The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has reassured journalists and media houses across the country that they will have unrestricted access to cover the upcoming December 7 general elections.
This assurance comes amid growing concerns from media outlets about the Electoral Commission’s decision to restrict media access at the constituency and the regional collation centres. Some Media Houses have also raised concerns about the challenges in securing the necessary accreditations for their reporters.
Initially, the Electoral Commission (EC) set a minimum cap of 3,308 accreditations for media personnel, which sparked widespread criticism from journalists and media advocacy groups.
Critics argued that this number was insufficient to meet the needs of the media landscape, particularly in ensuring comprehensive coverage at key collation centres.
In response to the backlash, the EC revised its policy, increasing the number of accreditations to 4,500.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, December 2, Mr Dwumfour emphasized his commitment to ensuring that journalists have full access to all collation centres across the country.
He attributed this positive development to successful engagements with the EC and other key stakeholders on Wednesday and Thursday of the previous week.
“We had meetings with the Commissioner on Wednesday and Thursday, and we have 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.
“In fact, on Friday [November 29] afternoon, my colleague, the president of Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), also called and said that the Commissioner, Madam Jean Mensa, called him, and they are offering us 4,500 accreditations to the coalition centre and the regional coalition centres.
“In fact, this time around, that same card will give you access to the constituency coalition centre and the regional coalition centre. There’s not going to be two cards, the same accreditation that will give you access to the constituency collation centre will give us access to the regional collation centre.”