The Alkamba Times stands firmly with the Gambia Press Union (GPU), the Gambia Online Media Association (GOMA), former GPU presidents, and every journalist, citizen, and democrat who values truth over control. The draft National Press Accreditation Policy and the Broadcasting and Online Content Regulations, 2025, pushed forward by the Ministry of Information, represent nothing less than a calculated attempt to reimpose state licensing on the press and digital expression. These proposals must be withdrawn immediately. They are not about “professionalism” or “order.” They are about power — the power to decide who may speak, what may be said, and who may hold the government to account.
At the heart of the danger is Regulation 19, which forces journalists working for broadcasters or online platforms to register annually with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). Without that registration, they cannot legally practise. The Ministry insists this is “not a licence.” The GPU is right: it functions exactly as one. Annual renewal, suspension, and cancellation powers turn PURA — a body created to regulate utilities, not ideas — into the gatekeeper of Gambian journalism. Freelancers, online creators, and “Social Media Users with Significant Public Reach” (SPURs) under Regulations 21 and 22 face the same humiliating process. Submit your national ID, prove tax compliance, register, or shut up. This is permission-based journalism, the very system Deyda Hydara and countless others fought and died to bury after 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s tyranny.
Even more sinister is Regulation 33, which empowers PURA with sweeping powers to monitor online content and issue binding directives for its removal, modification, or correction. Regulation 12(4) lets the Minister designate entire categories of online platforms for regulation at will. Schedule 2 of the Accreditation Policy lists vaguely worded “prohibited content” — secretly recorded material, graphic violence, anything deemed to offend “public morality” or “national cohesion” — with no robust public-interest defence. Investigative reporting on corruption? Critical commentary on governance? Satire that stings too sharply? All risk administrative sanctions, fines, suspension, or outright shutdown without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.
Section 207 of the 1997 Constitution is crystal clear: “The press and other institutions of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the principles of democracy and accountability.” Section 25 guarantees every Gambian the right to receive and impart information. These drafts shred both. They also violate Principle 6 of the African Commission’s 2019 Declaration on Freedom of Expression, which explicitly forbids state licensing of journalists, and Article 19 of the ICCPR. The Gambia that emerged from dictatorship in 2017 was celebrated across Africa precisely because we rejected the idea that citizens need government permission to speak. These regulations drag us backwards.
The government claims the measures will curb “misinformation” and promote responsibility. The record says otherwise. Self-censorship is already creeping in. Journalists will think twice before exposing wrongdoing if their livelihood depends on keeping PURA happy. Young online voices — the very engines of youth participation in our young democracy — will be muzzled or driven underground. The public will lose access to diverse, independent information at the very moment when accountability is most needed.
The solution lies not in state control but in the independent Media Council of The Gambia (MCG), created by the GPU itself. Strengthen the MCG, give it statutory recognition, and let journalists police their own ethics through mediation and professional discipline. That is how mature democracies — and progressive African nations like Kenya — protect both freedom and standards. Handing the job to PURA and a Minister is not regulation; it is repression dressed in bureaucratic clothing.
President Adama Barrow and Minister of Information Dr. Ismaila Ceesay must listen. The GPU, former GPU leaders, GOMA, civil society, and the international community have spoken with one voice: these drafts are unconstitutional, un-African, and unacceptable. Scrap them. Do not force the media into a new era of fear and self-censorship. Gambia’s democracy was built on free expression. It will not survive if that foundation is chipped away.
The Alkamba Times will continue to report without fear or favour. We call on every Gambian who cherishes the right to know — every teacher, market woman, taxi driver, student, and public servant — to join the chorus: Withdraw these regulations now. Our press freedom is not a privilege granted by the government. It is a right won with blood, guarded by vigilance, and essential to the survival of our republic.
