The Electoral Commission (EC) has addressed growing concerns from media partners following a directive that limits media access to its constituency and regional collation centres for the 2024 general elections.
The directive, which restricts the number of media outlets allowed at collation centres, has sparked significant feedback from various media stakeholders.
A memo issued by the EC instructed its staff at district and regional levels to allocate quotas to media houses for accreditation at collation centres.
The EC’s directive permits only eight media outlets at each constituency collation centre and 12 at the regional collation centres. This limitation, while intended to ensure orderliness, has raised questions about transparency and inclusivity.
In response to the feedback, the EC announced on Wednesday, November 27, that it is engaging with the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association and Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) to address the concerns. The Commission assured stakeholders that it is committed to reaching a workable and acceptable arrangement that balances transparency with order at the collation centres.
“As a listening Commission, we are engaging with the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) on the issue and trust that we will arrive at an arrangement that is both workable and acceptable.”
The EC emphasized its commitment to maintaining the highest level of transparency in the collation process, citing its decision to grant media access to all constituency, regional, and national collation centres.
However, it stressed the importance of limiting the number of persons at these centres to ensure orderly and peaceful operations during the collation of election results.
.“The Commission is keen on ensuring the highest level of transparency in its operations, hence the opening up of all its Constituency, Regional and National Collation Centres to the Media.
“In doing so, the Commission is mindful of the need to ensure an orderly and peaceful process at all the Collation Centres hence the quotas on the number of persons who can access the Collation Centres at any given time.”
The Commission is confident that its engagement with the leadership of the GJA and GIBA will lead to acceptable outcomes.
The EC expressed optimism that ongoing discussions with GJA and GIBA would yield a mutually agreeable solution, ensuring that media partners can fulfil their roles without compromising the integrity or efficiency of the collation process.
