Mr Benedict B. Assorow is the Chairman of the GJA Election Committee
Mr Benedict B. Assorow is the Chairman of the GJA Election Committee

GJA elections put on hold

The Elections Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has postponed indefinitely the association’s elections scheduled for Friday, March 31, 2017.

The decision is to allow the Election Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) of the association more time to consider the appeals and petitions that have been presented by some aggrieved members of the GJA to it in respect of the elections.

A statement signed and issued by Mr Benedict B. Assorow, the Chairman of the Elections Committee of the GJA, yesterday explained that the postponement of the elections followed the “inability of EDAC to meet the requirements imposed on it per Article 53 (v) which requires the committee to consider the appeals and announce its decisions to the parties involved, with a copy to the National Executive, not more than four working days after receiving the appeal”.

It added that Article 53 (v) states: “In any situation where strict adherence to the time for lodging an objection, or an appeal may cause manifest injustice, the Elections Committee may postpone the elections until the dispute has been finally resolved.”

It said a new date for the elections would be communicated as soon as the EDAC completed its work.

Petitioners

Mr Lloyd Evans and Mr Matthew MacKwame, who filed to contest the presidency and the vice-presidency, respectively, of the GJA, have been disqualified because they are said to have failed to pay their dues on time as required to satisfy the 90-day rule before the elections.

Mr Johnnie Aryeetey, the Director of Television at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), who is also contesting the presidency, has raised issues with the elections.

According to him, allegations had been made that the incumbent GJA President, Mr Affail Monney, who was seeking re-election, was conniving with some of his administrative staff to short-change the good members of the association.

Voters register

In another development, the Election Committee has written to all chapter heads of the GJA, requesting that they provide it with a list of members of the association in their respective institutions who have paid their dues up to at least the end of December 2016.

“This is to enable the committee to reconcile your list with the one published by the GJA Secretariat,” the statement said, and requested that the list should reach the Press Centre by close of work on Monday, March 27, 2019.

Petition 

Meanwhile, two other journalists have petitioned the EDAC over what they say are constitutional breaches in relation to the processes leading to the elections and the mandate of the current executive. 

 Mr Charles Benoni Okine and Mr Enoch Darfah Frimpong, both of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), in their petition dated March 21, 2017, said: “We have serious issues about the legality of the elections called by the current executives to be held on March 31, 2017 which we believe will not be in consonance and resonance with the 2004 GJA Constitution, equity and social justice.” 

The GJA, which is an umbrella association responsible for promoting press freedom and the welfare of Ghanaian journalists, has planned to organise elections to elect new national and regional executives for the next three years on March 31, 2017. 

However, in the petition, addressed to the Chairman of the EDAC and copied to the Chairman and Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC), the Chairman of the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of the GJA and the Chairman of the Elections Committee, the two said the mandate of the current GJA executives expired in March 2016 and since then no legal arrangements had been made to extend their mandate as of now, for which reason they had no power to appoint an elections committee. 

“As concerned members of the association who have the constitutional duty to protect and defend the reputation of the association, we are of the belief that it will be cruel and unjust for the March 31, 2017 elections to be held in the teeth of the evidence of serious breaches of the GJA Constitution,” they said, adding that to hold the elections on March 31 will do “violence to the GJA Constitution”. 

Election processes

 According to the two petitioners, if even they were to endorse the “illegal acts” of the current executives, the processes preceding the elections with respect to the establishment of the EDAC, in line with Article 44 (c ) (i) of the GJA Constitution, had also been flouted. 

Article  44 (c )states: “The Election Dispute Adjudication Committee shall be appointed three (3) months before the elections and shall be dissolved within two months after the declaration of the election results.” 

The two argued that a press release dated January 30, 2017 and signed by Mr Dave Agbenu, the General Secretary of the GJA, and announcing the appointment of the Elections Committee and the date for the elections stated: “As required by the Constitution of the GJA, a three-member Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee will in due course be established by the Elections Committee.” 

Dispute Committee 

They said clearly if the elections were to be held on March 31, 2017, then per the provisions of the GJA Constitution, the EDAC should have been appointed and in place by January 1, 2017. 

They said in the same press release, Mr Agbenu had stated that “candidates vying for any of the executive positions shall be full members of the association for at least five (5) years and must be in good standing by at least the close of Monday, 27th February, 2017. 

They said surprisingly, however, they read a press release issued by the Elections Committee that Mr Lloyd Evans, one of the aspirants for the presidential race, had been disqualified for failing to meet the 90-day rule. 

Mandate 

With regard to the mandate of the current executives, the two argued that upon the expiry of the mandate, a notice was sent out for an emergency general meeting, which was held on Friday, August  26,  2016, and said even though the meeting was supposed to be an emergency general meeting, no decision of importance was taken to reflect its nature as one called to discuss issues of emergency nature.

“One would have thought that the executives of the GJA would use the opportunity offered by the emergency general meeting to throw to members the critical issue of extension of the mandate of the executives who had, by the time of the said emergency general meeting, outlived their mandate,” they said.  

They stated that the current executives announced on February 6, 2017 that there was going to be the election of new executives on  March 31, 2017, to the extent that they unilaterally decided on the said date, even though they had no mandate to decide that 2017 was an election year for the association because to all intents and purposes the election year of the association was 2016. 

“We are of the opinion that the current executives had to call an emergency general meeting to (a) seek an extension of their mandate to act in office and (b) seek a mandate from members at an emergency general meeting to declare 2017 an election year. 

“Since we are not aware who mandated for 2017 to be declared an election year, we would request to be informed whether Article 43(a) (i) of the GJA Constitution has been complied with in respect of the National Council, at its first meeting, in an election year appointing the Chairman and the two (2) other members to constitute the Election Committee. We make the point that everything about the decision to declare 2017 an election year and specifically the decision to hold GJA elections on 31st March, 2017 to be illegal and unconstitutional,” the two said. 

Johnnie Aryeetey

A letter written by Mr Nutor Bibini Nutor, the Campaign Manager of Mr Aryeetey, a GJA presidential aspirant, said: “We have noted with grave concern how some members in good standing have lately allegedly had their names deleted from the book of members in good standing. 

“We have also got wind of allegations that students of the GIJ are being issued with membership forms, ostensibly to get them to vote in the GJA elections. Again the lack of information on the GJA 2017 elections which take place in two weeks is mind boggling.” 

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