Journalists urged to report accurately on election 2012

Journalists have been urged to acquaint themselves with the rules and regulations governing the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections in order to give out the right information to the public.

"You serve as watch-dogs over everybody. When you do not do your job well, you do a great disservice, not only to your selves, but the entire nation as well," Mr. Alexander Poku-Akubia, Greater Accra Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, said this at a workshop for the media in Accra on "Enhancing the Credibility and Confidence of the Electoral Process."

He said especially on the day of voting, information comes from some media outlets, which upon verification often proved to be false.

Mr. Poku-Akubia said all it took for journalists to avoid giving out such false information, which was often alarming as well, was to have knowledge about some key aspects of the election, and also cross-check their facts thoroughly.

He said mechanisms which were absolutely trustworthy had been laid down to ensure that there were no fraudulent activities such as people voting more than once.

He said besides the laid down measures, the Biometric Verification System, ultimately ensured that all voters were indeed credible.

Mr. Poku-Akubia reminded the public that there were laid down legal procedures for reporting any suspicious or illegal act, adding that it was therefore very unnecessary for anyone to take the law into their own hands.

"The system is full of legal provisions for resolving issues. There is no need for any one to ever take the law into his own hands."

The workshop was a collaboration between the Electoral Commission, the United States Agency for International Development and the KAB Governance Institute.

Ghanaians go to the polls on Friday, December 7th 2012.