By Ousman Saidykhan
The Gambia Press Union said it is deeply concerned about the increasing threats of civil defamation suits against journalists and media houses from government officials, calling on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to urge the Gambia to end “impunity,” and investigate and prosecute physical assault on journalists.
“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,” said Modou S. Joof, Secretary General of GPU at the 81st Ordinary Session of (ACHPR) currently holding in Banjul.
He also recommended the ending of “harassment and intimidation of journalists and journalists’ sources through arrests and legal proceedings” and speeding of “efforts to bring to justice perpetrators of murder, enforced disappearance, and torture of journalists – committed during the dictatorship.”
President Adama Barrow’s legal suit against The Voice Media Company Limited and its Editor-In-Chief, set for October 25, follows one of the paper’s late September articles, which alleged the President had planned to choose business tycoon Muhammed Jah as his successor to run for the nation’s 2026 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the environment minister’s civil suit against The Alkamba Times’ reporter concerns an article the online news outlet published in June alleging that D150,000, which was alleged to have been paid from the sale of a Mahogany tree, was paid into the minister’s bank account.
Rohey John Manjang is asking for a whopping 50 million dalasis and a public apology.
“The GPU is deeply concerned not only because defamation suits carries huge financial implications, but also because of the potential to financially cripple these media houses – thereby significantly limiting their ability to continue holding the government and public officials to account and to continue promoting transparency in government,” the SG of the umbrella body of Gambian journalists said.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Gambia ranked 5th in Africa and 46th in the world in terms of press freedom in 2023. For GPU, this is “considerable progress.”
However, In 2024, the West African country dropped to 12th on the continent and 58th globally out of 180.
“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 a lack of subsidies for the media, a lack of a mechanism to ensure the safety of journalists, and the lack of implementation of the Access to Information law,” Joof said.
Since 2017, more than 15 incidences of physical assault on journalists and media professionals have been perpetrated either by the police or political party militants – from both the ruling party and the opposition, according to GPU… “none has ever been investigated, and no one is held accountable.”
“The failure to bring perpetrators of crimes against Gambian journalists to justice has helped sustain a cycle of violence against journalists for 30 years – covering a period from the dictatorship era to the current administration – as of 2024,” the body added.
