A communique emanating from a reported meeting of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, is asking the media and other parties to stop acknowledging the GJA President, Affail Monney as the figurehead of the Association.
The resolution which is dated, 2nd February 2022 and issued in the name of members of the GJA, also demanded that action be expedited for a roadmap to holding elections for new executives.
“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.”
The GJA has been divided as a result of delays in holding elections to elect new executives.
There have been allegations that the Association’s membership list has been polluted with people who do not deserve to be on the voter register, including non-journalists.
The deadlock has been generating acrimony with one member suing the Affail Monney administration last year, over its continuous stay in office even though its tenure has expired.
It is not clear whether the attendees at the Alisa Hotel meeting which resulted in the communique included Mr. Affail Monney himself.
The communique said the association has resolved that “An Interim Management Team (IMT) 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.”
The communique also said consideration must be given to constitutional reforms that will strengthen the mandated committees of the GJA to prevent the crisis in which the association finds itself today.