2016 polls: Your recklessness can start fire – EC Chair warns media
The Electoral Commission’s Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, has admonished the media to refrain from inflammatory reportage that unfairly taints the image of the commission and other stakeholders as the country prepares for this year's general elections.
The EC Chairperson encouraged circumspection on the part of the media in order to ensure peace and tranquility before, during and after the polls in December.
Speaking at the 2016 Ghana Journalists' Association Awards at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Charlotte Osei entreated journalists to work with utmost professionalism in this year's electioneering season.
She warned that “one careless comment thrown into our already inflammatory political environment with strong ethnic rumblings that we all choose to ignore strengthened by the anonymity of social media, can start a fire in this country that we may be unable to put out.”
Her advice comes on the back of the Montie three saga which saw the host of a radio show on Montie FM and two panelist imprisoned in July for criminal contempt of court after they threatened the lives of Supreme Court Justices on a live radio programme over their handling of the suit dealing with the credibility of the voters’ register.
‘We need a professional and responsible media’
The EC chair called for the media’s help ahead of the polls saying “the Electoral Commission of Ghana is poised to deliver a world class election on December 7th 2016, but we cannot do it alone. We need a professional and responsible media.”
Charlotte Osei also admonished journalists to dedicate time to studying the electoral laws and processes explaining that “we cannot have a credible electoral processes. We cannot have a credible electoral process if the media; standing between the EC, the electorate and the politicians, themselves do not understand the processes.”
In July 2016, she criticized the media for ignoring relevant reforms the Commission has rolled out as part of ensuring the success of the election.
She expressed disappointment with the fact that the media reports with “glee” spurious allegations about how the EC and its Chair intend to rig the election and cautioned that “a discredited EC is a recipe for disaster.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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