Deyda's Last Words
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The Independent (Banjul)
INTERVIEW
January 28, 2005
Posted to the web January 28, 2005
Sana Camara
Banjul
Barely days before he met his untimely death in a cold blood murder by unknown assassins, which took him to the world of the purgatory, Deyda Hydera, the Managing Editor, and co-proprietor of The Point Newspaper, has this to say to The Independent in an interview:
The government's gift to the media was a charity to do away with the media if one considers the new trend of things that spanned from the gifts, the repeal of the Media Commission Act and the introduction of two new bills to undermine freedom of expression.
They are the Criminal Code Amendment and the Newspaper Amendment Bill 2004. The first one seeks to provide for imprisonment instead of fines for journalists and the second increases by 400% the bond, which hikes from D100,000 to D500,000. In all honesty, would someone seeking peace with you harbour such a disposition towards you?
Journalism is a profession with its rules and one cannot be a journalist and flout its basic principles. What's more, the fundamental law of this land guarantees that we make sure that government is accountable to the people for things it does in their name. Here again we didn't draft the Constitution, which got inspiration from the covenants and other international laid rules about freedom of expression.
Meaning that even if the Constitution failed to empower us to do so we could rely on these instruments that The Gambia as a nation ratified.
We have no intention of burning this country and that is the reason why we didn't turn down the gift that the President extended to the media.
We have no intention of burning this country and that is the reason why we didn't turn down the gift that the president extended to the media.
It was our desire to bring about a normal adversarial relationship that we accepted the gifts but today as some warned us they were some sort of an injunction for something. Be that as it may, we remain steadfast in our resolve to carry out our job.
We know that both the Senegalese and the Togolese governments have 'depenalised' press laws. Wade decided it when things came to a head with the arrest of Editor Madiambal Diagne some months ago. He asked journalists to come up with proposals and they are right now in seminars with lawyers to make drafty proposals on the aspects of the law to be revised. For Eyadema, he was forced by the EU to scrap his anti-press laws and after resisting some months he has now he subdued and is again eligible to aid from those quarters.
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We are serene and are studying whether the new bills are admissible is a democratic society.
As we said before we are ready to go to the African Commission and other international jurisdiction to seek redress.
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