26 January 2008
Accra — Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State in charge of Education, Science and Sports, has apologized to journalists covering the ongoing 26th Africa Cup of Nations for the numerous problems they had encountered preparatory to the championship.
"On behalf of the Ministry and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) I wish to apologize to all for the difficulties they encountered with regard to accreditation for the competition.
"We acknowledge the problems and take responsibility and we shall rectify the problems," Miss Ohene stated.
She explained that the problems arose out of the huge number of accreditation applications, from both the local and international media. According to Miss Ohene, the number was above expectation and they were overwhelmed by it and that "threw everything out of gear".
The Minister said the LOC was still issuing out accreditation to journalists for the tournament but added that there seemed to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of the accreditation.
"The wearing of accreditation badge does not entitle the holder to a seat in the stadium. We are in consultation with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to agree on a list of accredited journalists who can enter the stadium with tickets for specific matches," she noted.
She said any journalists who wanted to watch any match must have the required tickets and the LOC would ensure that the directives were complied with.
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