WhatsUp News has learnt that the Election Committee of the Association will soon announce a firm date for the holding of an election for new executives for the Association.
It is understood that the Election Adjudication Committee is handling petitions under terms of an agreement that was put together after a court suit was withdrawn for an amicable settlement last year.
According to sources from within the GJA, once the Committee finishes sorting the petitions, the election committee will be ready with a concrete date on which to hold the election which has been delayed
These are the terms of reference facilitated by Justice Julia Mensah and deposited at the court.
In May 2021, Association President, Roland Affail Monney, along with the National Council and the election committee was sued for staying in office illegally.
The plaintiff, Ms. Caroline Boateng of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), who is a paid-up member of the GJA filed the writ at the Accra High Court on Friday, May 7, 2021.
According to her, Affail Monney’s administration ended on November 17, 2020, and therefore she wanted the Accra High Court to “declare that all actions of the defendants from 17th November 2020 to date are null and void.”
She also wanted an order from the court to set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC), comprising of the Past Presidents of GJA excluding the immediate, Mr. Affail Monney, and for the court to give timeliness within which elections shall be conducted and new officers inducted into office.
However, the GJA would later announce that it had agreed on an out-of-court settlement with Ms., Caroline Boateng and that the agreement had been under the auspices of the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.
As part of the resultant agreement, the GJA had committed to hold elections within a month however, the compilation of a voter’s register, which was one of the agreements has been surrounded with controversy with allegations that the register has non-journalists on it.
Last week, the GJA reportedly met and resolved that Affail Monney no longer be recognized as president of the Association.
“We the members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), having met at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on Wednesday, February 2 2022 to discuss “The GJA Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Repositioning for the Next Phase,” read the preamble to the communique.
“Media houses, corporate organizations and members of the public should desist from according the outgone President the status of President of the GJA, since he is not the President. Any person or organization that deals with the outgone president and the executives does so at their own risk,” read the resolution.
The communique said the association has resolved that an interim management team comprising senior members of the association be constituted to assist the constitutionally mandated committees of the GJA to develop a road map that will lead the association out of the current crisis and ensure the conduct of a credible election for new national and regional executives.