Kumasi, Sept 9, GNA - The Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has rejected the declaration of Mr Yaw Owusu Addo, Director of Radio of the GBC, as the President-elect of the Association.

The branch further called for the re-running of the Association's presidential elections at a date to be determined by the extraordinary congress to be held in Accra on Friday, September 12. These are contained in a resolution adopted at the end of an emergency meeting held in Kumasi on Friday to deliberate on the recent developments in the Association and the impending extraordinary congress.

The resolution which was signed by Mr Samuel Ennin, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Association, urged delegates to the congress to support the re-running idea for a popular choice to emerge as the President to bring peace to the Association.

On the issue of non-journalism graduates in the media being seen as Journalists, the Ashanti branch said, even though it recognised such graduates, who were already members of the Association as Journalists, henceforth, the GJA should not admit people without formal journalism training into its fold.

According to the Ashanti branch the diploma and degree journalism programmes being offered by the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and other Journalism Schools and the one-year masters degree programme in communication studies at the University of Ghana, gave greater accessibility of journalism training to prospective persons, who wished to enter the profession.

It, therefore, called for an amendment to Article 2 section (a) and (b) of the GJA constitution that defines the status of a Journalist. In another development Vanguard Assurance Company Limited has agreed to sponsor the monthly meetings of the Ashanti Regional branch of