Following months of stalled processes and legal hurdles, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) executives’ elections and hand over is expected to take place by June 30 this year.
This forms part of recommendations by the Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) of the GJA which worked on petitions against the Elections Committee (EC) and the Election Supervisory Committee (ESC).
The petitioners included Dave Agbenu, who is aspiring for the GJA presidential position and three others.
The committee in a report made public yesterday asked the EC to lift the indefinite postponement of the elections, and take urgent steps to initiate processes for the conduct of the GJA elections.
It advised key stakeholders, especially the petitioners to accept the decisions by the committee to enable the stalled processes to resume for the elections to come off.
Spelling out the reasons for the current situation, the EDAC said the GJA constitution was “severely breached leading to adverse consequences and the current stalemate.”
It further noted that there was lack of clarity in the determination of eligible voters for the GJA elections due to challenged membership status of some persons.
It also referenced the adoption of subjective conventions and practices by leadership without recourse to amending the GJA Constitution or developing any institutional policy approved by a general meeting.
The committee cited the creation of the adhoc committee; ESC which it described as contravening the provisions of the GJA constitution regarding election administration and management.
It faulted the record-keeping and tracking of membership at both membership committee as well as the GJA national secretariat, and reiterated the need to restructure, improve coordination and linkages between the offices handling membership and dues collection.
The EDAC called on the EC to open up the process for finalising the elections processes, and present its amended calendar of election activities to be circulated simultaneously with the provisional register via multiple communication channels.
It urged the EC to allow members who were on pension, but below 65 years and exempted by the Association through its conventional practices to vote in the election, once they comply with the payment of dues.
It also advised that the list of 36 members out of 38 contested names from Atinka Media house cleared by the GJA membership committee, should be included on the Voters Register on condition that they satisfy the eligibility criteria in the GJA Constitution, adding that same should be applicable to members whose eligibility was contested in the GJA Volta Region branch.
The Committee advocated the development of only one unified voters list from the offices under the GJA’s national secretariat, and approved jointly by the general secretary and treasurer who were the primary officers recognised under the GJA constitution to undertake the role.
BY TIMES REPORTER
