The Media Coalition Ghana, comprising the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Ghana Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association Ghana (PRINPAG) and New Media Association of Ghana (NMAG) has commended media practitioners for their work in promoting transparency, accountability and civic discourse throughout the electoral processes.
Despite some regrettable and avoidable challenges including loss of lives that occurred in some parts of the country, the Media Coalition reports that, the election processes have been generally peaceful.
According to the Media Coalition Ghana, their assessment is based on reports received from the election volunteers dispatched by the GJA in the 276 constituencies across the country under the National Media Collation Centre Project.
“The media in our beloved country have once again largely demonstrated resilience and commitment to democratic principles and professionalism before, during and after the elections and indeed, the coverage of this year’s elections has been one of the best in our election history,” the post general election statement indicated.
Reading the post general election statement on behalf of the Media Coalition Ghana, the GJA President, Albert Dwumfour stated that, the media practitioners did a great job by providing an extensive pre-election coverage of the electoral processes, including candidate profiles, policy debates and voter education programmes which significantly helped the citizens.
“Media practitioners worked so hard to offer real-time updates on the casting, counting and collation of votes during the election, and this helped to promote transparency and accountability,” he stated.
Post-Election Commentary and Analysis
Mr. Dwumfour indicated that, the media upon providing in-depth analysis of the election results and promoting deeper understanding of the electoral process and its outcomes, faced many challenges in the discharge of their duties.
“Some reporters experienced some safety issues while reporting from the field, highlighting the need for increased security measures to protect media practitioners because some of our colleagues were in areas where the shooting incidents occurred,” he noted.
According to him, even though they did not receive any report of physical attack, some journalists have been traumatised because they were present at the centres where the killings took place.
Access to Information and Collation Centres
Highlighting some challenges the media faced, he said access to information from some electoral officials was difficult, adding that, this affirmed the need for improved communication and transparency.
“We had reports from our volunteers who were prevented from entering constituency collation centres even though they had accreditation to access centres,” he added.
Commendation
On behalf of the Media Coalition Ghana, the GJA President commended the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies for their work which ensured that journalists covered the elections peacefully and freely, as well as thanked them for safeguarding and ensuring peaceful elections.
Moreover, he commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for collaborating with the GJA to train journalists on credible election reporting as well as providing free accreditation to both local and foreign journalists.
Also, the Media Coalition Ghana congratulated the President-elect, John Dramani Mahama on his election to the highest office of the land once again, and applauded the Vice President and New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, for congratulating the President-elect and conceding defeat even before the EC officially declared the results.
According to them, Dr. Bawumia’s reaction to the results demonstrated maturity and statesmanship.
A Call to Action
Mr. Dwumfour encouraged winners of the election to be moderate and noble in their celebrations, in order not to aggravate the hurt feelings of the losing parties, and also called on the defeated parties to exercise restraint in the face of provocation.
He called on leaders of both National Democratic Congress (NDC) and NPP to admonish their supporters to be measured in their conducts as some people have taken the law into their hands and destroying state properties, and thus urged the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare to enforce law and order by arresting and prosecuting perpetrators of such impunity.
By Janet Odei Amponsah