By international law and standards, broadcasting stations, radio and television, need to register with a government agency before they operate. Such license requirements are basically related to technical and business issues. The requirements include the type of station whether commercial or community radio/TV, call sign, and frequency.
In some instances, there is need for certain permits such as a construction permit for building a new radio or television station, and an environmental impact assessment if the radio/TV station will broadcast at a high-power output.
In addition to these requirements and their costs, the radio/TV station is also registered as a business so it can pay taxes. Radio and TV station registration is normally handled by an independent government agency with the authority and power to register and ensure compliance by itself. A ministry should not handle broadcast registration matters.
In the case of the Gambia, this agency should be PURA. They should have the absolute authority to register broadcasting stations without the involvement or control of the Ministry of Information or any other authority. The moment the Ministry is involved, it means politicization of the broadcasting sector hence interference and infringements.
Unfortunately, the PURA Act has taken the authority and power of the agency and hand it over to the ministries of Information and Finance, because of the dictatorship at the time.
Therefore, what was expected of the new government since 2017 was to revise the PURA Act to put it in line with international law and best practices. Unfortunately, this has not been done till today. Rather Minister of Information Ismaila Ceesay has now gone further to put an indefinite blanket ban on radio registration without giving any reasons. This is a violation of the norms and principles of broadcast regulation.
The PURA press release also states that there is a Broadcasting Enforcement Committee in place. When and why was this committee established? What are its terms of reference? Who are the members of this committee? Is The Gambia Press Union and independent media houses members in this committee? The Ministry owes citizens an explanation.
The Government has no right to control content or editorial policy of radio and television stations, whether they are private, independent or public. Content is not a requirement for registration of radio and television stations. Rather the Government is under constitutional obligation in Section 207 to create and guarantee an open and free environment to allow radio and television stations to operate in the country.
What international laws on freedom of the media require is the creation of self-regulatory mechanisms to deal with content. Thus, what PURA and the Ministry should have been doing is to support the media community to establish such a mechanism. Already the Gambia Press Union has such a body called the Media Council of the Gambia. It is this Council that must be supported by the Government, in particular by PURA and the Ministry of Information.
It is therefore concerning why PURA and the Ministry of Information are putting obstacles in front of broadcasting operators. They must be told not to use legal or administrative measures to stifle the media environment and its operators. For that matter, I hereby refer both PURA and the Ministry of Information to the ‘Principles on Freedom of Expression and Broadcast Regulation’ of Article 19 for guidance (https://www.article19.org/…/standards/accessairwaves.pdf)
Therefore, I call on the National Human Rights Commission to look into radio and television licensing carried out by both PURA and the Ministry of Information to ensure that the process does not infringe freedom of the media and freedom of expression.
I call on GPU to engage PURA and the Ministry to provide transparency and accountability about this issue.
I call on all CSOs to engage in this matter in defense of freedom of the media which is a cornerstone for democracy and good governance.
I urge the Ministry of Information to undertake urgent and comprehensive review of media related laws to bring them in line with international human rights and democratic standards.
