Chairman of the Election Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) says the Association ought to review its constitution to make it functional.

Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh who expressed disappointment about the election dispute which stalled the Association’s last election said the court's adjudication is a mere reflection of his Committee’s previous direction for the elections to proceed.

“If the Elections Committee had been responsive enough to our decision, all this won’t have happened. At the end of the day, the conclusion that we drew what exactly what the court also said.

Speaking to Gifty Andoh Appiah on The Pulse programme on the JOYNEWS channel on MultiTV on Tuesday, he blamed the lack of communication within the Association for the issues therein adding journalists look down on themselves.

“I feel pained and disappointed because we look mean on ourselves as journalists. EDAC said to proceed with the election, and if they had proceeded no court action would have arisen,” he said.

According to Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, the way to forge ahead is for both members and GJA executives to be more responsible towards the Association and what it stands for.

“One of the things we have to do is look at the GJA constitution and make it more functional,” he advised.

The election dispute of GJA has been resolved after the litigating parties opted for a mediation to have the case settled out of court.

Consequently, the terms of mediation settlement, which was agreed upon by the litigating parties on July 28, were presented to the General Jurisdiction Division of the Accra High Court on Monday and the court, presided over by Mr Justice Daniel Mensah adopted the 'Consent Judgement.'

This means that the election of new national and regional executives to run the affairs of the association for the next three years, which has stalled since March 31, can now go ahead.

Counsels for the plaintiffs, Mr Sam Wood and for the defendants, Mr Egbert Fabille Jnr informed the court about the 'Consent Judgement' on Monday morning.

The specific terms of the settlement are that an Inter-Candidate Elections Committee (ICEC) made up of the candidates vetted and passed by the Elections Committee as well as those approved by the Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) of the GJA is to be established to organise the elections.

The ICEC is to discuss the road map and modalities necessary for the smooth conduct of the elections and in addition, all candidates are to be given certified copies of the Roll of Voters as well as commit to ensure trust and fairness.

In line with that, the Chairman of the GJA Election Committee, Mr Ben B. Assorow, is, therefore, to convey a meeting of the ICEC and the EC on August 1, at the Ghana International Press Centre to discuss the election timetable and other matters.