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Affail Monney
Affail Monney

Central, Western Regional branches of GJA protest award to Anas

The executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in the Western and Central regions have protested against the decision of the GJA to honour Anas Aremeyaw Anas as the “Journalist of the Year”.

The protest, contained in a statement, followed what the two branches said were the “fallouts from the 21st GJA awards ceremony and leadership challenges in the Association” and called for an apology from the President, Mr Roland Affail Monney to the executives and membership of the association.

“It is sad to note that the president took the decision as to who becomes the Journalist of the Year, without discussing it with the other five members of his team at the national level.

The statement was jointly signed by Mr Moses Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu and Mrs Alice Tettey, chairpersons of the Western and Central regional GJA chapters respectively.

Unilateral decision

“It should be on record that, the President unilaterally threw aside the recommendations of the awards committee and changed the Journalist of the Year to Anas without consulting anyone. More so when it was on record that Anas did not enter the awards,” the regional branches alleged.

The statement said Mr Monney failed to discuss with his vice, general secretary, treasurer, organising secretary and the association’s public relations officer.

The Denial

The statement said when some regional executives heard about the award and queried Mr Monney even before the awards ceremony, he denied that Anas was to be named Journalist of the Year, saying “the name is in a sealed envelope and we have not even opened it.”

The statement said it was therefore, sad that,” our president fibbed.

It was obvious that Mr. Monney’s speech did not focus on the theme, Media for Undisputed and Peaceful 2016 Election: The Support of Civil Society,” but rather dwelt on Anas’ latest work, which is still pending in court just to back his solitary motives.

Anas; Good Choice, but

The statement said “yes Anas, is a colleague, a good choice, a committed member of the association with focus on ensuring social justice, but stated that the decision was not an informed one from the national executives.

Our Code of Ethics/ Tiger Eye or Anas

It said we were ashamed when somebody in the audience pointed to one of us after the awards, that Article 10 Section II of the GJA Code of Ethics, which states, “any report or write-up affecting the reputation of an individual or an organisation without a chance to reply is unfair and must be avoided by journalists.

The Questions

“Mr. GJA President, our questions are: did we award the work of Anas as a director of Tiger Eye, as a company or Anas as an individual member whose report goes to Tiger Eye first?

“It was interesting to note that, the representative of Anas said they were surprised to be called to come for an award. Why they did not even submit an entry and came to the Banquet Hall with a prepared speech is also unanswered.

“Because of such solitary act on the part of the GJA President, Dery’s lawyer has threatened action against GJA over Anas’s Journalist of the Year award,” it added

Recent developments, actions and the leadership style of Mr Monney, it noted, had made the Association unattractive in recent times.

Arise Past Presidents

The statement called on the past presidents of the association to step in to save the GJA, saying that all the GJA had now has only the awards ceremony as its main unifier.

The statement said there was the need for the “current President be cautious in his dealings with other members of the public and should learn to consult widely for consensus. Again it is an association and must remain as such.”

“We will use this opportunity to call on other impeccable past leaders and our senior colleagues of the association, the likes of Ransford Tetteh, Madam Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Kabral Blay-Amihere, Madam Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie and host of others to call the President of the association to order.

“The President should also do the honourable thing by apologising to both regional and national executive members and the entire membership of the association,” it added.

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