The management of Ghana’s National Lottery Authority, (NLA), has issued a response to allegations made against the Authority by a popular Ghanaian broadcaster, Mr. Kwasi Kyei-Darkwa, (a.k.a. KKD), concerning the abrogation of a contract between the NLA and Ghana Television (GTV), which is operated by the state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and the State Insurance Company (SIC).
On August 22, 2022, Mr. Kyei-Darkwa, speaking on a TV program in Accra, the nation’s capital, accused the Director-General of the NLA, Sammi Awuku, of orchestrating the termination of a television contract between GTV and NLA, resulting in a huge loss of advertising revenue to the ailing state media behemoth, and sidelining SIC in their business collaborations. However, the NLA has refuted those claims by the ace broadcaster as false.
In a statement issued in Accra on August 23, 2022, the NLA management disclosed that the Authority was not getting value for their money from the services that were being offered in their contract with GTV. Consequently, upon assumption of office, the Director-General, Sammi Awuku, offered to conduct a review of the contract between the NLA and GTV, pursuant to a recommendation made to the management of NLA by a technical crew set up by the Authority to find the way forward.
A meeting was therefore arranged between the management of NLA’s technical crew and GTV to reconcile any differences and concerns from both sides in the interest of the country. However, the statement pointed out that the management of GTV never showed up to engage the NLA technical crew even though they had been invited well ahead of time. According to the NLA, after several invitations were sent to the management of GTV without a response, the Authority had no option but to opt out of the contract with the state broadcaster and seek new media collaboration to promote their business.
“NLA, therefore, decided to terminate the contract in accordance with the provisions of Clause 15.0,11.1a of the Contract between GBC and NLA which enjoins any of the parties with the right of termination,” the statement asserted.
The NLA management said the main focus of the Authority is to mobilize funds to support developmental programs in Ghana and to bring hope and excitement to its valued patrons, thus, every decision the agency takes would be in the best interest of the country. The NLA added that research by geopoll.com, an international media research company found that” a large chunk of the Authority’s target audience such as Lotto Marketing Companies (LMCs), Private Lotto Operators and customers who patronize NLA products and services and drawings of winning numbers have mostly shifted their viewership preference from GTV to other TV stations, notably United Television (UTV).
” Hence when the management of GTV failed to engage with officials of the NLA to find ways to improve on the deal with the NLA, the management of the Authority had to move on, and upon serious consideration, decided to enter into a promotion and advertising deal with UTV with far better returns”, the statement underlined.
“It is instructive to note that since NLA’s letter to terminate its contract with GTV in August 2021, (effective November 30, 2021). GTV did not respond to the letter or take any steps to engage NLA, an indication that the latter may not be interested in the subject matter,” part of the statement read. “The management would like to state that while it is sympathetic to the state-owned media, NLA was at the time seeking to grow its audience to increase its revenue base for national development and thus needed to discuss these issues”, the statement stressed.
The statement said neither the NLA nor its Director-General, Sammi Awuku, is interested in sabotaging GTV’s business interest as is being purported by Kwasi Kyei-Darkwa. The NLA, the statement explained, is open to future engagements with GTV if the state broadcaster is willing to do so.
