Mr. Hydara,

Happy new year to you, your family, my father inlaw (Pap Saine) and family
and all at The Point. Happy anniversary and thank you very much for your
contribution on the current debate.

You wrote:

"As he rightly said all the newspapers save The Independent were in
existence in the First Republic. The increase in the private media scene can
only be seen in the electronic media namely with the advent of public TV,
West Coast Radio, Sud FM and City Limit Radio."

Mr. Hydara, if my memory serves me right, there is a newspaper that is
reportedly owned or co-owned by Pap Joof, the SOS for justice and a few
other magazines that started after the 1994 coupe. Any idea about that?

You also wrote:

"He was also right with regards to Decree 70/71, which is far from favouring
a press freedom climate in the country. Instead as the Daily Observer
constantly remind us it is a Damocles sword hanging over the existence of
newspapers. You asked why it was not used against us. That question should
be addressed to the powers that be not us. But we can assure that we know
why."

Mr. Hydara, the point I was trying to make is that, here are two decrees
often described as obnoxious but whose potency I am yet to see or know
about. The little I know about these decrees is that one has set a
registration fee of some D100,000 and the other deals with penalties for the
inaccurate reporting of things, libel or something of that sort. Again you
may enlighten us about them.

You again wrote:

"If my memory serves me right, Mr. Ba Trawally was unfortunately tried for
an article he wrote in the 70s about the farm of Barajally and was convicted
to five years imprisonment. Mr. Trawally won the enviable title of the first
Gambian journalist jailed in this country since independence. In 1980, late
Dixon Colley was tried for an article dubbed Till Dooms day. But he left the
court a free man. Baboucarr Gaye was also detained for interviewing Kukoi at
Radio Gambia the day of the coup which for us journalists deserved a Prize
and not detention. Sana Manneh won his case against the ministers he
labelled as corrupt in The Torch. The appeal did not yield any change and
Manneh went home a free man. I was detained by the NSS and all the big men
of the service then interrogated me for hours and released me afterwards. I
also had the pleasure of re-experiencing the same treatment in March 1995
with the NIA which makes me the only journalist in this country detained and
interrogated by our two security agencies something which am very proud of
as it demonstrates our consistency. We are for the Gambian people."

Mr. Hydara, the above naration makes precisely the point I was trying to
make. Apart from the above cases, I was told that the late Femi Jeng died in
police custody for being used by Kukoi Samba Sanyang and his Gang during
their attempted coupe of 1981. However, the above done during the first
republic does not justify its continuation in the second republic. The point
I was trying to make was that sometimes brinkmanship does not yield
dividends. If there is mutual mis-trust between the private media and the
government to the extent that government agents arrest and detain
journalists routinely, one may ask where it is all leading to. My own
opinion is that it is sometimes prudent to watch your step and change
tactics to achieve the same goals.

I would also like to know your opinion as to whether the articles that we
read in some of the papers that are critical of government today could have
been published under the previous regime without a visit from the NSS.

You again wrote:

"Now, on taxes. I am surprised to 'hear' you say other businesses are paying
more taxes than the media. Compare what is comparable! How could you compare
media houses with 'normal' businesses; ours is a semi- social and semi-
business occupation and that must be taken into consideration. The services
we render to both the people and the government are not paid for; they are
free of charge as a result of an empowerment granted us by the very
Constitution of the Republic. In other countries like Senegal, Parliament
votes an annual subvention of D 100, 000 to each private media house to help
strengthen the enlightenment process carried out by the media. Therefore, we
are no businesses. And in fact, in the First Republic newspaper taxation was
unheard of. I hope these few lines have answered your questions."

Mr. Hydara,

With all due respect a newspaper is a business and not a charitable venture
and as such should be taxed like any other business. In the UK, not only are
newspapers taxed, they also pay VAT.

These are some of my observations about your input and would once again like
to thank you and await your response to some of the issues that I have
raised.

Have a good day, Gassa.


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>