The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has assured journalists and media houses across the country that they will have unrestricted access to cover the upcoming December 7 general elections.

This assurance comes amid growing concerns over the Electoral Commission’s decision to limit media access at constituency and regional collation centres.

Speaking on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, December 2, Mr. Dwumfour emphasized his commitment to ensuring that journalists have full access to all collation centres across the country. He credited this positive development to successful engagements with the EC and other key stakeholders the previous week.

“We had meetings with the Commissioner on Wednesday and Thursday, and we have made it clear to them our position that we are going to ensure that the media is given unfettered access, something that was made public during our press conference.

“In fact, on Friday [November 29] afternoon, my colleague, the president of Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), also called and said that the Commissioner, Madam Jean Mensa, called him, and they are offering us 4,500 accreditations to the coalition centre and the regional coalition centres.

“In fact, this time around, that same card will give you access to the constituency coalition centre and the regional coalition centre. There’s not going to be two cards, the same accreditation that will give you access to the constituency collation centre will give us access to the regional collation centre.”

Some media outlets had raised concerns about the challenges of securing the necessary accreditations for their reporters, especially after the EC initially set a cap of 3,308 accreditations for media personnel. The decision faced widespread criticism from journalists and media advocacy groups, who argued that the number was insufficient to ensure comprehensive coverage at key collation centres.

In response to the criticism, the EC revised its policy, increasing the number of accreditations to 4,500.