Reveals GPU SG
By: Arret Jatta
Modou Joof, Secretary General of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) has disclosed that the union has trained 325 people on the implementation of the Access to Information Act.
“We have trained 75 information officers from ministries, security agencies, departments and parastatals, 50 civil society activists, 50 journalists, 25 permanent secretaries, 125 directors and senior officials of ministerial departments and agencies,” Joof disclosed in a press conference held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center on Thursday.
Organized by the Gambia Press Union in partnership with the Department of Information Services with financial support from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the presser was meant to update the media and the public on the progress made to popularize the Access to Information Act (2021).
The Gambia’s Parliament passed the Access to Information Bill on 21July 2021, and it was later assented to by the President in August 2022 to become an Act.
This Act enables journalists and the general public to access official information held by or in the government’s custody. It invokes an obligation on the government to facilitate easy access to information in its custody, and significantly, to publish important information pro-actively and regularly for the general public.
Joof emphasized that the effective and efficient implementation of the ATI Act can be actualized by developing strategies and activities that address access to information challenges.
“This is why in December 2023, January, and February
2024, the GPU, again with support from NDI, facilitated training on the implementation framework of the Access to Information Act,” he stated.
He also highlighted that the union summarized and produced a simplified non-technical language handbook on the Act.
“The ATI Act was summarized and produced into a simplified non-technical language handbook, 750 handbooks printed and half of it distributed among key stakeholders,” he disclosed.
The GPU secretary general told reporters that video and audio of the simplified ATI handbook were translated into sign language with voice and subtitles, adding that the audio was also translated into English and indigenous languages like Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Jola, Manjago, Serer, and Sarahulleh.