Eric Amoh, reporter of Ghana News Agency (GNA), a state-owned news wire service was on November 1, 2008 allegedly assaulted by Martin Ako, an aide to the Member of Parliament for Navrongo Central, Kofi Adda.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the aide slapped Amoh and rained blows on him, following his narration of a brawl between Adda and an aide to Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, at a rally in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

The MP who is seeking re-election on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) had accused Alhaji Mahama of working against his interest. This accusation led to a confrontation between Adda and the Vice-President’s aide.

Amoh, who was an eye-witness, was narrating the incident to other journalists, when Adda’s aide pounced on him.
Another journalist, A. I. Mohammed of state-owned Ghanaian Times newspaper was injured on his right arm, when he attempted to save Amoh.
Amoh has since lodged a complaint with the police authorities who are yet to take any action.

Media Foundation for West Africa  

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is extremely satisfied that gradually the abominable human rights situation in the Gambia, particularly, the arrest and subsequent detention of journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh, is gaining international attention.

Manneh, a reporter of the Daily Observer, a privately-owned -pro-government newspaper was arrested on July 7, 2006 but has not been charged with any offence, neither has the government acknowledged holding him. In early June, ECOWAS’s Community Court upheld MFWA’s request for the journalist’s release. Since then several calls have been made to the Gambian authorities to comply with the court order without success.

The latest to add his voice to the plight of Manneh is a Democrat Party senator, Richard J Durbin, the assistant majority leader of the US Senate. Addressing his colleagues on July 30, 2008, Durbin said “my direct request to the Gambian Embassy here in Washington had also been met with shameful silence”.

On the Gambian government’s refusal to appear before the ECOWAS court during the trial of the case, Senator Durbin asked “Is the Gambian government so afraid of one its own reporters that it cannot even acknowledge his detention”. He added that “I say to President Jammeh: Release this reporter. Let him return to his family”.

“Sadly, Manneh’s case is not isolated one in the Gambia. In December 2004, a critic of President Jammeh, and press freedom advocate, Deyda Hydara, was shot and killed. His murder is yet to be solved or investigated”, Dublin told the House. 

The senator concluded by urging the US Senate to be “a forceful advocate for these kinds of blatant human rights abuses. Doing so is not only the right thing to do, but it is the smart thing to do in terms of our engagement abroad and in demonstrating our American values”.

The call by the US Senator followed an earlier one by Momodou Sanneh, the Minority Leader in the Gambian Parliament, for the government to "deal with the matter.

"MFWA encourages human rights defenders, press freedom advocates and civil society in general to intensify their advocacy, since that is one of the surest forms of protection for journalists and individuals who seek to exercise their rights to freedom of speech and expression.

We repeat our call on African governments to rededicate themselves to Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which stipulates: «Every individual shall have the right to receive information. Every individual shall have the right to express and disseminate his opinions within the law».

 
Issued by the MFWA, Accra. August 1, 2008

Media Foundation for West Africa

Mr. Musa Ndow, a reporter with the Daily Observer newspaper, is expected to testify in the murder trial of Sheriff Minteh. The hearing will take place on 29 July 2008.

Mr Ndow’s appearance before the court was necessitated by Defence Counsel Lamin Camara’s wish uttered in court last Monday that he intended to call Musa Ndow to testify because of a story he wrote on the accused published on 11 May 2007.

The trial has been adjourned on many occasions due to lack of witnesses.

The criminal appeal case filed by Lamin fatty, a reporter with The Independent Newspaper, continued on Tuesday before Justice Naceesay Salla-Wadda of Banjul High Court.

The appeal is in respect of his conviction and sentence by the Kanifing Magistrates Court, which found him guilty of the offence of false publication and broadcasting. Mr Fatty was sentenced to a fine of D50,000.00 in default to serve one year imprisonment. He has since paid the fine.

Lamin Camara, Counsel for the appellant, informed the court that he had filed a motion seeking leave to file an additional ground of appeal. He added that the motion is supported by an affidavit and that they relied on all the paragraphs contained therein. He said that the appellant also attached a petition of appeal on the motion paper, which he added is properly deemed filed by the appellant. He stated that the application is initiated in accordance with the law.

Lawyer Camara further argued that the court had inherent jurisdiction to allow the filing the additional ground of appeal, in addition to the substantive appeal. He said that it is in the interest of justice that the application be granted and urged the court to accept the affidavit contained in the motion paper.

State counsel Buba Bojang for his part said that the respondent has been served with affidavit and that they are not objecting to it.

After three years of absence having travelled to various parts of Europe, Pa Malick Secka is back with the Voice news magazine as The Gambia Bureau Chief.

This paper has reliably gathered that Mr. Secka will now be responsible for editorial matters and ads coming from The Gambia.

Speaking in an interview with this reporter, Mr. Secka expressed appreciation to the management and the editorial staff of Voice for bestowing such a confidence in him. ‘ I will strive harder to live up to the expectations of the magazine as the Banjul Bureau Chief, ’ he vowed.

Voice, with the motto Actuated towards Africa’s Advancement, is the first complete African Magazine published in the Netherlands. For more on Voice, click on to www.thevoicenewsmagazine.com

The criminal appeal case against the state filed by Mr Lamin Fatty, former reporter of closed Independent newspaper, was heard yesterday before Justice Naceesay Salla-Wadda of the Banjul High Court.

During the hearing of the case, state counsel MA Jobe informed the court that she had contacted the Assistant Registrar of the Kanifing Magistrates Court for record of the proceedings, which, according to her, the court official promised to make available to the court. She however said that the state is yet to get the record of proceedings from the Kanifing Magistrates Court.

Lawyer Lamin Camara, counsel for the applicant, stated that record of the proceedings from the Kanifing court containing 59 pages is ready for typing but that what is left is to correct the typing errors before sending it to the court.

It could be recalled that the appellant, Lamin Fatty, was on 5th June 2007 convicted and sentenced by the Kanifing Magistrates Court to a fine of D50,000 in default to serve one year in prison for the offence of publishing false information.

The case was adjourned to 28 February 2008 for continuation.

As Alasana Jammeh Becomes First PS Religious Affairs

Dr. Mariatou Jallow has been appointed Chief Medical Director of the Royal Victorial Teaching Hospital (RVTH), reliable sources intimated to this reporter. Until her latest appointment, Dr. Jallow served as Chief Executive Officer of the then RVH before being deployed to the Department of State for Health as Deputy Director of Health Services, rising to the post of Director last year.

Dr. Jallow replaces Dr. Malick Njie, popularly known as Pachah, who has been redeployed to the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare but yet to be designated, the sources added.

In a separate development, Mr. Alasana S.T. Jammeh, the former Director of Commerce of Gambia International Airlines who recently resigned, has been appointed Permanent Secretary of the Dept. of State for Religious Affairs, a portfolio recently placed under the purview of the Department of State for Local Government and Lands. Mr. Jammeh thus becomes the first holder of the post which has been newly created under the Department of State for Religious Affairs.