Affail Monney
The impending Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) election is a can of stinking worms.
The controversy triggered by the many underhand dealings intended to give leverage to others is deafening and unbecoming of ladies and gentlemen of the media; many of them of several years standing.
It is interesting that members of the inky fraternity, the sentinels of society are themselves not exhibiting the kind of decorum and high moral standards required of persons of their statuses.
Those who have raised red flag over the quality of elections that should have been held soon but for the indefinite suspension of the process know what many do not about the intentions of those operating behind the scene to skew the polls.
Evidence of attempts to rig the election are not in short supply, and our hearts bleed that the journalism profession is suffering such integrity deformity.
We recall the restive days of the election season and the media spotlight on the Electoral Commission (EC). Ghanaian journalists at the time looked like angels, infallible and without blemish as they descended on the EC at each drop of the hat. The current developments have exposed Ghanaian journalists. Shouldn’t we bow our heads in shame?
We wonder whether we can muster the courage under the circumstances and lay bare the rot in other public establishments without incurring public opprobrium. We must succeed in a major house-cleaning exercise of the media stable before embarking on further exposure of the rot in other places.
There have been deliberate efforts to disenfranchise persons perceived to belong to camps outside the current leadership which is why there is hue and cry over the quality of the impending polls and whether it can deliver the desired change.
It is our position that all must be done to ensure  free and fair polls as anything short of this, especially disenfranchisement, would not augur well for the image of media practice in the country.
Those who now question the caliber of persons managing the affairs of journalists, vis a vis management of the kitty of the association and protection of the interests of the practitioners it would seem have a point for holding on to their fears.
Perhaps there is sense in many yearning for change in the leadership of journalism in the country. We have been shortchanged over the years and would demand change in the status quo now.
We have been disadvantaged as a result of the poor management of our affairs over the years and would implore practitioners to consider joining the crusade for change, lest we are ridiculed in the public space.
Most Ghanaians are watching us to see how we get over the crisis that has engulfed us and opened our underbelly for firing from the public. We would not fault them for looking down upon us because, after all, we have been noisy digging into all subjects but ours. Now it is our turn to prove to the world that we are capable of getting rid of those who have pushed us to this level of disdain.
Let them leave the stage because their image has been dented by their action in the election matter. Now we know the source of the troubles in which the annual awards were enmeshed.
We demand quality elections, otherwise we would ask for an indefinite hold on the process because the blemishes are too many. How shameful!