The
Gambia Press Union (GPU) on Tuesday succeeded in a discussion that led to
government dropping charges against journalists and two radio station reopening.
The
matter was mediated by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The
reopened media houses are: King FM and Home Digital FM, that were closed on 26
January 2020 amid the 3 Years ‘Jotna’ protest.
The
president of the Gambia Press Union, Sheriff Bojang Jnr said that the idea is
not only to close and reopen the radio stations but to also to send a signal to
whoever abuses its powers.
He
added that they want to use the opportunity to make sure that, due process of
the law should follow if any media house in the country is to be closed by the
government.
“Though this is a government in transition and
lot of things are expected to be going wrong, in this case, lot of things went
wrong. We came out of brutal dictatorship, where media houses were closed just
through telephone calls or somebody showing up without decency or dignity to
give you a letter to say you are closed,” he said.
He
continued: “Going back now, we have seen in this case the same pattern, and we
don’t want this to happen and our hope is that this would not happen again and
this is why our position is that, the reopening of the two radio stations and
dropping all charges is a goodwill but there is still more to be done.”
According
to him, this thing puts a lot of issues at fore – from insecurity and paranoia.
“If
the police IG or whoever can order his men to go and close radio stations
without due process and nobody argue on that. So when it comes to other issues,
the GPU will continue to negotiate and discuss to make sure that there is
justice in the case of the two media houses concerned,” he said.
Mr.
Bojang revealed that they have to admit that mistakes were committed and that
they felt government, in this case exercised powers it never had.
He
finally said that impunity and something like that will not be condoned by the
Gambia Press Union, while thanking the NHRC for making the discussion a
possibility.
For
his part, Abubacarr Tambadou, the minister of Justice and Attorney General
revealed that a discussion he had with the GPU through the NHRC to reopen the
two radio stations and also drop all charges against the journalists who were
arrested as a consequence.
“What
we wish to say is that, we (members of the GPU and government) have all learned
lessons from this episode. As we seek to strengthen our democracy, there will
be shortcomings, not just on the part of the government but also on every other
section of Gambian society including media practitioners,” he acknowledged.
