GJA leadership deserves special commendation

If any leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), formed sixty years ago, should be commemorated, it is the current one, following the recognition of its uniqueness in three areas which are aimed at primarily seeking the welfare of its members.

Last year, the Association, under Mr. Roland Affail Monney, became unionised after many years of negotiations. Having become a recognised union upon the issuance of a certificate by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the GJA has, since September last year, embarked on a nationwide exercise to register new members.

At the presentation ceremony, the GJA President, Affail Money, gave the assurance that the Association would use its new bargaining power to improve the working conditions of service of journalists, as well as fight for the industrial and professional rights of media workers in Ghana.

Developments so far have affirmed that the GJA is committed to its set objectives, and, therefore, assiduously working towards achieving them.

A couple of weeks ago, the Association cut the sod for the construction of affordable houses for journalists at Pampaso, near Nsawam, in the Eastern Region.

The housing project, dubbed, 'GJA Media Village Project, which is in partnership with Koans Building Solutions, a real estate company in Ghana, in a bid to resolve the accommodation challenges facing journalists, as well as encourage them to own houses upon retirement.

It follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last April with Koans Estate to build 100 cluster houses within one year for its members at affordable prices.

Each house, to be sited at the GJA Media Village, is expected to go for GH¢60,000 for two bedrooms without a hall, and GH¢80,000 for two bedrooms with a hall.

We are also aware of the proposed insurance package under the Saham Life Insurance Ghana Limited to benefit its members in the areas of hospitalisation, funerals, marriages and child birth for members under a policy, known as the GJA Assured Group Welfare Policy.

Under the package, members are not to pay any premium because the Association would pay for that, with part of the membership dues. Currently, the GJA Assured Group Welfare Policy does not cover motor accidents and assaults on journalists.

But the good news here is that this policy is just one of the many welfare schemes the GJA has planned for members.

The essence of rolling out the insurance package is basically to address the risks involved in the work of journalists.

Our plea to the GJA, therefore, is to work to capture motor accidents and assaults on journalists under the policy, even as the Association is directly handling compensation for those incidents.

We hope the efforts by the GJA would encourage media houses and organisations to seek and ensure better working conditions of their employees.

In the face of these feats, The Chronicle cannot but doff our hat for Mr. Monney and his team, with three big and loud cheers as our special prize and award for the GJA’s achievement so far.

But before that, the paper wants to take this opportunity to congratulate host of Citi Breakfast show, Bernard Koku Avle, for emerging the Best Journalist of the Year for 2017 at the just-ended 23rd GJA Awards ceremony.

Kudos and more grease to the elbows of Affail Monney and Co.

Hip, Hip, Hip, Hurray!