NDC against journos taking part in IPAC meetings

The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has opposed suggestions by some political parties that journalists be allowed to sit in Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings.

The People’s National Convention (PNC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) proposed at the Tuesday July 12 meeting that journalists be allowed to be part of subsequent IPAC meetings to enhance the flow of information to the public.

But Director of Elections for the NDC Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, speaking to Class News, opposed the suggestion.

He argued: “We have indicated that after every IPAC meeting, highlights of decisions arrived at must be immediately made available to journalists through the Electoral Commission’s Public Affairs Department. We believe that if we do that, it will sanitise the system because information that will be given out will be consistent with the discussions that we had.

“For now, what happens is that after the meeting, you (journalists) will accost me here and maybe I will give you answers based on my understanding of the issues…journalists being part of the meeting will be superfluous. How many media houses are you going to accredit to come to IPAC? So we believe that IPAC discussions should concentrate on political parties and when we finish, salient issues that have been agreed upon must be communicated to the media in order to ensure that the reportage is uniform.”