GJA President sued over alleged extended ‘expired’ term

Plaintiff Caroline Boateng has sued Roland Affail Monney, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), for holding himself out as an officer of the GJA even though the tenure of his administration ended in November 2020.

According to the plaintiff, Affail Monney’s administration ended on November 17, 2020, and, therefore, she wants the court to “declare that all actions of the defendants from 17th day of November 2020 to date are null and void.”

She also wants an order from the court to create an Interim Management Committee.

The GJA National Council which is made up of the national executive and the Regional Chairpersons of the GJA whose tenure of office ended the 17th of November 2020, as well as the GJA Election Committee, have also been joined to the suit.

Boateng argues that the GJA President and the National Council “failed in their duties to ensure that the [Election Committee] carry out its mandate because [they] wanted to illegally extend their mandate and influence the subsequent elections.

“Though the terms of office for the defendants expired on the 17th day of November 2020, the [Election Committee] is holding itself as a committee mandated to conduct elections,” she explained.

Since the Election Committee’s mandate also ended on November 17, 2020, they “therefore cannot purport to be holding elections in 2021,” she avers.

“The actions taken so far by the [Election Committee] in the name of GJA is therefore against the very constitution that set all the defendants up,” Caroline Boateng’s lawsuit said.