Affail Monney retained as GJA President

Incumbent President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Roland Affail Monney, has won a second-term.

He polled 310 votes out of the total 505 votes in an election predicted to go in favour of his closest competitor, Lloyd Evans.

Mr. Evans had 147 votes with the third candidate- Jonny Aryeetey- polling 44 votes.

Four votes were rejected, the GJA Election Committee said on Friday, September 29, 2017.

The voting process was nearly marred after a presidential contestant, Mr Aryeetey, was turned away because his name was not found on the electoral roll.

The situation was bizarre, especially when the contestant’s name had been captured on a separate list signed by the GJA Election Committee Chairperson, Ben Assorow.

The anomaly was however, corrected following agitations by supporters of Mr Aryeetey.

But after the close of voting, Mr Monney polled the largest votes out of the total 505 votes cast.

He [Affail Monney] told journalists shortly after being declared President-elect by the officials of the Electoral Commission, that his second-term will be dedicated to creating a congenial environment for journalists to operate.

Touching on some of the events leading to the poll, he said he chose to remain “unflappable” despite some of the claims made against him by his opponents and their supporters.

“By nature, I am disinclined to deflect comments” I will bring on board my main opponent Mr Evans to enable the Association benefit from his experience.

He disclosed that he made some changes to the structure of the Association during his first and will do more in his second term.

“Change is an essential ally of progress [and] we have already started the change,” he added.

The other officers elected were Mary Mensah – Public Affairs, Edmund Kofi Yeboah – General Secretary and Linda Asante – Vice President