The Electoral Commission (EC), has reversed its earlier directive restricting media access to constituency and regional collation centres.
In a statement issued yesterday, Monday, December 2, the EC announced that, following internal discussions and consultations with key media stakeholders, media personnel assigned photo accreditation to cover polling stations, will now be permitted to use the same accreditation for access to constituency and regional collation centres.
“From Saturday, 7th December, 2024, media persons can access Constituency and Regional Collation Centres using their photo accreditation cards issued by the EC.”
The EC, emphasized its commitment to transparency and accountability, noting that the revised accreditation system is designed to provide media professionals with greater access and flexibility during the electoral process.
“The EC is desirous to maintain the highest level of transparency and accountability in its operations. The revised media accreditation aims to provide media personnel with greater flexibility and access to key Election Centres.
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“This commitment is to ensure that the media can effectively cover the electoral process, and this change reflects that commitment.”
Arrangements regarding media access to the National Collation Centre, will be announced soon.
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), had yesterday issued a stern warning to the EC regarding the allocation of media accreditations for the upcoming elections.
Initially, the 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.
GJA President, Albert Dwumfour, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show (CBS) yesterday, emphasised that the current allocation of 4,500 accreditations was insufficient and must be increased to ensure comprehensive media coverage.
“We are not compromising on anything. We are only saying that we’ll make sure that at least whatever numbers that the media need to cover elections or to have unfettered access to the centres, we will make sure, we will ensure that we have it.
“In fact, we’ve taken delivery of the 4,500, we told them that we cannot distribute it. It is two things, either you are there or maybe it’s either you cooperate with us or we bring back your cards and then you call the media houses and distribute, we are doing that favour and we are the interface between you, the EC and our media and our people,” Dwumfour stated.
He further stressed the importance of adequate accreditation for media personnel to access coalition centres, constituency coalition sectors, and legal sectors during the elections.
Dwumfour, made it clear that the GJA, would not distribute the current allocation unless the EC cooperates and increases the number of accreditations.
“We are not going to work with that. I have told you we took delivery of it yesterday afternoon. If we wanted to distribute, we would have started by now. We are not going to work with that and I’ve made that clear.
“As you see if the EC is not going to cooperate with us on this matter, we will only return those 4,500 back to them to do their distribution.
