George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC), has commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for engaging stakeholders over its previously controversial directive to limit media access at collation centres for the December 7 elections.
In an interview with Channel One News, Sarpong emphasized the need for the EC to act in a manner that builds public confidence in its capacity to conduct free and fair elections.
“It appears to me that the commission has done a great job so far in collaborating with journalists, improving their communication and then generally helping with transparency. So when they listen to journalists cry at this point and say they are going to engage, it does two things. First, it acknowledges that the earlier directive was going to be problematic but second and most importantly, it signals the progressive attitude towards opening up.
“I think we need to recognise that we are balancing two things, one is the need for complete transparency in the process. We believe that is secured when we create unfitted access to the media. The EC has done so well in this election in trying to deal with transparency issues and that is why I will encourage them to continue in that same direction.
“However, I do not know the basis of the decision but I suspect that the collation centres are going to be enclosed areas and they must have been wondering how they will be able to contain a large number of journalists within small enclosures”, he stated.
