdensome thing we have imposed on ourselves. Even though it might in the surface look good, if you honestly ask me; I will tell you I don’t see it…Now, engaging everybody’s attention to this particular thing that will surely not add any cedi to our income as a nation when the meat is almost off the bones, I think that I’m scared.”
To him, the election case does not pose any threat to the nation; therefore, the live telecast is only making the nation unproductive.
“We have overrated it as a threat. We have used the media to make it look a threat. It’s never a threat and so many ordinary people who are the key voters in this nation, don’t care too much about… people are making it look as if it’s a major threat. It’s not. It’s not true. It’s the frontline politicians who are making it look like that,” he noted.
He asserted that showing live the court proceedings is “wasting time and time is money. We pay people for the time they put in and now, the time is being consumed at the expense of watching TV over something that is not going to add one cedi to anything. In addition, we are in the eyes of the world, not being serious. That is it; we are unproductive.”
