Accra, July 1, GNA - The Ninth African Union Summit on Sunday took off in Accra with some amount of protocol hitches characterized by what observers described as unacceptable frustration of journalists duly accredited to cover the summit.
In spite of wielding two separate accreditations - one for security passage and the other for access into the main conference hall - over 300 journalists, mostly from the international media, were confounded, amidst protest, to the media center to source their reportage from Ghana Television commentaries.
As if that was not enough, the television screens mounted for journalists to source their reportage went off just at the start of the opening ceremony of the summit and stayed off for some five minutes, leaving journalists completely out of the action in the summit. Meanwhile other visitors to the media center such as exhibitors and restaurant operators competed with journalists for space, tables and chairs, making it even more difficult for journalists to work effective at the media center.
The situation left journalists with no option than to write a petition that raised at least 200 signatures from both the local Ghanaian and international press to register their protest. When the Ghana News Agency contacted Mr. Frank Agyekum, Ghana Government Spokesperson on Governance, who was at the media center, he stated that it had been made clear from day one that only cameramen and women would be allowed into the conference hall and that all other reporters were to source their reportage from the TV screens in the media center.
But journalists who had been at the conference center from June 25, 2007 when the pre-summit meetings started could confirm that it had been difficult laying hands on any of the media and communication coordinators of the summit to get information from them.
Mrs Janet Narh, from BEN TV in London, who led journalists to write the petition and raise signatures, noted that on Saturday, journalists were told at a press briefing that only 150 of them, comprising 50 from Ghana and 100 from the international press, would be allowed into the conference hall, "but for whatever reason everything changed this very morning without any prior notice to us."
"I think they regard journalists at trash and that is unfortunate because if the union government is about the masses and journalists who are supposed to inform the masses are cut out in this manner then we are not serious about seeking the people's interest," she said. Mrs. Narh noted that "this kind of treatment from African (bodies) is becoming very frustrating and unacceptable, especially for the international media, who had spent large sums of money to bring their reporters to Accra to cover the summit only to be told to source their report from some TV commentator".
"With this kind of situation it would be difficult for reporters to file comprehensive and cohesive reports from the summit," she said. Other reporters complained that from the start of the pre-summit meetings, journalists had been treated as if they did not matter to the summit at all. Several attempts to get a press briefing from the media coordinators from both the Ghanaian and AU side proved futile. Meanwhile other protocol hitches manifested in the form of lack of coordination among security details for the summit and those for the individual Heads of State.
While the security details of individual Heads of State insisted on entering the conference hall with their respective Heads of state the AU security physically prevented them at the entrance.
All that notwithstanding, the Heads of State, foreign ministers, first ladies and guests arrival at the conference center was amidst tight security, with some of the vehicles of some being heavily guarded by several men on foot.
At the main entrance of the conference center there was a long cue of dignitaries who had to go through very strict protocol and security procedures before gaining access to witness the opening ceremony. Several roads surrounding the environs of the conference center were closed making traffic very light in the township of Osu. Added to the reasons for the road blockage was the AU Milo Marathon and the National Cycle Race, which terminated at the Independence Square, also within the environs of the conference center.
