The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has assured journalists and media organisations that they will be granted unfettered access to cover the upcoming December 7 general elections, including at the collation centres.

This comes in response to growing concerns over the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to limit media access at both constituency and regional collation centres. Several media outlets had raised alarms about difficulties in securing necessary accreditation for their reporters.

Initially, the EC had set a limit of 3,308 accreditations for media personnel, which faced backlash from journalists and advocacy groups, who argued that the number was too low for adequate coverage of the election process.

In response to the criticism, the EC revised the policy and increased the number of accreditations to 4,500.

Speaking on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, December 2, Dwumfour expressed confidence that media representatives would have full access to all collation centres nationwide. He credited successful discussions with the EC and other stakeholders the previous week for the positive outcome.

“We had meetings with the Commissioner on Wednesday and Thursday, and we made our position clear that media access would be unrestricted,” Dwumfour explained. “On Friday [November 29], my colleague, the president of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), was contacted by EC Commissioner Jean Mensa, who confirmed that 4,500 accreditations would be issued.”

Dwumfour further clarified that this accreditation would cover both constituency and regional collation centres, meaning journalists will no longer need separate cards for each level of access.

Source:TheDotNews