NMC: Registration now voluntary By DO May 29, 2004, 19:39 A major breakthrough has been reached in the contentious issue of mandatory registration between the media commission, the media houses and media practitioners. Addressing a meeting of diplomats and journalists called at their behest, the secretary of state for Information and that of Foreign Affairs, Amadou Scattred Janneh and Baboucar Blaise Jagne have announced that media houses or practitioners need not register by force as was intended before. βIt is no longer compulsory but voluntary,ββ they told the meeting which was also attended by media representatives. The ministers further revealed that there would be incentives for those who registered with the commission, but gave no details as to what those incentives were. The two ministers assured the diplomats that government had no hidden agenda in the whole issue as it had all along taken into consideration the concern of the media practitioners. Information secretary, Amadou Scattred Janneh said The Gambia had recorded tremendous gains in democracy and that it was keen to consolidate on that by protecting the rights of citizens and freedom of speech. This new development was in sharp contrast to the hardline taken by government less than a week ago when president Jammeh warned that there would be no compromise on registration once the three months deadline earlier given expired ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~