Joint Media Action (JMA), a committee of local pressmen today registered its displeasure about the manner with which media accreditation for MTN Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations is being handled by the Local Organizing Committee.
According to a protest letter sent to the LOC via the Kumasi Venue Organizing Committee (KVOC), barely 24hrs to the kick-off of the tournament, 95% of the local pressmen are yet to be issued press accreditation.
Mr. Listowell Yesu Bukarson, one of the spokes persons for JMA told this reporter after a demonstration by the pressmen that not only does the committee consider it inappropriate for the accreditation centre to be centralized in Accra but also the one or two press accreditations being issued per media house is woefully inadequate and highly unacceptable. They went ahead to ask the LOC to decentralize the accreditation centre to at least all the hosting cities to facilitate swift issuance of accreditation to all the deserving pressmen.
Again, they demanded that each media house is given at least five accreditations so as to enable them effectively and efficiently cover the tournament nationwide.
Although they express optimism that if the accreditation process is decentralized, the nations dented reputation would be repaired, they concluded their letter by threatening that if they don’t see any positive signs, by midday, Monday 21st January 2008, they would advice themselves.
