The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, has tasked the the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to use their union to bargain for better working conditions for journalists in the country.

He made the comments when elected officers of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) were sworn into office Friday.

The minister said the GJA should move a step beyond unionization and fight Media owners to improve better working conditions for journalists.

He tasked new GJA president, Affail Monney to increase the negotiation powers of the GJA to have better conditions of service for media practitioners.

The new officers were sworn in by High court Judge His Lordship Justice Anthony kwadwo Yeboah at a short ceremony held at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra.

The new officers are Roland Affail Monney, (President) Mrs Linda Asante Adjei (Vice President) Mary Mensah (Public Affairs officer), Edmund Kofi Yeboah (General Secretary) and Albert Dwumfour (Organising Secretary).

GJA President, Mr Monney, thanked the outgoing executives for their contributions to the growth of the association.

He expressed gratitude for the opportunity to lead the GJA, pledging to work towards unionising the association, so that journalists ‘will be legally empowered to negotiate better conditions of service.

He said the Association would use its new bargaining power to improve the working conditions of journalists, and not to attack employers.

He, however, urged the new regional and national executives to apply the lessons learnt from incidents that preceded the elections in order to “foster unity, build on the GJA’s status in the society and make it even more credible and formidable.

He therefore urged all new executives and members of the association to bury their differences and work towards the development of the association.