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Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has reassured journalists and media organizations across the country that they will have full, unrestricted access to cover the upcoming December 7 general elections.
This reassurance follows concerns raised by media outlets regarding the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to limit media access at both constituency and regional collation centers. Several media houses have also voiced their frustration over difficulties in obtaining the necessary accreditations for their reporters.
Originally, the EC had set a limit of 3,308 accreditations for media personnel, which sparked criticism from journalists and media advocacy groups. Critics argued that this number was too small to adequately cover the key collation centers.
In response to the backlash, the EC revised its policy, increasing the number of accreditations to 4,500.
During an interview on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, December 2, Mr. Dwumfour reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring journalists have full access to all collation centers across the country. He credited the positive development to successful meetings held with the EC and other stakeholders the previous week.
“We had meetings with the Commissioner on Wednesday and Thursday, and we made it clear to them our position that we are going to ensure that the media is given unfettered access, something that was made public during our press conference,” Dwumfour said.
He further revealed that, on Friday afternoon, November 29, the President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) informed him that EC Chairperson, Madam Jean Mensa, had called to confirm the increase in accreditations. “They are offering us 4,500 accreditations to the coalition center and the regional coalition centers,” he stated.
Dwumfour also highlighted a major change: “This time around, that same card will give you access to the constituency collation center and the regional collation center. There’s not going to be two cards. The same accreditation that will give you access to the constituency collation center will give us access to the regional collation center.”
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