Sports journalists in the North have no accreditation to cover CAN 2008

With barely 24 hours to the opening match at the Tamale venue of CAN 2008, between South Africa and Senegal, majority of the sports journalists in the Metropolis have not as yet received any accreditation to cover the tournament. The Northern Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has therefore appealed to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of Ghana 2008 to immediately address the issue. The appeal contained in a statement issued to the press and signed by the Regional Chairman of the GJA, Mr. Alidu Baba, noted that even though Tamale is one of the venues for the tournament, the soccer loving people of the northern sector would be starved of information since the journalists have not as yet been given any accreditation. The statement added that the Ghana 2008 tournament cannot be successful without the involvement of the media, saying "it is therefore on this fact that the Association is appealing to the organisers of the event to ensure that journalists are given the opportunity to cover the event and not make them feel they are being sidelined by the LOC".