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Guinea Alert: Journalist receives death threats over critical article

Vivian Affoah
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Alpha Kabinet Sidime, managing editor of the actuconakry.com website, has reported receiving death threats from unknown persons.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea reported that the unknown persons ordered Sidime to remove a critical article on Cellou Dalein Diallo, the opposition leader in Guinea who placed second in the 2010 presidential election.

“These people hurled insults at me and my family,” Sidime told the correspondent.

Sidime told our correspondent that certain persons who claim to be activists of the Union des Forces Démocratiques de Guinée (Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea) anonymously threatened him on February13 and 14, 2014.

According to Sidime, the unknown persons said, “We are going to shut down this goddamned site, kill or send you to prison. We have the means to make you shut up.”

Guinea Alert: Journalists detained for investigating illegal activity

Vivian Affoah
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On February 27, 2015, members of the Guinean Police and gendarmes arrested and detained Mahmoud Diary Diallo, a reporter and host at radio Lynx FM, and Algassimou Diallo, a reporter of Espace TV.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea reported that the two journalists were arrested by police officers and gendarmes on the orders of the Deputy Prefect of Thionthian, a village 70 km away from the capital Conakry.

The two journalists had gone to investigate a large-scale deforestation exercise when they were arrested and detained by police officers.

“We had finished the investigation,” Diallo told MFWA’s correspondent. “We were on our way back when the Deputy Prefect sent police officers to arrest us upon the request of the Prefect, his immediate superior officer.”

According to our correspondent, they were detained for five hours and their working equipment was seized before their release without any explanation.

Abdourahmane Bah, a resident of Thionthian, told the MFWA’s correspondent that he suspects some people involved in the illegal deforestation of trees must have “bribed the officers to get them to arrest the journalists because they do not want their dealings to appear in the media.”

The MFWA urges Guinean security forces to respect and protect press freedom in accordance with their human rights and legal obligations. We are increasingly concerned with state violence against journalists and once again call on the Guinean gendarmerie to cease its attacks on journalists.

Senegal Alert: Political activist in police custody for defamation

Vivian Affoah
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Mamadou Lamine Massaly, an activist of the opposition Senegalese Democratic Party, was placed under a committal order by the Senegalese Gendarmerie on February 27, 2015.

The MFWA’s correspondent reported that the Gendarmerie had lodged a complaint against Massaly for “defamation and insulting behavior against a public body”.

Massaly was summoned for alleging that he had been “tortured by a political gendarmerie” while in custody making allegedly defamatory statements against Aminata Tall, President of the Senegalese Economic and Social Council.

Massaly was taken into police custody after a complaint had been lodged by Tall, who believed that she had been defamed by the statements by Massaly, a former party comrade, who called her a “political prostitute”.

MFWA urges Senegal to decriminalize speech offenses, such as defamation, in line with the binding decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights calling for restrictions on criminal defamation laws and ruling that imprisonment for defamation violates the right to freedom of expression.

The Media Must Increase Women’s Participation and Coverage of Women’s Issues

Vivian Affoah
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The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) joins the world in commemorating International Women’s Day, celebrated globally on March 8. On International Women’s Day 2015, the MFWA calls on the media in West Africa to increase its engagements with women and its coverage of women’s issues in its programming.

The United Nations has recognised the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment in advancing development, democracy, and peace and security. However, gender inequalities in media representation have continued to frustrate women’s ability to use the media as a vehicle for empowerment and participation in governance.

The MFWA has highlighted these gender issues in its monitoring of women and the media, a critical area of concern under the unanimously adopted Beijing Platform for Action (1995) concerning gender equality and women’s empowerment. Even in Ghana, which boasts high levels of free expression protections, women face obstacles to participating in public discourse through the media. The MFWA found troubling disparities in the gender of featured individuals, discussants, and moderators and in the quantity of women’s issues discussed on radio programmes in Ghana during the period of June to November 2014.

“The media has the powerful ability to empower women to raise awareness about pressing issues in their communities,” said Anjali Manivannan, the MFWA Programme Officer for Free Expression Rights Monitoring and Campaigns. “It is thus essential that women have equal access to media platforms to seek, receive, and impart information in order to prioritise women’s issues, which in turn helps promote good governance and development.”

The media can help fulfill women’s right to freedom of expression and enable the realisation of other human rights by taking steps to facilitate women’s engagement with media platforms. The MFWA thus urges the media to fully and equally integrate women into programming and decision-making and help West Africa achieve its human rights and development goals.

Nigeria Update: Police initiate steps to redress violation against journalist

Vivian Affoah
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Tunde Ogunsakin, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of police in Zone 6 in the south-south political zone of Nigeria, has assured that the attackers of Charles Erukaa, reporter with Channels TV, will be brought to book.

Ogunsakin indicated his commitment to securing justice for Erukaa when he visited Erukaa, who remains at the hospital following the attack.

The AIG said the police have already started investigating the incident.

 “We will carry out a very in-depth investigation and you will hear from us,” Ogunsakin said. “People should have confidence in us. They should have confidence that we will do a good job. We will go to the root of this. We will get the culprits and we will bring them to justice.”

Erukaa sustained neck and head injuries following an attack by unknown persons while covering a political rally in Okrika, Rivers State on February 16, 2015.

Nigeria Alert: Journalist stabbed while covering political rally, amidst explosions and gunfire

Vivian Affoah
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Nigeria Alert: Journalist stabbed while covering political rally, amidst explosions and gunfire

Charles Erukaa, a journalist with the privately-owned Channels Television in Nigeria, was stabbed in the neck by an unknown person while covering a political rally on February 16, 2015.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Nigeria reported the incident happened at a rally organised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Okrika, Rivers State. During the event, there were several explosions and gunshots. Following this, the crowd was dispersed and the attackers began to loot. It was during this period that Erukaa was stabbed.

“Some of the attackers who have been looting the property of people who had provided the public address system now surrounded me and tried to take my phone away from me on the suspicion that I was actually calling reinforcement to come pick them up.” Erukaa said in an interview on Channels TV on February 17, 2015. “So in the scuffle, I got stabbed in the neck.”

According to the MFWA’s correspondent, dozens of people were injured in the attack including two security officials who had been deployed there to maintain law and order. It is unclear who is behind this attack.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Rivers State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Opaka Dokubo, threatened that journalists in the Okrika area might boycott coverage of the upcoming elections in Nigeria unless authorities implement adequate safety measures.

Opaka made these comments during a working visit to the Resident Election Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) on February 18.

Reacting to the violent attack on journalists at the APC rally in Okrika, the Rivers State NUJ Chairman noted that, as purveyors of information, journalists are always at the forefront of both war and crime situations, without any form of security.

“As journalists, we do not carry arms.” Dokubo said. “All that we have is the biro and the cameras you see here, but we are always at the forefront of the battlefield. We don’t have bullet proofs; we don’t have any form of security.”

The MFWA joins the NUJ in demanding protection from security agencies for journalists in their line of duty. We also urge political party affiliates and other actors to recognise the media’s role in democracy and peace-building and accordingly desist from attacking journalists.

Nigeria Alert: Journalists languish in arbitrary detention for 66 days

Vivian Affoah
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Emmanuel Fateman, assistant editor, and Joseph Jolayemi, a graphic artist, at National WAVES Magazine have been detained for 66 days following their arrest by officers of the Nigeria Special Force on December 16, 2014.

The MFWA’s partner organisation in Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) reported that the two are in detention as a result of an article that was published in their newspaper.

This article was on the uncovering of an alleged fraudulent 650 million Naira (about US$ 3,250,000) contract awarded by the Bauchi State government to A. A. Oil Company Limited.

 According to MRA, the publisher of the magazine, Jimmy Enyeh, said that the magazine uncovered the alleged suspicious dealings in August 2014 and sought the side of the Chief Executive Officer of the oil company, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar.

The newspaper hence sent a letter to Alhaji Abubakar on September 1, 2014, titled “Request for reaction on collection N650million for unexecuted contract.” However, the magazine did not receive a response from Abukakar or any representative of the oil company.

The story was consequently published in National WAVES Magazine on September 22, 2014.

Soon after the magazine published the story, Enyeh started receiving threatening phone calls saying “the apparatus of the state, including the law enforcement agencies, will be used to punish” him for publishing the story.

On the instruction of Alhaji Abubakar, an officer of Nigeria’s Special Task Force on Terrorism and Heinous Crimes served the publisher a letter of invitation. Enyeh said when he learnt of the invitation, he contacted his lawyer and requested that the meeting be rescheduled because he was out of town but the officer refused.

According to MRA, following the threat, Enyeh instituted an action at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory challenging the interference of the Task Force in a civil matter.

Alhaji Abubakar also filed a civil suit at the same court seeking relief against the magazine and Enyeh for the alleged defamatory publication.

Officers of the Special Task Force arrested Fateman and Jolayemi last December and have kept them in detention without charge since.

The MFWA condemns the continuous arbitrary detention of Emmanuel Fateman Joseph Jolayemi without due process of law. It calls on the Special Task Force to adhere to the country’s constitutional provisions and respect the rule of law by ensuring that the journalists are charged for Court or released immediately.

Sierra Leone Alert: Journalists warned against reporting on the audit of the Ebola Fund

Vivian Affoah
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The Majority Leader in the House of Parliament in Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Bundu, representing Constituency 52 in the Port Loko district in northern Sierra Leone has warned journalists to desist from further discussing the country’s Auditor General’s Report on the management of the Ebola Fund.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Sierra Leone reported that Bundu presented a statement to the House of Parliament on February 17, 2015, which said the Auditor General’s Report on the management of the Ebola Fund falls within the provisions of the country’s constitution and Standing Order 75 of the House of Parliament, which states that such reports cannot be discussed in public or published.

“Any attempt therefore to discuss the Auditor General’s opinion on the management of the Ebola Fund in any media will be tantamount to undermining the relevant provisions of the Constitution and those of the Standing Order,” Bundu said.

He also advised the press and public against assigning guilt before Parliament concludes its work.

“Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members, we therefore appeal to all concerned to allow Parliament to do its work and wait for the action that the Executive will take from the report of the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) than to prejudice the general public with statements that will only kill the morale of our vigilantes in the fight against the Ebola, and create a bad impression on our donor partners”.

Bundu said the report attracted wide publicity in both print and electronic media, including social media, on issues bordering on accountability, transparency, probity and disregard for procedures.

He noted that Parliament, as a legislature, therefore needs to clarify its position to guide the general public on matters of procedure regarding the audit report and the role of Parliament.

Meanwhile the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) said the statement by Bundu is an attempt to curtail freedom of speech in Sierra Leone. In a release issued on February 19, SLAJ said “the opinion expressed by the Majority Leader out rightly conflicts with the spirit and letter of Section 11 of the 1991 Constitution, which provides that ‘the press, radio and television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Constitution and highlight the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.’”

“There were no such restrictions placed on discussing the 2012 and 2013 reports by the Auditor General, so why is the report on the use of Ebola funds being treated differently?” the statement asked.

The MFWA remains concerned at government attempts to silence press coverage of Ebola and related issues such as the Ebola Fund. The MFWA calls on the government of Sierra Leone to respect the media’s watchdog role by allowing journalists to investigate and report on the management of funds in order to promote the democratic values of accountability and transparency in the country.

Ghana Alert: Police physically assault journalists

Vivian Affoah
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Fatawu Jango and one Tetteh, members of the police marine team stationed at the Senchi ferry in the Eastern Region of Ghana, assaulted Matilda Wemegah and David MacCarthy, a journalist and cameraman of JoyNews, a news channel on Multitv, a nationwide free-to-air multi-channel digital television network.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Ghana reported that on February 14, 2015, Wemegah and MacCarthy went to the Senchi ferry to report on how the ferry is operating with respect to timeliness, cost, etc. They sought permission from one Dadzie, a senior official of the operators of the ferry, to board the ferry to do conduct their investigation.

While interacting with some traders on board the ferry, the TV crew noticed a scuffle between some policemen and a driver of a trailer truck.

MacCarthy subsequently began to film the incident but Jango charged at the cameraman, slapped him and tried to his camera.

When Wemegah attempted to intervene, Jango pushed her aside and she almost fell into the Volta River. When they reached the other side of the river, the policeman dragged MacCarthy on the ground, tearing his trousers and belt.

Tetteh, who was then in a tent on the other side of the river, also assaulted MacCarthy by slapping him.

In an interview with MFWA’s correspondent on February 17, Wemegah said they have filed a complaint at the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau against the two policemen and they were assured that the matter will be investigated.

“We will also be submitting MacCarthy’s medical report to the (Eastern) regional office of the Ghana Police Service”, Wemegah told the correspondent. “I got a call from the Inspector General of Police after the incident and he apologised and also said he will investigate the matter and take the necessary action”.

The MFWA is concerned about this assault on journalists by the police. Police and military personnel are the greatest violators of freedom of expression in West Africa, according to the MFWA’s latest report.  Last year, the MFWA raised concerns about the increasing number of violations against journalists by members of the security agencies in Ghana. We continue to urge members of security agencies to uphold their obligations as duty-bearers to respect and protect freedom of expression and also to recognise the media’s role in democracy, development and peace-building.

Security Forces Remain Biggest Threat to Freedom of Expression in West Africa – MFWA Report

Vivian Affoah
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State security forces—mainly police, military and security intelligence officers are the leading violators of the right to freedom of expression in West Africa, according to the latest monitoring report by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). This report, titled West Africa Free Expression Monitor, analyses incidents of freedom of expression violations in the region during the period of September to December 2014.

According to the report, state security forces committed more than half of the free expression rights violations recorded during the period. The report also indicates that the level of violations by security forces was consistent with the findings of the MFWA’s previous monitoring report for the period of May to August 2014, in which security forces were the leading perpetrators of violations.

In the latest report, the MFWA found that security forces committed 19 of the total 37 violations recorded from September to December 2014. The recorded incidents of violations took the form of attacks or threats (9 incidents); arrests and arbitrary detentions (4); violations of the right of assembly (3); censorship, fines and even murder (1 each).

The violations by security forces occurred in Benin (5 incidents); Guinea and Sierra Leone (4 each); Liberia (2); Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria (1 each).

“Security forces, as agents of the state, are obligated under international law to respect and protect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression,” said Anjali Manivannan, the Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression Rights Monitoring and Campaigns at the MFWA. “It is therefore unfortunate that we are witnessing a situation in which duty bearers are the worst violators of freedom of expression.”

The report indicated that the total number of recorded incidents of violations of freedom of expression in West Africa decreased from 38 during the second trimester of 2014 to 37 during the final four months of the year.

The latest West Africa Free Expression Monitor analyses incidents of violations in all 16 countries in West Africa; the 15 ECOWAS member states plus Mauritania from September to December 2014. It highlights types of violations; perpetrators of the violations; and countries in which the violations occurred during this period. Read the full report with executive summary here.

Guinea Alert: Journalist battered by gendarmes

Vivian Affoah
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Guinea Alert: Journalist battered by gendarmes

On February 19, 2015, two gendarmes physically assaulted Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, a reporter with the guineematin.com news site.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea reported the incident happened while Sow was covering a march organised by Guinean civil society activists to protest the perceived state of insecurity in the country.

“I was covering the ceremony when gendarmes came to tell me to stop filming,” Sow told our correspondent. “I showed them my press card and told them that I was only doing my work. It was at this point that one of them slapped me. The other one sent me to the floor.”

The journalist sustained injuries on his face as a result of the attack.

After Commander of the National Gendarmerie Mamadou Baldé was informed of the incident by the guineematin.com editorial office, he promised to punish the two gendarmes formally identified by the journalist.

Nouhou Baldé, founder of guineematin.com said the news site will formally lodge a complaint regarding this instance of gendarme brutality.

Acts of violence perpetrated against journalists by gendarmes have become a frequent occurrence in Guinea. However, the state has failed to hold many of these perpetrators accountable, which has the potential to promote a culture of impunity and undermine press freedom in Guinea. The MFWA urges the Guinean government to initiate investigations into all attacks on journalists and freedom of expression. It also calls on the National Gendarmerie to live up to its promises and internally sanction the two gendarmes. In addition, the MFWA encourages the National Gendarmerie to implement programmes in order to sensitise gendarmes on respecting and protecting journalists and press freedom.

Ghana Alert: Deputy Minister threatens journalist

Vivian Affoah
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Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, has threatened Daniel Bampoe, the Eastern Regional reporter of the Daily Guide newspaper, Ghana biggest private newspaper.

The MFWA’s correspondent reported that the threats follow an article authored by Bampoe and published in the February 6, 2015 edition of the newspaper. The article, “Minister Dumps Wife Over Cocaine Saga,” said the deputy minister, who is also a Member of Parliament for Lower Manya in the Eastern Region of Ghana, had reportedly packed out of his official residence and left his wife behind.

The newspaper also said the deputy minister had moved in with his “mistress” at East Legon, a suburb of Accra, where he had allegedly rented a house for her.

Following the publication of the story, Terlabi allegedly phoned the reporter and said “thank you very much. I have seen your story on front page right! And is that the twist you have given it? Thank you. You are a young man and you will see how you are going to survive in this country.”

The Lower Manya constituency secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress is also said to have threatened the reporter.

Meanwhile, Bampoe has petitioned the country’s Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan.

In an email correspondence with MFWA’s correspondent, Bampoe said his reason for petitioning the IGP is to request an investigation into the matter. “I am calling on the IGP to investigate the matter, since it is a threat and can cause harm on my life,” he told the correspondent.

“I want the IGP to make the MP and his constituency to sign a bond so that I can move freely in the Lower Manya Area, and any part of Ghana, without being harmed by anybody, since the MP said ‘we shall see how you are going to survive in this country’, and the deputy secretary also said the Lower Manya People would never forgive me” Bampoe added.

The MFWA is concerned about the threats against Bampoe’s life and appeals to the IGP to investigate the matter and offer the journalist the necessary protection.

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