Waja Protests Over Provisions of Media Bill The Independent (Banjul) April 29, 2002 Posted to the web April 29, 2002 Banjul The West African Journalists Association (WAJA) has sent a protest to the Speaker of the National Assembly, calling for the repeal of some provisions of the Media Commission Bill, which it describes as serious obstacles to press freedom in The Gambia. We reproduce below the text of the letter. Appeal for repeal of part VI and vii of the National Media Commission Bill. The West African journalists association (WAJA) has considered the Gambia National Media Commission (NMC) Bill, which the National Assembly is going to examine and vote on May 2, 2002. Part VI and vii of the bill struck our attention because they constitute serious obstacles to press freedom in The Gambia. According to the provisions of part VI on registration, 1. No person shall, after the commencement of this act, engage in the dissemination of information by mass communication unless registered as a media practitioner or media organisation, as the case may be, in accordance this section. 2. A media organisation in business at the date of commencement of this act shall, with one month of the commencement of this act, register with the Commission and also submit to the Commission the names of all media practitioners registered with that organisation. 3.Notwithstanding subsection (1) but subject to subsection 4. a media practitioner shall register with the commission, if in practice. a-at the commencement of this act, within two months of the commencement of this act; and B-after the commencement of this act with one month of the commencement of the practice The provisions of subsection do not apply to a media practititioner who is employed by the government; or is registered with a media organisation. The Commission shall issue a license to a media practitioner or media organisation registered under this section. The registration of a media practitioner or media organisation shall be valid for one year and may be renewed from year to year. A media practitioner or media organisation, which contravenes this section commits an offence and is liable to a fine of not less than five thousand Dalasis, and in default of payment of the fine within a period of thirty days from the date of the finding of the Commission, the registration and license of the media practitioner or media organisation shall be deemed to be suspended In the case of a media practitioner for a period of nine moths; and in the case of a media organisation for a period of three months. Part vii providing for the powers of the commission in respect for complaints, states 1.Notwithstanding the provision of any other law, the Commission shall, to the exclusion of any other court or tribunal, consider and determine all complaints against a media practitioner or media organisation, in accordance with the provisions of the act. 1-The commission shall also has exclusive jurisdiction over all ancillary matters and other preliminary issues connected with hearing under this act the commission shall summon any person in the Gambia to attend any hearing conducted by the commission to give evidence or produce and document or other thing in his or her possession and examine him or her as a witness and may require him or her to produce any document or other thing in his or her possession; Those provisions in the bill constitute obstacles to a free exercise of the independent media in the Gambia and to the free functioning of the judiciary in matters and complaints pertaining to media issues in the Gambia. WAJA is hereby appealing to Your Excellency to either revisit the whole Bill or to at least ensure that parts vi and vii are reviewed or repealed from the bill on order to establish a NMC whose regulation does not silence the media in the Gambia. Hoping that our complaint would be considered in the full interest of press freedom an independent judiciary and democracy, Please accept, Your Excellency, our kind regards. Cc: The President, Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~