By Tabora Bojang
President Adama Barrow has again criticised the media, this time the radios and televisions. He did not however give any names.
Speaking at his meeting in Kuloro, Barrow said since coming to power his government has granted license to radios and private televisions at a rate that increased their numbers to between 300 to 400 percent.
”Since I took over when you count the radios that came about percentage wise, it would be over 300 to 400 percent. Before I arrived, there was no private television in The Gambia. We are the first to give license to a private television here. But just look at all these private radios and televisions. All of them have their own programmes and news but some of their news are false and the government has never arrested anyone of them. Some of them have their phone-in programmes where people call and say anything they want, including insulting people. Sometimes they would make the president their topic and some politicians who are in opposition to us will capitalise on these programmes to say all kind of bad things against us but we have never arrested one. And the laws are here but we never use them to punish anyone because we know that democracy is expensive and it comes with all these,” he said.
Speaking further, Barrow said all these happen in context, that the level of democracy has grown in The Gambia. “Sometimes you even feel that what happens here now cannot happen in America. Only a few days ago we saw what happened in the US where four people were killed. Here in The Gambia, the 3 Years Jotna had their demonstrations, nothing like that happened.”
He said now in The Gambia no one even thinks of going to work and not returning home or having a visit at your house by black-coloured vehicles.
