By Arret Jatta
The Secretary General of The Gambia Press Union, Modou Joof has raised the issues of press freedom in the country and called on the Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) to intervene.
“In 2023, we saw considerable progress in terms of press freedom as per the RSF Global Press Freedom Index with The Gambia ranked 5th in Africa and 46th in the world among 180 countries.
This year, the country dropped 12 places to 58th position globally and 5 places to 10th in Africa in the global press freedom index,” he highlighted on Tuesday.
He also explained that while this is still better than what obtains in a number of countries, the reason for the drop hinges on attacks on journalists, restrictive media laws, economic challenges that include high taxes and lack of subsidies for the media, lack of mechanisms to ensure the safety of journalists, and the lack of implementation of the Access to Information Law.
“Despite this progress recorded as a country, we are still grappling with challenges to press freedom – from the impunity of physical violence against journalists in the form of assault in recent years to verbal threats directed at journalists and media houses by the current administration in Banjul,” he told the commission.
Mr Joof also mentioned that, this month two of such threats by the Gambian leader and the Minister of Environment, are scheduled to be heard in court against The Voice Newspaper and The Alkamba Times.
“The GPU is deeply concerned not only because defamation suits carry huge financial implications, but also because of the potential to financially cripple these media houses, thereby significantly limiting their ability to continue holding government and public officials to account and to continue promoting transparency in government,” he emphasized.
“On September 26 and September 30, 2024, the Deputy Editor and the Editor-In-chief of a local daily, The Voice Newspaper, were charged with “False Publication and Broadcasting” over a news story on President Barrow’s rumored plans to quit the presidency by 2026. Criminal proceedings against the two journalists began on October 8, 2024, the first of such trials against a journalist since the end of the dictatorship in 2016,” he further told the commission.
Based on the issues highlighted above, Mr. Joof urged the Gambia government to put an end to the impunity of violent attacks on journalists by investigating and prosecuting physical assaults on journalists and ending the harassment and intimidation of journalists and their sources through arrests and legal proceedings.
“Ensure the Gambian Parliament remove entirely or revise provisions in Section 6.1(a) and subsections (b) and (c) of the Cybercrime Bill, 2023, which in their current form, would infringe upon fundamental rights and freedoms for journalists, the opposition, human rights defenders, and social media users contrary to local and internationally guaranteed rights to freedom of expression,” he added.