GPU Communique on State House New Press Accreditation Policy

On Saturday, March 30, the Gambia Press Union (GPU) convened an emergency general meeting in response to a new policy by the State House requiring journalists to undergo security screening at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for accreditation to cover the presidency.

The new policy was announced last week by the Office of the Director of Press and Public Relations (DPPR) at the Office of the President.

The screening by NIA, renamed SIS, is in addition to a State House-prepared accreditation form already filled by journalists giving every information about their work and as well submitting their national identity cards. In essence, the information given was enough to be used for background checks.

Now in addition to this, with the new policy, journalists are required to go before a panel of NIA officials for security screening which could last for about an hour.

Since the announcement, the GPU issued a media alert urging journalists to stay away from any such arrangement until it exhausts consultations with the relevant authorities on the matter.

The GPU has had brief engagements with and made its position known to the Office of the DPPR.

Following hours of discussions at the GPU offices, we the media professionals in The Gambia hereby resolve that:

We acknowledge that the Office of the DPPR has over the past two years cooperated quite well with the press and has made tremendous efforts towards facilitating the work of the press on matters of coverage of events involving the presidency;

We recognise the improved environment for press freedom. We recognise the ongoing efforts by the government working closely with the media towards improving the relationship between the government and the media;

We recognise our constitutional right to hold the government accountable to the people. Access by journalists to such important office as the Office of the President is crucial in pursuant of our mandate as the watchdogs;

We acknowledge that institutional arrangements such as press accreditations are sometimes necessary to ensure security, and law and order. We are ready and willing to respect and comply with any such measure that aims to promote, not to curtail, press freedom.

We however are convinced that while background checks by security on journalists may be the norm, nowhere in the world does the process of issuance of press accreditation involve screening in the form of a panel of intelligence personnel.

We therefore consider the screening process as required by the Office of the DPPR as an interrogation, not a background check.

We have taken a common position that screening of journalists in this fashion by the NIA is a non-starter. It violates international best practices on press freedom as it places unnecessary barriers to the exercise of the right of the journalist to inform the people of what the government is doing on behalf of the tax payers.

We are of the view that the new measure provides room for abuse of press freedom that it could be used in the future to shut out media professionals who are deemed to be critical of government and government officials
In view of this, the emergency meeting resolves that no journalists should subject him/herself to any NIA screening. Complying may bring about long term safety complications for journalists.

GPU will not intervene if any such person gets into trouble arising from complying with the new requirement.

The meeting also called on the GPU to continue engaging the Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure and the DPPR with a view to bringing accreditation procedures in line with standards that support the freedom and safety of media professionals.

In conclusion, The Gambia is emerging from two decades of dictatorship during which journalists were tortured, jailed and exiled. When this government came, one of the things they promised the people was an improved environment for the protection of human rights and press freedom. A lot has been achieved in this direction. We are thus urging the authorities to refused any temptation that could derail this progress.

GPU Press Release on Closure of Radio Stations

The Gambia Press Union (GPU) is deeply concerned by the current climate of fear in the Gambia media as the state continues to crackdown on journalists. We particularly condemn, in the strongest terms, the recent closure of four radio stations.

On Sunday, January 1, personnel of the National Intelligence Agency visited Taranga FM, Hill Top FM and Afri Radio FM, ordering them to stop transmission with immediate effect. A week later - Sunday January 8 - another private station, Paradise FM, was shut down on similar orders.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure, has purportedly confirmed the revocation of the operating licenses of these radio stations. However, neither the Ministry nor the NIA gave any reasons for the closures.

Mr. WARM and Mr. CLEVER Part 2:

Emil Touray led GPU Executive

Mr. Warm, you need an advice on how to become a good leader. Mr. Warm who is going to tell you how to become a good, is Mr. Clever and he would like to have a session with you together with your lieutenants to tell your team that leadership today is very different from leadership in our parents' generation. The old "top down" style of management just doesn't work anymore. 

Gambian Journalists generally want to be fully engaged, and committed to what they're doing. They want to feel that their work matters in the media-reporting and broadcasting. And they want to believe in the people who are in charge unfortunately, Mr. Warm you fail!

Mr. Warm, you fail to build your career when you were young and now at old age what next!!! Mr. Warm resigns from your position and allows others to continue running the affairs of the union, you served under the past Presidents; Mr. Madi MK Ceesay, Ms. Ndey Tapha Sossesh and your own term- “enough is enough”

What happen to the Board of Advisers of the GPU are they not aware of what is happening at the union for three years not more that five general meetings?  

Mr. Warm, you show signs of impatience with colleagues in the GPU executive as well as the general membership.

GPU set congress date for the third time

Author: Madi Njie Human Rights Defender

According to information from the Gambia Press Union (GPU), the journalists' national union will hold congress on the 18 April 2015, at unknown venue. 

However, venue for the triannual congress is not mentioned in an email message sent to 22 members on 19 March. 

This is the second in time congress date is set without venue mentioned on time. GPU first slated congress on 20 December 2014 and was deferred to 21 March, which was postponed again to 18 April. 

Gibairu Janneh, executive director of GPU state in his two paragraph email message, dated 19 March that reasons for postponing the congress is due to limited compliance of members to pay their membership dues. The 20 December congress was called-off because members protested that they were informed about the congress, but the venue was disclosed a day before the congress. 

Mr. WARM and Mr. CLEVER

Mr. Warm and Mr. Clever in the GPU 9 Executive picture

I have observed a case of leadership choice closely. I should emphasize that both are top-class professionals. I also had the chance to observe the reputations that they left after the choice was made.

To mask the identity of the persons involved and to make the anecdote meaningful, I use the terms “Warm person” and “Clever person” in the narrative that follows. The terms should be interpreted as a tendency. Both were clever and warm. The only difference was that one was perceived as scoring a sort of 8, 5 and the other, a sort of 5, 8 on the Warmth/Intelligence matrix.

Mr. Clever joined the media as a young trainee after a brilliant academic records; gold medal, first class, distinctions, highly spoken of and all else that goes with highly intelligent people. In the media house he first started practicing journalism; Clever impressed the seniors and rose rapidly. Mr. Clever is well known for standing against injustice, impunity and defend human rights violations thus won the heart of many journalists and human rights defenders locally and internationally.