By Tabora Bojang
As the Ministry of Information attempted to go ahead with a validation forum for its much discredited media accreditation policy yesterday, a lawyer from the Ministry of Justice Kissima Bittaye, has out rightly warned the forum that certain provisions of the proposed media accreditation policy may technically affect section 25 of the 1997 Constitution, which protects the rights to freedom of expression.
The proposed regulation triggered widespread opposition as many feared it would reduce media to state control thereby stifling dissent and silencing critical voices.
The policy among other things provides for mandatory registration of journalists with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for access to government events, news and facilities.
The stakeholder validation workshop called yesterday was boycotted by the Gambia Press Union and other media bodies in the country in protest against the policy.
But Lawyer Bittaye who represented the Ministry of Justice at the validation expressed strong reservations about a number of provisions in the proposed policy adding that the constitution only imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the rights of freedoms expressed in Section 25 and that any proposed regulation aiming to restrict that should be tested to determine whether it is justifiable in a democratic society.
On the proposed mandatory registration of journalists with PURA, Counsel Bittaye said: “I believe even we lawyers are actually registered by the General Legal Council as our professional body and not the Ministry of Justice. It is an independent council that registers and certifies people to practice. That is why every lawyer, every year, needs to get what we call a practising certificate to practice through the Council because the council is able to determine whether one is following professional standards or not. So, imagine PURA actually regulating journalists- the person who is actually regulating might not even be part of that profession to determine what actions meet professional standards or not because you are regulating different sectors at the same time and at the end of the day, there may be risks of interference,” Counsel Bittaye asserted.
He added that the proposed policy also mentioned prohibited content and that also raises a concern because it is the regulator [PURA] that is going to determine what constitutes prohibited content.
“The danger of cherry picking in such a process is very high. You can look at one story from a journalist and because it is associated with the ruling party you decide to say it does not amount to prohibited content. Since PURA determines based on subjectiviness not objectiviness, the danger of being biased between the players is too high. So I will advise the registration of journalists to be referred to the Media Council of The Gambia,” the MoJ representative said.
He added that media houses are business institutions issued with licenses with set standards and guidelines to follow and that directing them to register journalists working for them with PURA is technically going to affect article 25 of the Gambian constitution.
Another lawyer, Sainey Kah from the National Assembly similarly expressed concerns with the provisions on mandatory registration of journalists and related matters. She said some of the contents of the proposed policy are in contradiction with the Information and Communication Bill currently before the National Assembly.
Kah specifically asked for the rationale and justification for journalists to register with PURA.
However PURA’s director of Legal Affairs Emma Mendy said it was only meant for “administrative purposes” not as a “control” mechanism.
