GPU Elects New Executive Committee The Gambia Press Union held its triennial congress this morning, 26th March 2005 and the following new executive committee was elected to serve for the next three years: President: Mr. Madi Ceesay - News & Report First V/President: Mr. Musa Saidykhan- The Independent Second V/President: Ms. Aisha Dabo - The Independent Secretary General: Ms. Ndey Tapha Sosseh- Freelance Assistant Secretary: Mr. Omar Bah - Daily Obserever Assistant Secretary: Mr. Emil Touray - Foroyaa Treasurer: Mrs. Alimatou Jallow-The Independent Co-opted Member: Ms. Sarjo Camara - Foroyaa Co-opted Member: Mr. Alex Dacosta - Freelance Below is the report to the congress presented by the out-going president Demba Jawo: GPU TRIENNIAL CONGRESS - 26th MRACH 2005 OUT-GOING PRESIDENT'S REPORT The period since the last congress in 2001 had been by all accounts quite interesting and eventful. Indeed I would dare say that it had been the most eventful period in the 27 year history of the Union. While it had been a period of modest successes, it was also marked by several trials and tribulations. Even though the successes were few and far between, but the very fact that we succeeded in sustaining the union under such strenuous circumstances, is at least one achievement that we should all be proud of. It is certainly not a mean achievement. Another important achievement had no doubt been the steady growth in membership. During the last congress in 2001, our membership was not more than 100, while today we can boast of a membership list of about 200. However, one would ask where all those people are, particularly when during our monthly meetings, we hardly get more than 15 people. Sometimes we do not even get a quorum to hold a meeting. Where are all the members? The answer could be quite varied. While almost a quarter of our original members are abroad, some as students and others in various other engagements, but the vast majority are right here in the country. However, for one reason or the other, they do not attend meetings. For those of our members in the Diaspora, apart from a few dedicated ones amongst them, a majority of them have not been keeping in touch. I am however pleased to announce that some of our colleagues in the UK recently formed a GPU branch in the UK, with the objective of helping to raise funds for the parent body. We are also grateful to some of our members who have been making some financial contributions to the union. They include our former treasurer S. B. Danso, Baba Galleh Jallow, Gheran Senghore and Fatou Jaw Manneh, all in the United States, and Alieu Badara Sowe and Mercy Eze in the UK. Yet another notable achievement has been the slow but steady increase in membership from our colleagues in the public media. In 2001, the only active member amongst them was our sister, Aja Maimuna Bah, who conscientiously served as first vice president. Today we have a handful of members from the GRTS, even though most of them are yet to become regular at meetings, but we are still happy that they have seen it fit to become members. It is apparently an acceptance by them that the GPU is a professional body with the sole objective of promoting and protecting the rights of journalists and also concerned with their welfare. We are certainly not the opposition mouthpiece as some of our detractors label us, but our main concern is the safety and welfare of all media practitioners, regardless of their employer or status. Another of our achievements is no doubt our legal battle and eventual defeat of the National Media Commission Act, which was recently repealed by the government, apparently when they realized that they could not enforce it on us. However, while in view of the introduction of two other even more draconian media laws, some people describe the repeal of the Media Commission as a Pyrrhic victory as it still does not save us from bad media laws. However, the fact that the government had to repeal the Media Commission Act because of our refusal to participate in it was itself an achievement. Another important achievement was no doubt the setting up of the Media Training Centre, in collaboration with the GRTS, University of the Gambia and the GTTI, under the auspices of the National Commission for UNESCO. It was quite a modest beginning of a training facility in this country which was conceived by the GPU. However, while some people have criticized the decision to involve the other collaborators rather than the GPU going it alone in the establishment of the training centre, but the reality was that we neither had the capacity nor the human resources in the GPU to go it alone. Therefore, I had the feeling that the only way we could have done it was through collaboration with the other institutions. Indeed, the ultimate objective is to get the University and the GTTI, the two institutions with the mandate and the resources to undertake such professional training to eventually take over the training of journalists and therefore, it made quite a lot of sense to involve them in the whole process from the very beginning. We understand that the Americans are looking into the possibility of helping the University set up a journalism training school in the very near future. While we say hallelujah to them for such a noble intention, but all that we want is for the GPU to be involved in the process rather than them doing everything in consultation with the Department of State for Communication, Information and Technology while ignoring us as the most important stakeholders. That is definitely likely to spell doom for the project. We should also not fail to mention the annual training that we receive from Egypt which is organized by the Union of African Journalists and sponsored by the government of Egypt. I believe at least three of the beneficiaries of that course are here with us this morning. We take this opportunity to thank both the UAJ and the government of Egypt for extending such an opportunity to us. In addition to the Egyptian training, we have also benefited from numerous seminars and workshops sponsored by our friends and collaborators. For instance, in February 2004, we held a workshop on news reporting sponsored by the Commonwealth Press Union. In August 2004, UNESCO/Breda in Dakar sponsored a course on ethics for editors. This is of course in addition to the assistance that we received from UNESCO for the setting up of the Media Training Centre and numerous other assistants we received from them. Therefore, on behalf of everyone, I wish to thank everyone that helped to facilitate the training of journalists, which remains our number one priority. The above and no doubt many others were the achievements that we registered during the period. However, those achievements and successes were accompanied by several challenges and failures. The biggest of the challenges was no doubt the brutal murder of our colleague Deyda Hydara on December 16, 2004 while he and his colleagues at The Point were then busy celebrating its 13th anniversary. That was indeed the most heinous act ever committed against a journalist in this country since the shooting to death of Omar Barrow during the students' demonstrations in April 2000. However, while those who carried out that dastardly act have succeeded in snatching away our colleague and friend from us as well as from his dear family, but they have also succeeded in creating a martyr. Indeed I wish to take this opportunity to express gratitude to all media practitioners, members of the civil society and indeed all other well wishers for the solidarity that was manifested during the procession we held in memory of his death. I also wish to take this opportunity to announce that the GPU, in collaboration with other members of civil society are currently working on plans to keep Deyda's memory ever alive in this country and beyond. We have set up a steering committee which is working closely with civil society to not only carry out certain commemorative activities, but we also intend to set up a Deyda Hydara Foundation, which would carry on his legacy of fighting for press freedom in this country and the sub-region. We also intend to erect a plaque at the spot where he was shot as well as organize a seminar and an international conference to discuss security of journalists as well the maintenance of press freedom that Deyda had lived and died for. Another challenge facing the union is the maintenance of its secretariat. As you are aware, it presently consists of three permanent staff, the administrator, the secretary and the office assistant, whose wages and salaries should be paid on a regular basis. There are also the other financial obligations such as the rent and the settlement of bills. However, all these obligations are constrained by the shortage of cash. Indeed it is now 10 months the administrator has not received his allowance and the rent is also now due while there is no idea where we are going to get the money for it. However, for the fact that the GPU has no other means of income apart from membership subscriptions, makes the situation even more precarious. This is because those subscriptions are not usually forthcoming, which makes sustainability a major problem. Therefore, that is exactly where membership commitment comes in. It is one thing to call oneself a GPU member, but it is a completely different thing to actually behave like one. Therefore, in view of that, we need to devise other alternative means to help finance the secretariat. While we have unsuccessfully tried our hands in fundraising, there is still the need to discuss other possibilities of fundraising, at least to help keep the secretariat afloat; otherwise, we risk being evicted for failure to pay our rent. At one stage, we tried to engage the media houses in the running of the secretariat. After a meeting with some of them, it was agreed that they would contribute towards the running of the secretariat. Indeed some of them started making some generous monthly financial contributions towards the running of the secretariat. However, after a few months, it stopped, for whatever reason, I do not know. I would however, wish to take this opportunity to thank the proprietors of The Independent, Daily Observer, News and report and of course The Point, particularly the late Deyda Hydara, who was the very one who proposed the idea. As I said earlier, our membership list has grown, but what has not grown with it is the level of participation. Almost at every meeting, we admit new members, but hardly anyone of them comes to subsequent meetings or even meet their financial obligations to the union. There is usually always a small group of committed members who turn up for meetings, and even a smaller group that regularly meet their financial obligations. Obviously, it is the members that make the union whatever it is and if we fail to fully assume our responsibilities as members, then it would be quite hard to see how the union can meet its own obligations to us and the society. Therefore, unless we do so, then we should not blame anyone for the shortcomings of the union. Another area that the GPU has failed is its failure to still acquire a plot of land for a permanent secretariat. While all efforts have been made, particularly by Cherno Jallow while he was administrator, but it has always eluded us. Indeed at one time, we almost succeeded as a piece of land was even identified for us and Mr. Jallow even visited the place, however, in the process, there were changes at the Department of State for Local Government and Lands and the new Secretary of State seem to have had a different idea. As a result, after a series of correspondence and personal visits, we gave up when we realized that the chances were quite slim. We were convinced that someone somewhere had decided that the GPU did not deserve such a facility. We however hope and pray that the situation would one day change and our right to a piece of the national asset would be honoured. I cannot however end this report without expressing gratitude to some of our friends and collaborators who helped us quite a lot during the period under review. As I mentioned earlier, UNESCO was no doubt one of them. We have also had some assistance from some other UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNDP. We have also received a lot of assistance from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) who, through their Media For Democracy Project gave us a three-year assistance which ended in 2003. Through that project, they paid our rent, as well as met our other financial obligations such as the wages of the staff, together with the cost of stationery and communication costs. They also bought three computers and a printer for the secretariat. We cannot also forget the American Embassy, who also gave us substantial assistance in the form of payment of our rent and the provisions of a library and several reference books. We also wish to thank the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is a branch of the Open Society Institute, a human rights NGO with headquarters in New York who paid for our legal services during our court case against the National Media Commission. We also received some financial assistance from the Media Foundation for West Africa towards our legal battle against the Media Commission. We also thank our numerous friends and sympathizers both at home and abroad. We are particularly grateful to some of them for constantly giving us both moral and financial assistance during our times of great need. While some of them wished to remain anonymous, I would like to mention in particular our sister and colleague Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay and Mr. Mamanding Kuyateh for their generous financial assistance. Of course we cannot forget Mrs. Hawa Sisay Sabally, a private legal practitioner who volunteered to come to our assistance when almost every other lawyer we approached refused to take our case against the Media Commission, apparently because we did not have money to pay them. She did it and never asked for a butut. We are definitely grateful to her. During the run up to this congress, we wrote to all media houses soliciting financial assistance, and we are grateful to those who positively responded to our plea. These include The Independent and News and Report. The Independent donated D4000 and News and report donated D1000. We are indeed quite grateful to them. We also received D3000 towards the holding of the congress from Baba Galleh Jallow of The independent, who is presently in the USA. We would of course wish to thank all the other media houses as well as all institutions and individuals who at one time or the other helped the GPU morally or financially. I would however use this opportunity to further appeal to all media houses to continue to support the GPU as it is here to serve the cause of press freedom and unless we help to empower it, then it cannot perform effectively. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい 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 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] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい