In Guinea, media hopeful with democratic transition

By Mariama Keita and Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Program

Transitional leader Sekouba Konaté casts his vote in June's historic elections in Guinea. (Reuters)Guinea’s historic presidential elections and new constitution are changing the media landscape in the West African country. Since last month, the military-led Transitional National Council has passed two new laws decriminalizing defamation and created a new media regulatory body.

This country’s progression toward embracing democracy makes it hard to believe that the “Guinean Massacre” occurred less than a year ago. On September 28, 2009, military soldiers violently dispersed a banned opposition rally at a stadium in the capital Conakry, killing dozens of people and assaulting at least a dozen journalists covering the gathering. Nasser Diallo, a reporter with Conakry private station Radio Nostalgie, managed to escape death on that tragic day and has continued broadcasting from exile. “This new law is a huge relief for me,” said Diallo, who broadcasts a radio show on Blogtalkradio from a mini studio in his Brooklyn home. “Its entry into force will give us a hope of having an independent press.”

The new press laws replaces a 1991 press code that infamously allowed, among other things, dead people to be plaintiffs in defamation lawsuits against journalists accused of causing outrage to their memory.

In lieu of prison sentences, journalists now face fines, ranging from 500,000 to 20 million Guinean francs (US$100 to US$4,000). “The paradox is that the fines are so high that journalists think they prefer prison,” said Boubacar Algassimou Diallo, political editor of the private weekly Le Lynx, the largest circulation newspaper in the country. He explained that printing costs could account for as much as 67 percent of the budget of producing a newspaper, let alone pay a fine.

“When you say 5 million Guinean francs (US$975), a journalist prefers to go to prison for three days. He knows that once in prison, with the pressure of Media Foundation of West Africa, CPJ, and Reporters Without Borders, he will be released,” he added.

In a special report released this week—“Guinea: Journalists are the Forgotten Victims of Violence”—London-based anticensorship organization Article 19 expressed concern that the new law upholds “a number of restrictions incompatible with international standards and good practice” such as “offenses of libel against the Head of State, slander and false report.”

Notwithstanding, for the first time, the press law includes provisions recognizing the country’s growing electronic media: More than 20 news websites (often based abroad) have correspondents in Guinea. “Online media is filling the gap of information resulting from the absence of private dailies. They are inevitable,” according to Diallo of Le Lynx. Under the new law, online journalists will be entitled to press cards so long as they can show a master’s diploma in journalism or two years of professional experience, explained Amadou Tham Camara, who heads the Guinean Association of Online Press (AGUIPEL).

The new law requires all news sites to register with the new media regulatory agency and identify their local correspondents, who will act as their legal representatives, he told CPJ. The agency will have the power to order the suspension or ban of websites after repeated offenses.

Abdoulaye Diallo, New York bureau chief of Guinéenews, a leading independent news site based in Canada, participated in the drafting of the new legislation, welcomed the law creating a new media regulatory agency known as HAC. “It essentially provides guarantees for the body to become more independent from state/government control by providing more representation and control over media and press to private news organizations and corporations,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The online platforms have opened the doors for Guineans all over the world to participate in the electoral process and influence the debates at home. On Election Day in New York for instance, the nonprofit organization Alliance Guinea enlisted volunteers at Columbia University to sift through thousands of text and e-mail messages reporting voting incidents in Guinea. The reports were collected through crisis reporting platform Ushahidi. Alliance Guinea co-founder Jennifer Swift-Morgan, told CPJ via e-mail that their efforts included regular TV and radio spots “encouraging everyday people to be active in monitoring the elections themselves and texting in what they see” before, during, and after the polls.

In Conakry, Diallo of Le Lynx pointed out that the Ushahidi citizen reporting initiative faced the challenge of verifying the credibility of the reports it received. Swift-Morgan said they collected several hundred useful messages that were mapped and shared with the electoral commission CENI as well as national and international media tracking the elections.

As the international community praises Guinea for having a successful democratic election, the country awaits a scheduled runoff on July 18. The Supreme Court has to make a decision regarding recent allegations of politicians manipulating the counting of votes to confirm the accuracy of the numbers of the two leading candidates. Earlier this month, AGUIPEL suspended the membership of Guinee24 news website on the grounds that it violated electoral regulations by publishing undocumented polls favoring candidate Alpha Condé, Camara told CPJ.

Mariama Keita is an intern in CPJ’s Africa program. Mohamed Keita is CPJ’s Africa advocacy coordinator.

President Jammeh, Where is Chief Manneh?

My dear brother, Sheikh, Professor, Doctor Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, president of the Second Republic of the Gambia, greetings in the name of the most Beneficent, Merciful and Gracious Lord, our Cherisher and Sustainer, Who has created man out of a clot and has taught [man] the use of the pen.

by PK Jarju

Mr Jammeh, July 7 marked the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of my friend and former colleague, Chief Ebrima Manneh. And as we mark his continuous disappearance, your government cannot still give us a satisfactorily explanation about his whereabouts. For years now, we have asked you only one simple question: “Where is Chief Manneh?” but it is taking you eternity to give us an answer.

Mr Jammeh, Chief Manneh and I both worked for the Daily Observer. He was friendly and hardworking man with a great sense of humor, which captivated everyone who had the privilege of meeting him.

Chief Manneh was a perfect gentleman, who could not even hurt a fly let alone someone. He was the breadwinner in his family. He was kind, honest, respectful and peaceful loving gentleman, who was planning to marry and start a family. It is therefore very hard to understand what evil crime he must have committed to warrant his arrest and disappearance from the surface of the earth.

Mr Jammeh, on July 7, 2006, Chief Manneh was in the newsroom of the Daily Observer, working on the next issue of the paper, when two NIA officers visited the newspaper and asked him to go with them to the Bakau Police Station for questioning.

According to Mr Manneh’s colleagues who were with him at the time, he left the newspaper premises with the two NIA officers one of whom is identified as Corporal Sey. Since then, nothing has been heard from him.

Although no explanation was given by the two NIA officers for his arrest, it is believed that it was in connection with a BBC story he culled from the internet about the AU summit you proudly hosted in Banjul http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5127830.stm.

The story which was never republished in the Observer is not critical of you or your government but it was said to have upset Saja Taal, managing director of the Daily Observer at the time, who promised to teach Chief Manneh a lesson.

Mr Taal himself has been quoted many times of admitting to have reported Chief Manneh to Momodou Sanyang, board chairman of the Daily Observer when he saw the BBC story Chief Manneh wanted to republish in the Observer.

Reports added that, you went completely bananas when the matter was later reported to you by Momodou Sanyang, who is one of your trusted advisers. It is said that you personally ordered the NIA, which directly reports to you, to arrest and discipline Chief Manneh.

Mr Jammeh, for two years, your government refused to investigate or comment on the arrest and disappearance of Mr Manneh despite his numerous sightings at various police stations and detention centres across the country.

It was said that within the first four weeks of his arrest by the two NIA officers, Chief Manneh was moved from the Bakau Police Station to the NIA headquarters in Banjul, to Mile Two Central Prison, and then back to the NIA. By September 2006, he was said to have been transferred to Sibanor only to be transferred to Fatoto Police Station.

In mid-December 2006, Yaya Dampha, a reporter with Foroyaa Newspaper, saw Chief Manneh briefly in Fatoto Prison. After Foroyaa reported the sighting, Chief Manneh was said to have been moved yet again, back to Mile Two, then to Sare Ngai Police Station.
Chief Manneh was also sighted in July 2007 Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, where he was being treated for suspected high blood pressure.

In 2008, a former NIA detainee told local journalists that he saw Chief Manneh at the NIA centre near the Jammeh Foundation for Peace Hospital in Bundungka Kunda.
Mr Jammeh, as a parent, you will understand the frustrations and hardships that Chief Manneh’s parents and family are going through. They last saw their son on July 7, 2006 without saying goodbye to him.

Last year, Chief Manneh’s father, Sarjo Camara told local reporters that during his search for Mr Manneh, he had visited the Daily Observer newspaper, but was told by Saja Taal to go to the NIA headquarters as the Observer was not the right place to search for his son.

Mr Manneh, who is in his 80s, further added he had met with the then-Director General of the NIA, Harry Sambou and Ousman Sonko, secretary of state for the interior, but was told that your government was not holding his son. Mr Manneh has since lost hope that his son will ever return home alive.

After several failed efforts by the Gambia Press Union, the media establishments and family members to trace Chief Manneh’s whereabouts, the Media Foundation for West Africa eventually took up the matter for his release before the Ecowas Court.

Following a year-long protracted court case in which your government was served many notices and five security officials subpoenaed to appear before the courts, Chief Manneh continued to languish in detention without any attempt by your government to conduct any investigation or appear before the Ecowas Court to clear any doubts.

In an apparent rage, you were quoted saying in the Freedom Newspaper that the Ecowas Court should go to hell.

The Ecowas had to rely on uncontroverted testimonies given by witnesses, in its landmark judgment in which it maintained that Chief Ebrima Manneh was indeed arrested by NIA officers and must be unconditionally released. The court also awarded him compensation amounting to US$100,000.

Mr Jammeh, your government remained mute over the matter until March 2009, almost two years after his disappearance and a ten-month silence following the Ecowas Court verdict to make public mention of your stance on the issue of Chief Ebrima Manneh’s disappearance.

Your former disgraced Justice Minister, Marie Saine Firdaus, declared that your government did not have Chief Manneh in your custody and that “the State can only release a person from custody, if he or she is in fact in the custody of the State.”
However, a month later, a senior police source told AFP that Chief Manneh has been killed. The officer whose identity was not disclosed said he last saw Chief Manneh at the Mile Two Prison sometime in 2008 when he was taken away by a plain clothed officer in the middle of the night.

"That was the last day I set my eyes on him and to the best of my knowledge, Chief Manneh is not alive," he told AFP.

Mr Jammeh the continuous disappearance of Chief Manneh is a cause for concern and your government’s remarks that he was never arrested and detained cannot be taken seriously. This is because so many people were present at the time of his arrest. So many Gambians have also seen him at the various places he was detained.

Looking at your government’s human rights record and your threats to bury your critics six feet deep, I have no doubt that you personally had a hand in his arrest and disappearance and it is time you tell the Gambian people what have happened to him.

You have always claimed to be a devoted servant of Allah and have sworn on His holy scripture, the Qur’an to protect the rights and freedoms of the Gambian people. So fulfill your oath to Allah.

Mr Jammeh, we are not at war with you in our clamor for Chief Manneh’s release. Chief Manneh was never a threat to your regime. Releasing Chief Manneh now will not in any way weaken your government.

Your refusal to acknowledge the truth will continue to give you a dark stain as a dictator, callous murderer and an enemy of free Gambia.

Mr Jammeh, please bury your pride and tell Chief Manneh’s family where their son is. Chief Manneh’s father is crying himself to sleep every day. Have pity on him in the name of the Lord you serve. Pity him.

Have a good day my dear brother from another mother.
Peace.
For comments, write to papak196@yahoo.co.uk