Ahead of the December 2020 general elections, the Ghana Journalism Association says that it has partnered with SIC Company to provide insurance to some 500 of its members.

The Association says that the insurance is to cater for any unfortunate circumstance that journalists may find themselves in during the elections.

Vice-President of the GJA, Linda Asante Agyei, announced this in an interview with UniversNews.

“GJA, in collaboration with the SIC, has instituted an insurance package for 500 members who will be covering election this year. In terms of anything that will happen to you in line of duty, probably you might be beaten or you could lose your equipment, it could be a phone or a camera, the insurance package will cover for that,” she said.

The insurance which spans November 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, provides each beneficiary with up to GH¢40,000 indemnity against death and permanent disability.

In the event of death, the dependents of the journalist would be given GH¢40,000 lump sum and monthly payments of GH¢3,300 for up to 12 months, while in the case of permanent disability, the journalist will receive both the lump sum and monthly payments.

Madam Agyei also expressed concern over the rate at which journalists were assaulted by security agencies or political actors.

She mentioned that efforts were still being made by the Association to reduce the occurrence of such happenings.

She also advised journalists to ensure that they are objective in their reportage at all times.

“In practising journalism, safety should be paramount, you need to live to tell the story but not us telling your story, safety is something that should be key to us and we need to take our safety precautionary measures when reporting during thing like pride, demonstrations and what have you,” she noted.