From left: Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, NMC Chairman, Ambassador Claude Maerten and Ransford Tetteh, GJA President
As part of efforts to deepen media regulation and maintain highest journalistic standards as the country approaches December 7 elections, the National Media Commission (NMC) has launched its media monitoring programme.
The programme which is supported by the European Union delegation was aimed at monitoring the activities in the media before, during and after the elections.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, Executive Secretary, NMC, George Sarpong, said the first monitoring report would be released on November 5, 2012, adding that the report would be published weekly.
He said ?We are going to pay particular attention to the post-elections activities because it is the most critical stage.?
Mr. Sarpong said normally conflicts happened during post-elections and that was why much attention would be focused on that period.
The Head of EU Delegation, Ambassador Claude Maerten said the programme was part of EU support to Ghana?s electoral process for the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
He said the EU attached high importance to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms worldwide.
Ambassador Maerten said ?Supporting democracy is in fact a crucial endeavour for the international donor community, both because of the intrinsic value of democracy as a political system that helps foster human dignity and the contributions that democratic governance makes towards better developmental outcomes for individual citizens.?
He said a free and fair election was not only about casting a vote in proper conditions, but also about having adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself so that voters could make an informed choice.
Ambassador Maerten said a democratic election with no media freedom would be a contradiction in terms. He said the paradox, however, was that in order to ensure that freedom, a degree of regulation was required.
He said the NMC has been supported with 1million Euros project. This support, he said, has enabled NMC to procure a comprehensive computer-based monitoring system, train monitors, supervisors and media analysts, organize debates and round tables for reviewing the media professional guideline.
Ambassador Maerten said the EU delegation, in line with the electoral cycle approach, was also providing extensive electoral support to civil society organizations through grant contracts for an amount of 2.4million Euros.
The support, he said, specifically targeted participation of women in politics, funded under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and through the 4.5million Euros contribution to the multi-donors basket fund, strengthened transparency, accountability and responsiveness in Ghana.
By Cephas Larbi
