An Accra High Court has dismissed a suit filed by the International Standards Journalists Association (ISJA) against the Electoral Commission challenging the constitutionality of the election management body’s request for journalists to pay GHS10 for accreditation to cover the December polls.
The EC announced that due to logistical constraints, media houses were to pay GHS10 for the printout of media accreditation cards to enable them cover the elections.
However, the decision did not go down well with some media stakeholders such as ISJA which resorted to the court for redress.
The group argued that the EC’s demand for payment of money as a condition for issuing accreditation tag constitutes “unconstitutional discrimination against each journalist on the basis of his status as a Ghanaian journalist”.
The group also wondered why Ghanaian journalists were being charged for accreditation when non-Ghanaian journalists approved by the EC to cover the elections had not been asked to pay money for accreditation tags.
The court, however, on Tuesday, 29 November, dismissed the suit and awarded a cost of GHS3000 against ISJA. The EC opposed the suit filed by ISJA, arguing that the group is not a recognised association. But Dr Nana Oppong, President of ISJA, in an interview with journalists said he would remain resolute to fight on behalf of journalists and has, therefore, filed a fresh suit in his own capacity together with other concerned journalists.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
