The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced that the number of accreditations for the media to cover the collation of results at the constituency and regional collation centres has been increased to 4,500.
Initially, the EC suggested a minimum of 3,308 for the number of accreditations.
Speaking during a press conference on Friday, November 29, 2024, the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, announced that the Commission will issue the 4,500 accreditation cards to the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Ghana Independent Broadcaster Association (GIBA) by Sunday evening.
The EC added that the allocation and distribution of the 4,500 accreditation cards shall be done by the GJA and GIBA.
“The EC will not play any role in the allocation and distribution of the cards.”
The Chairperson stressed that the Commission rather needs the media most at this crucial stage of the electoral process, reaffirming its commitment to working with the media before, during and after the December General Election.
The Commission explained that its earlier memo to its regional directors was intended to ensure there would be minimum coverage at all constituency and regional collation centres, rather than seeking to restrict media access to the collation process.
“The earlier memo that suggested three TV stations and five radio stations per constituency collation centre, and five TV stations and seven radio stations for each regional collation centre, was therefore only to ensure minimum coverage of the collation process.
“The Commission has however agreed with the GJA and GIBA that, in spite of the space limitation at many constituency and regional collation centres, the number of accreditations will be increased from the initial suggested minimum of 3,308 to 4,500. This amounts to 1,192 more accreditations to the constituency and regional collation centres. Once again, the 4,500 accreditation cards will be delivered to GJA and GIBA by Sunday evening.”
