Malanding,

I am not aware that any opposition party has ever made attempt to establish
a radio station. At least, I am quite sure that PDOIS has not established
one. The cost of running a radio station would require substantial means of
finance which we do not have at the moment.

Section 208 of the Constitution states: "All state owned newspapers,
journals, radio and television shall afford fair opportunities and
facilities for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinion."

The only attempt that has been made to respect this provision is to
broadcast the proceedings of the National Assembly where all the four
political parties are represented. Other than that, the State media gives
more coverage to President Jammeh and his ruling party.

There have been some attempts by political parties to call for a multiparty
conference to set up certain yardsticks for democratic governance such as
right to equal access to the public media by political parties. Although
this did not materialise, a forum has been created by the IEC for dialogue
between the different parties. The issue of equal coverage by the national
media of party activities is certain to come to the fore.

It is our duty to put more pressure for an opening up of the public media.
In Senegal, the opposition parties did ultimately succeed in getting greater
access to public media space after strenuous efforts for the opening up of
the public media.

In The Gambia, it is only the Independent radio stations, like Radio One FM
which is giving equal access to political parties. However, its coverage is
not national in scope.

ON AIR TIME DURING CAMPAIGN PERIODS

The laws on elections do establish what is know as a campaign period.
Section 93 of the Elections Decree states that: "(1) The Commission shall,
during an election campaign period, ensure that equal air time is given to
each candidate and national party on the public radio and television.

"(2) The Commission shall, in compliance with subsection (1), determine the
time to be allocated to each candidate and political party per day or such
other period as the Commission may consider reasonable, taking into account
the number of candidates and political parties making a request under
subsection (3)."

I am quite sure that the opposition parties will not compromise on these
laws in the next coming elections. I hope I have answered your questions.

Greetings.

Halifa Sallah.


----- Original Message -----
From: Malanding S. Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2000 5:02 PM
Subject: some follow-up to Mr Makaveli's questions


> Perhaps Mr. Halifa Sallah could help answer these questions as well.
>
> Has opposition parties in the past tried to establish their own radio
> station? If they did what was or still is the main reason for not having
> one? Are their any regulation(s) requiring GRTS to provide equal access
and
> coverage time to opposition political activities? If so has the opposition
> gone to the courts to enforce such regulation(s)?
>
>  Malanding

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