GPU take issue with APRC mobiliser

Recently, the Secretary of State for Tourism and Culture Yankuba Touray, who
is also the APRC National Mobiliser was quoted as saying that Decree 70/71,
which increased by one hundred-fold the amount of bond required for the
registration of private newspapers, was introduced by the former regime. The
Gambia Press Union was not impressed by that statement and therefore,
decided to take up the issue with him. We reproduce below the full text of
the press release issued by the GPU: It is another season for politicians
and their circus. The time to entertain the public in the run up to
elections. Most turn themselves into excellent comedians in a desperate bid
to win the people's mandate. In the excitement of the entertainment, some
commit some serious slip-ups.

Others try to dazzle the people by mixing facts with fiction in the vain
hope that people will not detect the difference. In short, these politicians
work on the wrong assumption that their masters - the electorate - will
thank them for trying to publicly fool the people, all in the name and game
of politics. A good case in point was such comedy of errors with Secretary
of State Yankuba Touray on the stage at a political rally. At this rally
Gambians were treated to a spectacle of hearing SOS Touray engage in what
amounted to a double-talk. His talk was on Decrees 70 and 71, the most
infamous of all press laws. However, people heard what they never bargained
for, as he was heard saying that these two abominable decrees introduced in
March 1996 were actually imposed by the former regime of Sir Dawda Jawara.

This was the gist of his double-talk. Unless SOS Touray can also claim to
have the wonderful gift or powers over time and space, he must proceed to
give a more convincing demonstration or discover for us lesser mortals the
effects of the black holes where the switching of the cosmic time is
possible. Unfortunately, the press did not sound out people's reactions at
the end of the comedy. At least the press corps refused to be deluded. His
claim lacked both merit and substance, and should be treated more as part of
the soap opera for the benefit of his circus goers. For the press, the
introduction of Decrees 70 and 71 are too recent, and too obnoxious to be
easily forgotten.

The two decrees have been and are still subjects of media debates and focus
and will as long as they remain in our statute books. To the Gambian press,
SOS Touray's attempt to shift the blame for their introduction on the former
regime smacks of intellectual dishonesty. By this claim, SOS Touray is
defending the indefensible. By publicly disowning or distancing itself from
Decrees 70 and 71, the APRC is clearly and for the first time but in a
surreptitious way admitting its disaffection with them. Suddenly, its
authors are finding them so unpalatable to associate with that they must
find a convenient scapegoat on which to hang them. Of course and as usual,
former regimes are handy. Press laws are old as the Press itself.

They also evolve with the press for the press is not a law unto itself. Some
of our press laws date as far back as the early 19th century. All these laws
can be found in our statute books. They are not classified information or
secrets. However, it is now a sad commentary on our sovereignty and
independence, that even those harsh laws introduced by our conquerors before
and during the freedom struggle were considered mild when compared to these
punitive decrees. This does not mean that there were never efforts in the
past as now to curb press freedom during the colonial period through to the
first republic. The history of the Gambian press is replete with such
attempts.

Yet Decrees 70 and 71 introduced in March 1996 by the present regime
increased the bond for the registration of newspapers by a factor of 100. In
short from D1000 before 1996, the registration now has gone up to D100, 000.
It is no wonder; therefore, that Decrees 70 and 71 provoked the strongest
reaction from the press since they are considered as the first direct and
most deadly attack on the press. Their introduction immediately earned them
notoriety when media houses had to close shops while proprietors scrambled
around to sort out their bonding requirements in the form of a landed
property valued at a no less than D100,000. Not contented at mystifying his
audiences with Decrees 70 and 71, SOS Touray went on to make even more
claims for this regime on the growth of newspapers and radio stations.
Suffice it to say that the 90s saw an explosion of newspapers and FM radio
stations. With the establishment of The Point Newspaper in 1991 the rush had
really begun. In 1992, the Daily Observer, The Gambia's first and only daily
rolled off the press, to be followed the same year by News and Report
magazine.

Foroyaa hit the newsstands much earlier in 1986. In other words, of the six
newspapers, four were in circulation well before the military takeover. The
most impressive development taking place is in the domain of FM radios. But
here distinction should be made between private and community radio
stations. On balance, therefore, the rapid growth in the media landscape can
be attributed to several factors such as the advent of desktop publishing
and the arrival of small but powerful radio transmitters. Neither this
government nor its predecessor can claim credit for this development. This
is due to the media technological revolution sweeping Africa on the crest of
the democratic dividend. Revolutionaries often fall foul of trying to
reinvent themselves by reinventing history.

The attempt always fails. According to a sage at the ancient University of
Timbucktoo "everything must dread the sun but the sun itself dreads time for
time outlasts all." Therefore, SOS Touray's remarks about Decrees 70 and 71
should be dismissed as cheap propaganda calculated to draw their venom away
from the doorsteps of the present regime. Since the Gambian press is
principally the target of these repellent decrees, it is in a better
position to deliver the verdict. The verdict is that these decrees are
counterproductive, retrogressive, undemocratic and in contravention of the
spirit and letter of the Gambian Constitution.

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