THE Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) urges the electorate and the media to ensure the success of the 2019 District Level Elections scheduled to be held on Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
While calling on the electorate to turn out in their numbers to vote in the elections, it also encourages the media to focus more on the processes leading to the elections in order to increase awareness on same.
The GJA, with the support of Star Ghana, is implementing a local governance project dubbed: “Enhanced Media/CSOs Partnership For Inclusive Local Governance”, which seeks to strengthen the country’s local government system.
One of the key components of the project is to promote the success of the upcoming District Level Elections.
Following a review meeting of the GJA Project Management Unit and some strategic partners held at Aburi in the Eastern Region on Saturday, December 7, 2019, the GJA believes there is the urgent need for all stakeholders to get actively involved in order to make the elections successful.
Platform Mounting
Currently, the Electoral Commission (EC) is mounting platforms for candidates contesting elections as district assembly and unit committee members in electoral areas across the country.
The rationale for this exercise is to enable the electorate engage the candidateson critical issues pertaining to the development of their respective electoral areas.
The GJA calls on the electorate to patronize the Platform Mounting by the EC in their respective electoral areas in order to ask questions and know the vision of the candidates for developing their electoral areas. That is the only way they can make better and informed choices.
It also urges the media to give extensive coverage to the Platform Mounting and make it a priority in their daily reportage in order to create more awareness on the District Level Elections.
The GJA encourages both the electorate and the media to contact the district electoral officers for information and clarification on the exercise.
It advises media houses and practitioners to adequately prepare for the elections in respect of requisite human resource and logistics.
Meanwhile, the GJA intends to issue official report on the outcome of the District Level Elections and so it urges all members of the Association to, in addition to reporting for their media organisations, observe the general conduct of the elections and submit their reports on same through the Regional Executives of the GJA.
Guidelines for the GJA Election Observation will be made available to members through the Regional Executives very soon.
SIGNED:
Kofi Yeboah
(General Secretary)