GJA Presidential Candidate Kicks Against Plans To Gift Press Center To Govt

One of the three aspirants to the presidency of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Gayheart Mensah, has kicked against reported moves by the outgoing Affail Monney administration to gift the international press center to the government.

In a statement issued by Mr. Mensah on the issue, he said the move which is said to be captured in an MoU between the GJA and the Ministry of Information, is unacceptable for a number of reasons, chief among them being that it has not been extensively discussed.

“My attention has been drawn to a draft, unsigned MOU, with the Ministry of Information, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), National Media Commission (NMC) and the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) as the intended signatories. At the center of the MOU is the future of our Press Center. I pray that the MOU remains a draft and unsigned for a while. This is because the content of the MOU has far-reaching implications for the GJA and could define the future of our association in various respects. It, therefore, needs to be thoroughly and extensively discussed,” Mr. Gayheart Mensah wrote.

Apparently, the move by the outgoing Affail Monney administration was a desperate one driven by a desire for the press center to be expanded and given a facelift.

According to Mr. Gayheart Mensah who says he has been a member of the GJA for 33 years, even if those intentions are noble, ceding the press center to the government so that GJA become tenants amounts to gifting out the very heartbeat of the GJA whose only notable asset is the press center.

Also, critics worry that the move will sacrifice the independence of the media in Ghana, particularly with the inherent impression that the Akufo Addo administration had already compromised a substantial section of the Ghanaian media.