AAG Engages Government to Make Its Billboards Demolition Exercise More Transparent.

Government’s initiative to decongest and sanitize the sky spaces of the Ghana’s big cities through billboards demolitions, has had to be slowed down for a while due to concerns raised by the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG).  AAG held a press briefing on Tuesday 17th March to clarify the industry’s position on the demolition exercise.

The Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs set up a committee in October, last year, with the mandate to roll out decongestion exercises across the country to sanitise the sky spaces of big cities due to the proliferation of billboards. The committee began its work by marking billboards within four municipal assemblies in Accra (La Dade-Kotopon, Korley-Clottey, Ayawaso West and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly). The marking exercise was followed by some demolition exercises, which have been met with a great deal of resistance from the AAG.

In AAG’s press briefing, the President of the association, Andrew Ackah, stated that although AAG has been at the forefront of calling for decongestion and regularisation of the outdoor sector, it is questioning questioned government as to why advertising industry players were not engaged before the demolitions began. Another concern of the AAG, according to the President, was that there was no clear and transparent plan communicated to relevant stakeholders and industry players. According to AAG, the association has a better plan that would make the demolition and decongestion exercise much easier for the government.

As a result of AAG’s push-back, two key events have happened: (1) The Greater Accra Regional Minister whose office was blamed for the demolition sent a press statement indicating that the recent demolition exercise was not carried out by the regional ministry; (2) The deputy minister for the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy & Religious Affairs, together with the decongestion and demolition committee called for an official engagement with AAG. The deputy minister, who chairs the committee assured the AAG delegation that the issues raised by the association will be considered.

Member Spotlight: Mrs. Norkor Akua Duah

BRIEF PROFILE OF NORKOR AKUA DUAH (NEE OMABOE)
Mrs. Norkor Akua Duah is a communication specialist with over 3 decades of experience in Brand Building which is reflected in her role of creating most of Ghana’s successful brands in the Marketing communication field.


She is the Managing Director of Mullen Lowe Accra also known as Lintas Ghana Ltd. an Integrated Communications company affiliated to Mullen Lowe Worldwide and Partners, a member of the InterPublic Group of Companies, and she has an oversight role as the Group C.E.O of The Advantage Group (TAG) which comprises Mullen Lowe Accra, Prodesign Ltd, FM24 Ltd and Media Initiative.


Norkor has developed exceptional qualities in Health Communications and Behavioural Change communications. Her expertise in this arena has seen her champion award-winning Public Sector Health campaigns supported by Development Partners as well as Private Sector initiatives over the years.

From an industry perspective, Norkor is currently the Vice President/Area Director, Africa of the International Advertising Association (IAA), a Past President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) and a founding member of the Ghana Design Network (GDN). She also serves on several boards of highly reputable companies in Ghana.


In 2009, she was awarded the “2008 CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year” for her distinguished contribution to the advertising industry, “Best Entrepreneur Advertising/ Marketing Communication of the Year” Award in 2011 at the Ghana Entrepreneur Awards.

She received the Medal For Merit Award in 2013 for being a promoter of IA programs in Africa, and being the first Vice-President Development-Africa to serve on Exco of the IAA. She also received the Advertising Association of Ghana’s (AAG) 2015 Distinguished Personality Award, including several other accolades.

She was honored with the IAA Inspire Champions award at the 2018 IAA Global Conference for her exceptional leadership and continuous effort in expanding the IAA footprint in Africa most especially through the formation of new chapters. She was in 2019 awarded for her dedication and commitment to the development of Advertising in Ghana at the 4th Ghana Women in Excellence Awards.

She was awarded in 2020 for her Outstanding Contribution to Marketing (Agency) at the 10th Women In Marketing Global Awards.In 2022, she received a Creative Impact Award from the 3Music Awards Women
Brunch for her extensive work and impact in the creative industry.

She also received a Hall of Fame Award from the Ghana CEO Excellence Awards for her leadership and achievements in the Advertising sector of Ghana.

Norkor finds great joy in giving back to society, which finds her in associations like Zonta International, of which she has held many positions. She is also a strong advocate of Girl Child education and as such is involved in promoting reading in children while supporting education amongst the less privileged i.e. The IAA OBAA Project.