In a statement issued by the GJA and signed by Mr Roland Affail Monney, the President of the Association, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, called for re-awakening for all journalists and Ghanaians.

It said as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media must be alive to their cardinal mandate of holding the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people of Ghana as enshrined in Article 162 (5) of the 1992 Constitution.

It urged the media to exercise their watchdog roles as accorded under Chapter 12 of the Constitution with utmost responsibility, adding that, “the media must do better in the discharge of their roles as champions of national development”. The statement called on the Executive and Legislature to work assiduously to ensure the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) and Broadcasting Bills in 2018.

The statement said these bills have, like a pendulum, swung between the Executive and Legislature for many years. “It is our hope that the two arms of government will endeavour to pass the bills into law in 2018 in order to promote professionalism in the media and also strengthen the fight against corruption,” it stated.

The statement urged political actors in particular to be re-awakened to their common aspiration of improving the wellbeing of Ghanaians and deepening the country’s fledgling democracy.

It said they must always place national interest above personal interest and also appreciate the fact that political office is a call to serve, not to swerve the national interest. In that regard, it charged political-actors to consider the media as partners, not enemies, and must stretch to the media a helpful hand and not a hurtful hand.

The GJA noted that the era of assault and brutality by political actors against the media must give way to a period of respect for the rule of law and human dignity in 2018 to help move the country forward.