By: Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Members of the Ghana Journalists Association, GJA to be eligible to participate in the June 30 national and regional elections will use a new and digital Membership Card.
The cards, currently being printed by Margins Limited, the official printer of the Ghana Card, are being directly linked to the personal details of GJA members as captured in the national Ghana Card database.
The President of the GJA, Albert Dwumfuor, made this known in Kumasi at a campaign meeting with members of the Association.
“The digital Membership Card that we’ve all been awaiting for will be issued for the election. And we’re going to use the Cards. Once the list of Members in good standing is out, I’ve just handed the list to Margins today. Margins led the NIA Cards. So they’re going to link it up with the NIA Cards so once they get the name, the details will come and they’ll print it. So the Cards are going to be used for the elections”, he asserted.
Mr. Dwumfuor, who is also, seeking a re-election after his first term of three years, disclosed also that, the GJA has received three proposals from some insurance companies and are being studied for insurance package for journalists.
These involve life and mutual packages and if approved, the insurance package will enable journalists to visit the hospital at no monetary cost, at least, once in a year.
He said during his tenure, the rate at which media practitioners were being violently attacked in the line of duty has substantially reduced.
In instances where some have been victims of attacks, the GJA President noted, the Association has provided various forms of support, including moral, legal and financial.
The GJA, he noted, has become so attractive during his term that, there is a sudden rush for membership by practicing journalists saying that, in the three-year period of his leadership, GJA has received 600 applications. Out of this number, the membership vetting committee of which he is the Chairman, has so far approved about 300 with the others pending.
According to Mr. Dwumfuor, unlike previously when the GJA was dominated by journalists working for the state-run media, the paradigm has shifted to a current ratio of 60:40 in favour of the state media journalists with even a brighter prospect of a complete change in the years ahead as there is a deliberate plan to expand membership of the Association.
He said one of the major physical achievements of the GJA in the last three years has been a major facelift of the International Press Centre, the headquarters of the Association to befit its status.
Mr. Dwumfuor also mentioned capacity building for media practitioners in the country, including bloggers and promised to do more for especially practitioners in community radio to improve upon their performance.
He therefore appealed to GJA delegates in the Ashanti region to vote for him to continue with the work he has being doing so as to further project the GJA as the real intermediary between the government and the governed, the citizens, for a greater accountability of stewardship among functionaries of the three arms of government.
