By Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
As part of its effort to ensure the freedom of expression for journalists in the country, using election 2024 as a yardstick, the Ghana Journalists Association, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy Ghana, has launched the GJA/U.S. Embassy Ghana Elections 2024 project dubbed ‘Journalists for Peaceful Discourse’.
The project launch, which was under the theme Promoting Peaceful Journalistic Media Platforms Ahead of Elections 2024, brought together various stakeholders in the promotion of democracy in Ghana. It saw security personnel, media practitioners, diplomats, politicians, and government appointees commit to the adherence of peaceful and credible elections.
In a welcome address, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, expressed gratitude to the U.S. Embassy Ghana for its immense and continuous support of the media fraternity. He acknowledged the pivotal role of the media in the upcoming elections and the safeguarding of the country’s democracy.
He described the project as one that will equip journalists in Ghana to uphold the tenets of Press Freedom and freedom of expression while promoting professionalism.
He also added that the project offers opportunities to stakeholders in democracy to exchange knowledge and foster an environment which is conducive enough to safeguard the discussion of freedom of speech and the promotion of free, fair, and credible elections.
In his statement, the Press Attaché from the U.S. Embassy Ghana, Kevin Brosnahan, mentioned the unwavering support his outfit has for the promotion of free and fair elections and also the protection and promotion of professionalism in the practice of Journalism in Ghana. He bemoaned the recent attacks launched on media personnel and urged for a mechanism that could curb such acts. He stressed the need for professionalism before, during, and after the 2024 elections, which he described as very crucial to the promotion of Ghana’s democracy. According to him, the only way Ghana can have a credible, free, and fair election is through the practice of Professional Journalism. He called on journalists to be circumspect in the questions they ask and the information they put out there, lest it fuel violence and destroy the beautiful democracy.
The overview, as presented by the Project Lead, Rebecca Ekpe, is a 10-month project that will offer journalists the opportunity to uphold the tenets of Press Freedom and promote professionalism while contributing to violence-free and credible polls in Ghana before, during, and after the elections in 2024.
According to her, online journalists and on-air personalities and talk show hosts of privately or politically exposed TV or radio stations, especially local language-speaking stations, will be identified by the regional network architecture of the GJA. The selected journalists will undergo training to equip them to train other journalists within their respective media houses, dubbed the training of trainers effect. The training is expected to, after its completion, sensitise media persons to initiate violence-free media platforms, freedom of expression, and credible elections.
She further stressed that the ‘Journalists for Peaceful Discourse will help the GJA promote long-term learning for participants to contribute to upholding freedom of expression and credible polls and also encourage the sharing of information among journalists and election-related entities to better inform the work of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to enable the promotion of freedom of expression for violence-free and credible polls.