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GJA Contestants Settle Dispute Out Of Court

By Daily Guide
General News Affail Monney
AUG 1, 2017 LISTEN
Affail Monney

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism has been used to settle the long-standing dispute between the various candidates vying for positions in the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).

This was after the parties prayed the Supreme Court to have the matter settled through ADR mechanism in order not to delay the election.

Initially, the GJA's election was slated for March 31, 2017, but later postponed indefinitely pursuant to Article 53 (v) of the Association's Constitution of 2004.

The election was postponed due to the inability of the Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) of the Association to settle a case filed by some members of the Association, who felt aggrieved after being disqualified for the pending elections on certain grounds.

Article 53 (V) states that “in any situation where strict adherence to the time for lodging an objection, or an appeal may cause manifest injustice, the Elections Committee may postpone the election until the dispute has been finally resolved.”

The GJA, it would be recalled, disqualified seven candidates, who had declared their intentions to contest for various positions in the association.

Notable among them are Lloyd Evans, former Business Editor of the Daily Graphic and Mathew Mac Kwame, a lecturer.

Following their disqualification, four aspirants, Lloyd Evans, Francis Kokutse, Kofi Yeboah and Vance Azu, went to court and placed an injunction on the polls.

But the parties, after the mediation in which Austin A. Gamey served as the sole mediator, agreed to settle the dispute on some specific and general terms basis, according to a court document sighted by DAILY GUIDE.

They voluntarily agreed to “…establish an Inter-Candidate Committee (ICEC) made up of the candidates vetted and passed by the Elections Committee, as well as those approved by the Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee of the GJA.”

“All parties to the above suit hereby agree to live in harmony and to give mutual respect, trust and recognition to either party,” it said.

It also indicated that all candidates agreed that “there must be transparent and open channels of communication before, during and after the election.”

All candidates are also entitled to the voter register and must be allowed to present polling agents on election day.

Even though the matter seems to have been resolved, the Association is yet to come out with a date to finally hold the elections.

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that a meeting has been scheduled between the Association and the Electoral Commission (EC) today, August 1, 2017 apparently to decide on the date for the election.

By Melvin Tarlue

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