EC sued over accreditation payment
A group of journalists has dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to court over its decision to ask journalists to pay for accreditation in order to cover this year’s general election.
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The EC, in a statement released on October 31, 2016, asked journalists who wished to cover the presidential and parliamentary elections to pay a fee of GH¢10 for accreditation.
But the group, International Standards Journalists Association (ISJA), in the suit filed at the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court, claimed that the move by the EC was a breach of the fundamental human rights of the journalists to vote.
According to them, the right to vote “includes the right to know whether the EC had acted properly throughout, at all material times. The right to transparency of election management is not the preserve of political parties or candidates but it is the right of every voter in Ghana.’’
The group is also arguing that the EC’s decision was unfair and unreasonable because foreign journalists who had been approved to cover the elections were not being asked “to pay money to the commission as a condition for the issuing of the accreditation tags."
Reliefs
The group is, therefore, seeking a declaration from the court that the decision by the commission was a breach “on the fundamental human rights of Ghanaian journalists.’’
They also want an order from the court “compelling the EC to issue accreditation tags to qualified Ghanaian journalists without demanding any financial payment from them to cover the 2016 election.’’
ISJA further wants an order “compelling the EC to refund any money paid by every journalist for the accreditation tags.’’
