Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung@ 40 in Ghana Chapter Five Promoting Free Press and Media Pluralism-FES in Ghana By Kabral Blay-Amihere Ghana has come a long way among the community of nations when it comes to the question of press freedom. Not too long ago annual global verification of press freedom always placed Ghana among countries with poor record in press freedom and human rights but today Ghana is rated among the very top in Africa and in the world at large. The evidence is all over vibrant media landscape with over 100 FM stations, private and state owned broadcasting networks existing side by side, over 50 private newspapers and a general atmosphere of freedom of expression. Many individuals and organisations contributed to a free press in Ghana but in my mind one institution which stands towering high among all others is the Friedrich Ebert Foundation that celebrates its first 40 years of establishment of its office in Ghana this year. As a former General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association from 1985-1988 and President of the association from 1993-1996 and a long time operator on the international media scene as both President of the West African Journalists Association and Executive Member of the International Federation of Journalists who worked with the FES both in Ghana and in the sub-region, I feel modestly qualified to evaluate the role of the FES in the promotion of press freedom in Ghana. I recall my very first encounter with the FES sometime in 1977 when Ghana was under the military rule of the Supreme Military Council headed by General Ike Kutu Acheampong. Those were the days when press freedom was under siege and few dared to associate with the media. The FES held a very successful seminar on the Media and Labour. The seminar gave a platform to the Ghana Journalists Association which in the subsequent communiqué not only touched on the vital 36