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General News on Friday, January 25, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-01-25
Jean Mensa, President of the Electoral Commission (EC) in front of the GJA Executive
The Ghana Electoral Commission has alluded to plans to absorb the cost of media accreditations for election coverage.
This follows a call from the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) for the commission to cover this cost.
Ms. Jean Adukwei Mensa, chair of the commission, addressed the media during a courtesy visit organized by the GJA. She announced that the commission would pay the accreditation fees to allow journalists to cover elections across the country.
The impact of the elections, she said, was very expensive and absorbing such a minimal cost should not be a challenge.
Capacity? building
Ms. Mensa also indicated her intention of organizing orientation and capacity-building workshops for journalists in the election reporting. This, she added, would allow journalists to become familiar with all the rules and laws governing the electoral process, to report effectively and to allay public fears.
She added that the commission would create a partnership with the media to ensure transparency at all levels of elections.
Leased media
The President congratulated the media for her role in setting up transparent and credible electoral processes, especially in 2016. She also asked the GJA to put in place guidelines that deal with sensationalism and also urged journalists to check each piece of information received. and be fair to all news topics.
Ms. Mensa lamented cases where people working for the commission, and sometimes even the commission, were accused of rigging elections without evidence.
She also promised the commission's commitment to ensuring electoral processes without incident.
President of the GJA
For his part, the president of the GJA, Mr. Roland Affail Monney, is pleased with the decision of the commission to absorb the costs of accreditation. According to him, no prize could be awarded for journalist work during the elections.
He instructed the media to put in place measures guaranteeing fair and equal opportunities for all political parties in their reporting and to provide facilities for the presentation or expression of opinions and opinions. Opinions of political parties and candidates.
Monney said the GJA was willing to work with the EC to ensure free, fair and credible elections by 2020.
He proposed the composition of a team composed of GJA and EC officials, who would be responsible for managing the Electoral Reporting and Electoral Law Directives respectively.
Monney said the GJA would continue to train its members on election reporting.
He indicated that the GJA intended to revise its election reporting guidelines and that it would need funding to address them.
He then invited the President to be the guest speaker for this year's GJA Awards.
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