By Omar Bah
Africans overwhelmingly want the media to police their governments but they just don’t agree on whether that media is free, according to a latest Afrobarometer survey.
The new Afrobarometer Pan-Africa Profile, based on 45,600 interviews in 38 countries in 2024/2025, revealed that the continent supports press freedom, but governments are choking it.
At least 72% of Africans say the media must hold governments accountable.
Support for the watchdog role is the majority view in every country surveyed including The Gambia. It tops 80% in Mauritius, 86%; Nigeria, 83%; Uganda and Ghana, 82% each; Congo-Brazzaville and Chad, 81% each.
Even where support is weakest, the public still rejects silence.
In Mozambique, 58%, Angola, 56%, and São Tomé and Príncipe, 54%, only minorities want media to avoid reporting on government mistakes and corruption.
Nearly two-thirds, 65%, back media freedom over government regulation. Majorities in all but two countries agree: Tanzania, 49%, and Mali, 27%, stand alone.
In Mauritius, 86%, Seychelles, 85%, Congo-Brazzaville, 80%, Lesotho, 77%, Chad, 76%, and Botswana, 76%, support for a free press is overwhelming.
But Mali is the warning. A large majority there wants government to control what media can publish. That is not an outlier. It is a red flag.
According to the survey, majority of Africans want free media but only 53% say their media is actually free while 43% say it is censored or under government interference.
81% of Tanzanians say their media is free. So do 77% in Liberia. Then the floor drops: 28% in Comoros. Just 16% in Congo-Brazzaville.
Across 30 countries tracked since 2019/2021, the share on who see media as free fell 4 points. Guinea crashed 34 points, Lesotho and Nigeria each fell 22 points and Botswana dropped 20.
Liberia surged 58 points — from least free to second-most free, Gabon gained 24, Zambia rose 22 but they are exceptions, not the rule.
