The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has submitted an amicus curiae petition to Nigeria’s Supreme Court in support of Nigeria Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a musician who is appealing his death sentence in a blasphemy case.
Sharif-Aminu, then 22, was sentenced to death by hanging in 2020 after an Upper Sharia Court in Kano convicted him of blasphemy in relation to a song he composed expressing his religious belief. The song, a eulogy to the founder of the Tijaniya Muslim sect, Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, was denounced as blasphemous by critics who said it projected the Senegal-born cleric above the Prophet Muhammed. A mob of fanatics stormed Sharif-Aminu’s family home and burnt it down. The zealots later massed up in front of the headquarters of the Islamic police to demand the arrest and prosecution of the singer. Unfortunately, the authorities capitulated to the frenzy and put the singer before court, leading to his conviction.
He has since been on death roll in Kano State, in northern Nigeria and now faces the risk of execution, barring a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. As part of advocacy effort towards a successful outcome, the MFWA submitted joint amicus curiae petition with the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), led by Richard N. Winfield, Adjunct Professor, Columbia Law School, Columbia University, USA.
The ISLP is a non-governmental organization of 2,000 volunteer human rights lawyers devoted on a pro bono basis to protect and defend human rights and the rule of law.
In their submission, the two petitioner organisations reminded the court that, “As a signatory of the ICCPR and African Charter, Nigeria is subject to limitations on punishment for expression.”
“When the extent of an individual’s right to engage in controversial speech is called into question, the State has a heightened responsibility to ensure that proper treatment and protection of that individual’s rights is upheld.
“Finally, no international court has ever held that the State may imprison a defendant for having uttered controversial speech.
“More importantly, no international court has ever held that the State may take the life of a citizen for having uttered controversial speech,” the petitioners said.
In the lead-up to Sierra Leone’s general elections in June 2023, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is running its automated fact-checking tool, iVerify, in the country and the trusted hands behind the project include two alumni of the MFWA’s Next Generation Investigative Journalism (NGIJ) Fellowship.
Victor Jones has been on the Sierra Leone iVerify team as Editor and Coordinator since March 2023, while Marian Amaria Bangura joined the team as a Fact-Checker. The two were Fellows in the 2022 edition of the NGIJ Fellowship which is hosted annually by the MFWA in Accra, Ghana.
Like all beneficiaries of the Fellowship, Victor and Marian had come in as just journalists, but had left Accra after the five-month intensive training, as professional fact-checkers as well.
“I had stumbled upon the job advertisement on one of Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ)’s WhatsApp group and applied as an ordinary fact-checker, but after being interviewed by professionals from the BBC World Service England, UNDP, IRN and SLAJ, I was offered an editorial position rather than a writer position,” Victor explained.
He said the factors that facilitated his obtaining of the position included his credential as a former Fellow of the MFWA’s NGIJ, and also the author of some impactfulinvestigative stories which he did while still in the NGIJ fellowship programme in Accra.
“Had I not been privileged to be practically taught by the guild of phenomenally skilled journalists at the Fourth Estate Ghana, led by Manasseh Azure, I would not have gotten to where I am today. From professional etiquette to editorial solidity, my NGIJ journey has helped me in more ways than I can count” Victor explains.
As Editor and Coordinator of the iVerify project, Victor assigns, supervises, edits and publishes articles from about 10 Fact-Checkers on the project. He is also responsible for posting and sharing media content online across all social media platforms.
“I feel professionally charged and fulfilled to be doing this at this time of my career especially when I’ve just completed an NGIJ training on Fact-Checking. It is a revolutionary phenomenon more or less,” he said.
At the closing ceremony of the 2022 Fellowship, Victor won the award for best creative writer.
For Marian Bangura, her role as a Fact-Checker on the iVerify project entails auditing and verifying information put out in connection with Sierra Leone’s upcoming election for their factuality.
She explained that she was recommended to work on the project due to her skill in fact-checking and investigative reporting.
“I believe it was because of the NGIJ fellowship that I got the job. This is because most of the questions I answered about Fact-Checking during the job interview were things I had already learnt during the NGIJ fellowship in Ghana” Ms. Bangura added.
In the build-up to Sierra Leone’s June 24th general elections, the UNDP’s I-verify, a Digital Public Good project, has been running in the country. The project timeline is to span 9 months – from 20th March to 20th December 2023. The UNDP is undertaking the project in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), the Independent Radio Network (IRN-SL) and the BBC.
About NGIJ
The Next Generation Investigative Journalism(NGIJ) Fellowship is a training and mentorship programme that seeks to empower young journalists with investigative journalism skills. The objective is to build a pool of next-generation investigative journalists who will contribute to improving lives and promoting good governance through journalism excellence. The NGIJ programme builds the capacity of early-career journalists in the West Africa region to be able to conduct critical, high-quality, fact-based and in-depth reporting.
Every year, the Fellows are recruited through a competitive process of selection including aptitude tests and interviews. Under the programme, the selected journalists are hosted in Ghana for a five-month comprehensive training. The training includes a mentorship programme with Fact-Check Ghana and The Fourth Estate, both being MFWA’s public interest and accountability journalism projects made up of seasoned journalists.
The 2022 NGIJ Fellowship rolled out with funding support from the United States Embassy in Ghana and the Dutch Foreign Ministry (through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
On May 10, the Federal High Court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining broadcast watchdog, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), from imposing fines on broadcast stations.
Delivering the ruling, Justice James Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose fines on broadcast stations in the country, and described the commission’s act of sanctioning networks as being “ultra vires.”
NBC, which has been accused of yielding to the demands of the government through its actions over time, has been notorious for handing down heavy fines on networks that air reports or interviews deemed unfavourable to the government.
The Abuja court ruling stemmed from the broadcast watchdog’s action dating back to March 1, 2019, when it imposed a fine of 500,000 naira ($1,085) each on 45 broadcast stations, including government-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and privately-owned Channels Television, TVC News and African Independent Television (AIT).
Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, the then NBC Director General, claimed that the networks breached the regulator’s code during the electioneering campaign of 2019 by airing content involving “questionable language.”
The regulator did not clarify what it meant by “questionable language.” It threatened to close down any station that contravenes the provision of the code of conduct for broadcast media.
Perturbed by the NBC’s action, media rights organisation Media Rights Agenda (MRA), sued the regulator, seeking a declaration that the procedure of sanctions applied by the NBC was a violation of the rules of natural justice.
Counsel for MRA, Noah Ajare, digital rights and press freedom advocate, said the fines were in violation of the right to a fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Articles 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap AQ) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The lawyer also sought “an order of perpetual Injunction restraining the respondent [NBC], its servants, agents, privies, representatives or anyone acting for or on its behalf, from imposing fines on any of the broadcast stations or any other broadcast station in Nigeria for any alleged offence committed under the Nigerian Broadcasting Code.”
Ajare held that the fines imposed by the NBC as punishment for the commission of the various offences under its code were contrary to the law and were thereby unconstitutional, null and void.
Justice served
In the judgement delivered on May 10, 2023, Omotosho set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on each of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019.
He stated that the NBC Code, which gives the broadcast watchdog the power to impose sanctions, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution which vested judicial power in the court of law.
The judge said the court “will not sit idle and watch a body impose fines arbitrarily without recourse to the law,” adding that the NBC did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at the same time, the court and the judge on its own matter.
Omotosho said the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions, cannot confer judicial powers on the commission to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.
He also said the watchdog, not being the police, “has no power to conduct a criminal investigation that would lead to criminal trial and imposition of sanctions.”
Media rights advocates laud court ruling
Edetaen Ojo, the Executive Director at Media Rights Agenda, the organisation which filed the suit against the NBC, expressed relief that the media rights advocate “has succeeded in putting a stop to the rampant imposition of punitive fines on radio and TV stations by the NBC even when they are simply doing their jobs.”
Edetaen Ojo is the Executive Director at Media Rights Agenda
Ojo described the judgement as a “monumental feat.”
Also, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) said the judgement “has vindicated the position of the editors that NBC could not appropriate the constitutional responsibility of the judiciary arm of government.”
NGE President, Mustapha Isah, and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, saluted the lawyers who sued the NBC for testing the “draconian NBC Act.”
“Justice Omotosho’s ruling on May 10, 2023, vindicated our consistent position over the years that the NBC cannot be the accuser, the investigator and the judge on matters relating to alleged breach of the Broadcast Code,” Isah and Uwugiaren said in a co-signed statement.
“Our position has always been that an independent body or institution should be the one to examine any perceived infraction by the broadcast stations, which should be given the opportunity to defend themselves,” the guild added.
Lawyer and press freedom advocate Inibehe Effiong said he had sued the NBC and other parties at the Federal High Court in Lagos, challenging the legality of the imposition of fines on broadcast stations in the country.
“Justice [Ambrose] Allagoa ruled against me,” Effiong tweeted. “I’m happy that Justice Omotosho in Abuja has taken the opposite position.”
MFWA welcomes ruling
The Media Foundation for West Africa hails the court’s ruling, hoping that it would prevent tyranny long exhibited by the broadcast regulator.
MFWA had on several occasions documented events detailing the misuse of authority by the watchdog.
On October 26, 2020, the NBC fined Arise News, Channels Television and Africa Independent Television, all privately-owned, to the tune of 3 million naira ($6,500) each for what the regulator described as the stations’ “unprofessional coverage” of the #EndSARS [anti-police brutality] protests in Nigeria.
In April 2021, the NBC again fined Channels TV and private radio station Inspiration FM 5 million naira each ($10,800) for airing an interview with a spokesman for the proscribed secessionist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
On August 24, 2021, the regulator again queried Channels Television for airing an interview with Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State in north-central Nigeria. In the interview, Ortom made several comments critical of President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of the persistent herdsman-farmer conflict, which has led to the loss of thousands of lives.
On August 19, 2022, the NBC revoked the licences of 52 television and radio stations, including AIT, and Silverbird Television, due to the stations’ indebtedness to it amounting to about 2.6 billion naira ($5.7 million).
However, a federal high court in Lagos on August 29, 2022, countered the regulator’s action in a judgement.
On March 27, 2023, the NBC again slammed a fine of 5 million naira ($10,800) on Channels TV, over an interview the network held with Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the presidential election of February 25, 2023.
In the interview, Baba-Ahmed claimed that the presidential election was rigged and said whoever swears in President-elect Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party “has ended democracy in Nigeria.”
NBC blamed Channels TV for allowing Baba-Ahmed to make the comments it [the regulator] considered inflammatory, saying it had constantly engaged Channels TV to consider public interest before broadcasting any programme.
In view of the repressive nature of the NBC’s oversight of the media sector, the MFWA hails this milestone judicial intervention and applauds MRA for successfully standing up to regulatory tyranny.
A group of seasoned investigative journalists and media freedom activists have called stakeholders in the media to close their ranks, network more and collaborate across borders to counter the growing threat to press freedom in the sub-region.
The call was made during a webinar organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), on May 2, 2023, as part of activities marking the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). The webinar took stock of the current state of the free expression environment and its impact on human rights. This focus of the webinar was in line with the theme for this year’s celebration – “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.”
Among the erudite panel were Bettie Johnson Mbayo (freelance journalist), Malick Konaté (Director of Publication, Horon TV, Mali), Liberia), Haruna Salisu Mohammed (Publisher WikkiTimes, Nigeria), Manasseh Azure Awuni (Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Ghana), Isidore Kouwonou (Editor-in-Chief, Media L’Alternative, Togo), and Pape Alé Niang (Director of Publication, Dakar Matin, Senegal).
Mali
The panel observed that it has become extremely difficult for journalists in Mali to carry out critical reporting without being viewed as enemies who want to tarnish the reputation of the military regime in power and the country at large. The authorities have suspended a couple of local media organisations, expelled a number of foreign correspondents and reduced the media to silence or praise-singing.
Exploiting the national mobilisation against the rebels, the junta has successfully whipped up patriotic sentiments that make it dangerous to express divergent opinions.
“Most citizens in Mali do not fully understand the role of journalists and they [citizens] generally do not demand accountability so long as they feel that actions taken by the government are to limit foreign interference, or fight terrorism,” Malick Konaté said.
“Journalists who try to get information about government expenditure on military equipment or demand accountability are seen as enemies of the State aiming at destabilizing the transitional government,” he added.
This has created a state of complacency and a climate of tolerance for restrictions, including limiting access to information.
Once a journalist is accused of being an enemy of the transitional government, the military goes after them and subjects them to interrogations. These journalists end up spending several days or months in detention before their cases are dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence. Some are granted conditional release or bail.
“I had to flee Mali about eight months ago [2022] after I became the target of death threats and hate speech,” the journalist declared.
The threats came after Konaté worked with the French television channel BFM TV to produce an investigative story about the presence of the Russian private military company, Wagner, in Mali. He is now perceived as an ally of France and an enemy of Mali because he worked with BFM TV.
Burkina Faso
The media and civil society organisations in Burkina Faso who were on the webinar shared similar challenges as their colleagues in Mali. Just like its Sahel neighbour, Burkina Faso has been destabilised by political upheavals including two military coups in less than a year and a raging jihadist insurgency. Several foreign media have been antagonised, suspended and their correspondents expelled. Crucially, these are done without recourse to the Superior Council for Communication (CSC), the body mandated to regulate the media. The least criticism of the government or the military is brutally repressed, with critics being arrested even on the premises of radio stations.
Liberia
Despite a set of laws that should protect journalists in Liberia, it was observed that critical journalism attracts harassment, threats and attacks. The attacks are usually from or at the behest of powerful people who are unhappy with critical journalism that concerns them or their interests. Politicians, political party thugs and state actors are the dominant perpetrators of attacks against journalists. A panel member, Bettie Johnson Mbayo shared a personal experience where she was prosecuted on the complaint of a politician whom she made several critical stories about. She said the politician seized on a confrontation in traffic to drag her to court.
Ms Johnson Mbayo called for “intense public education and engagement with political party leaders on the need to uphold press freedom and prevent vigilante attacks on reporters during Liberia’s upcoming elections.”
Nigeria
Nigeria was identified as a cauldron of perennial repression, with state officials, political party vigilantes and security officials as the leading perpetrators of violations against journalists. The panel decried several attacks on reporters during the February 2023 presidential elections. One of the panellists, Haruna Mohamed Salisu, recounted his arrest and detention and the seizure of his phone while covering the polls.
“Local actors or politicians are always trying to muzzle and gag the press through intimidation, threats or harassment that could take the form of extensive legal actions that are often costly to the journalists or media house” Haruna said.
He added that media outlets operating at the grassroots or the subnational levels are disproportionately exposed to harassment because it is very easy for local actors to identify, profile and trail.
Haruna and his online newspaper, the WikkiTimes are facing multiple lawsuits from politicians and business owners as a result of investigative stories they have published. WikkiTimes editorial department is operating from a hideout as a result of threats and harassment.
Ghana
Ghana, has for a long time, been one of the leading democracies in Africa, however, press freedom has been on the decline for the past six years, said Manasseh Azure Awuni. Critical journalists are also often attacked physically or threatened. As a result, journalists usually face mental health issues due to the psychological and emotional effect of these abuses. The journalist gave an example of how he and his family were forced to flee Ghana in 2019 for their safety.
“The biggest challenge is when you face these threats and the state cannot even protect you,” Manasseh deplored as emphasized on the need to protect journalists whose rights are abused.
Journalists are therefore more concerned about their safety when they realise that there would be no justice for them even if they put their lives on the line.
Togo
The media sector in Togo is in critical condition, with critical journalism almost non-existent as a result of hostility from the government, its business allies and, unfortunately, the media regulator, the Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC). At the least opportunity, the HAC sanctions journalists and media outlets with suspensions, often upon complaint by powerful people. Isidore Kouwonou, editor of L’Aternative newspaper, shared a recent experience that forced him out of the country. On March 15, 2023, the High Court of Lomé sentenced him and his director of publication, Ferdinand Ayité, to three years in prison each. The court also convicted the two to a fine of 3 million CFA Francs (about $5000). The two were sentenced in absentia. They were accused of defaming two Ministers of State. The third accused, Joel Egah, who was dead at the time of the sentencing, was given a posthumous prison term. Kouwonou said the repression is so intense many journalists have abandoned the profession.
Senegal
Just like Ghana, Senegal’s press freedom credentials have been dented by recent cases of arrests and detentions of journalists by the authorities. Pape Ndiaye of Walf TV has been in detention for more than two months, and investigative journalist, Babacar Touré of Kewoulo TV, was recently detained and released. Before them, the managing editor of Dakar Matin, Pape Ale Niang, who was on the panel, was arrested twice in November and December 2022 for commenting on a politically sensitive court case.
“I was kidnapped in town as I went to fix a puncture. I was released after 61 days in detention thanks to massive support and advocacy led by international and national media actors as well civil society organisations” Niang said.
Pape Niang said a perceived ambition by President Macky Sall to seek a third mandate has made his government both unpopular and intolerant. Critical journalists and dissenting voices face serious human rights violations considering the manner in which they are arrested, detained, charged, and prosecuted. Senegalese are enduring repression of the kind unleashed by President Alpha Conde of Guinea on the media and civil society in his controversial push for a third term.
In Benin, the digital code No. 2017, Loi n° 2017-20 adopted in 2017 has become the instrument by which the authorities are silencing critical publications online. The case of Ignace Sossou who was arrested for a Twitter post in December 20, 2019 typifies the threat.
A similar situation prevails in Niger, where the digital code has claimed many journalists victims. The country is also battling with insurgency and journalists are under heavy military control while reporting in the affected areas like Tillabery (close to Burkina Faso), Tahoua (Close to Mali), and Diffa (Close to Nigeria). One might need authorization before conducting any interview.
The light of these challenges, the participants made the following recommendations:
To Journalists
Build solidarity among themselves, create a sub-regional safety network and mount a region-wide push-back whenever a media professional is attacked
Create a coalition and strong network of media rights organisations and press unions to pressurise decision makers, hold public officials accountable and ensure perpetrators of abuses against journalists are brought to book.
Educate and sensitize the citizenry on the importance and value of critical and decent accountability journalism
To Media Owners and Media Development Organisations
Build the capacities of journalists in terms of physical safety as well as digital safety and security
Report abuses against employees and pursue justice to its logical conclusion
Provide psychological support to journalists who are traumatised by threats, detention and physical attacks
To Governments
Demonstrate commitment to protecting the safety of journalists by condemning attacks on journalists and ensuring effective investigations and prosecution
Promote a culture of tolerance by exercising the right of rejoinder to critical publications rather than resorting to arrests, threats and physical attacks
To International Bodies
Provide the necessary support to the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to overcome the challenge of extremist violence in order to restore peace
Use all diplomatic means to prevail on the governments of these countries to roll back the restriction of the civic space in their countries
Provide safe haven, legal defense support and digital security training to journalists
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns the brazen assault on Sadiq Gariba, a radio presenter with Radio Dagbon based in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana, and urges the police to ensure that the perpetrator is prosecuted.
Gariba was live on air when Hardi Pagzaa, a former Regional Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), on May 3, 2023, burst into the studio to assault him. Accompanied by one person, the politician collared Gariba and held him up, amidst insults and intimidations.
In a widely circulated video of the incident, Pagzaa is seen holding the journalist as the latter struggled to free himself. The assailant and his companion left after some three minutes.
Explaining the circumstances of the attack to the national media, Gariba said he had called out Pagzaa over certain disparaging comments the politician had made about him on another radio station.
In what is a sad irony the incident happened on the day the Ghanaian media had joined the global media fraternity to mark World Press Freedom Day.
The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has condemned the assault and urged the police to take swift action.
“The Ministry condemns the act and urges the Ghana Police Service and relevant agencies to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.
“Attacks on journalists should not be countenanced. Severe and speedy response from law enforcement agencies is necessary to prevent copy-cat acts and maintain Ghana’s status in upholding press freedom,” the minister said in a statement on May 4, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Management of Radio Dagbon has reported the incident to the police. The manager of the station, Nasiba Victor confirmed this in a telephone conversation with the MFWA. Corporal Atsu Adanu of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Tamale Station Police, also confirmed having invited Pagzaa to help in investigations into the matter.
As a political figure who has been involved in communication, Pagzaa must be aware of the critical role of the media in promoting party activities. The MFWA, therefore, finds it shameful and distasteful for him to storm a radio station and assault a journalist in such a petulant manner. We commend the management of Dagbon Radio for reporting the matter to the police.
The incident is the third time in 16 months that disgruntled persons have stormed radio stations to cause mayhem in Ghana. On January 13, 2022, a group of thugs stormed the premises of the community radio Radio Ada, assaulted two of its journalists and vandalised equipment. On May 16, 2022, three burly men on motor bicycles burst into the premises of Radio Benya and caused similar havoc.
Ghana dropped two places to 62nd in the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) global press freedom ranking. Incidentally, the assault on Gariba occurred on the very day the report on the ranking was released.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is calling for entries for the 7th edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA).
WAMECA 2023 will be held from October 19 – 21 in Accra, Ghana, and will focus on the theme: Media and Democracy in Africa.
The first two days of the event will be dedicated to discussing various topics under the theme while the last day will be for the annual awards, which honours excellent and impactful works of journalism in West Africa.
Participants in this year’s event will deliberate on the current democratic recession in Africa and come out with actionable recommendations to mobilize a continent-wide response to the rollback.
The Awards are opened to journalists from print, electronic and online media in Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone countries in West Africa. An applicant must be West African, working with and for a media organisation(s) based in the sub-region.
An entry for the Awards must have been published or broadcasted between the period January 1 to December 31, 2022.
WAMECA 2023 will honour outstanding works of journalism in West Africa in the following categories:
Human Rights Reporting
Investigative Reporting
Anti-Corruption Reporting
Environmental Reporting
Health Reporting
Telecoms and ICTs Reporting
Business and SMEs Reporting
Migration Reporting
Women Empowerment Reporting
Oil and Gas Reporting
The deadline for the submission of the entries is on June 30, 2023, at 17.00 GMT. Finalists for WAMECA 2023 Awards will be announced on October 3, 2023.
Interested applicants should upload published works via the entry form on the website: www.mfwa.org/wameca. The entry should be an original work published through a media outlet in West Africa and must show the date of publication/broadcast and the medium in which the work was published. Applicants may submit entries to a maximum of two categories. For each category, a maximum of two entries is permitted.
Winners of the various categories will be announced at the West Africa Media Excellence Awards on October21 in Accra where the awards ceremony will be held.
Below are the important dates:
Opening of Entries – May 3, 2023
Deadline for submission of entries: June 30, 2023
Assessment of entries and selection of finalists: August 1-September 30, 2023
The fourth quarter of 2022 (October-December) recorded 21 freedom of expression (FOE) violations, the least number recorded in the year. The figure is 55 per cent (55%) lower than that of the preceding quarter (July to September 2022) which stood at 46. The first (January-March) and second (April-June) quarters recorded 34 and 42 respectively.
Nigeria recorded the most violations (7), followed by Senegal (4 violations). Burkina Faso recorded three (3) violations, while Mali follows with two (2) violations. Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Benin recorded one (1) violation each for this quarter.
While the number is the least recorded during the year, the last quarter of 2022 was by no means a reprieve. The quarter was marked by a series of arrests and detentions as well as physical assaults of journalists and media professionals, involving at least 10 journalists, with Senegal, Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau leading the charge against journalists.
Apart from the attacks on journalists, there was a major administrative assault on press freedom in Guinea Bissau. The country’s authorities announced in October 2022, steep increases in new license fees for the media in the country. For instance, the new fees for the acquisition of commercial television with national coverage amounted to at least a 6000% increase on the previous fees.
Authorities in Burkina Faso suspended RFI programmes in the country until further notice. The country’s neighbour, Mali, which had suspended RFI in March 2022, this time around suspended a local media house, establishing a culture of state hostility against independent broadcasting.
The fourth quarter report also features other important freedom of expression and digital rights developments in the region, including redresses for violations and recommendations to key stakeholders.
The Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA) with three other media organisations has called on the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo to annul aspects of two laws which continue to criminalize free expression even though Ghana repealed its criminal libel law two decades ago.
The call which was made by the MFWA together Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the Private Newspapers Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) in a joint press conference on Thursday, April 20, specified the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) and the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) as the laws in question.
The coalition particularized Section 76 of Act 775 and Section 208 of Act 29 as the problematic provisions of the laws. Originally targeted at the publication of false information, the two provisions have continuously been used by authorities to harass, arrest and prosecute journalists over their work.
“We recognize that the media and journalists can sometimes be reckless and unprofessional to the extent of publishing false and defamatory stories. Fortunately, the laws of the country provide aggrieved entities remedies for civil actions against citizens, journalists and media organizations.
“It is regrettable, therefore, that repressive provisions of the Electronic Communications Act and the Criminal and other offences Act are being weaponized to muzzle free speech under the Akufo-Addo regime,” said the President of the GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour.
On behalf of the GJA which is a leading member of the coalition, Mr. Dwumfour who addressed the press demanded: “repeal these two laws!”
The press conference comes in the wake of the recent detention of a Radio Ada journalist, Noah Dameh, over a Facebook post concerning business mogul and CEO of the McDan Group of companies, Daniel McKorley. Mr. McKorley’s company, Electrochem, has been facing indigens’ resistance after it was controversially awarded a contract by the government to mine salt at Ada in Ghana’s Greater Accra Region.
Noah Dameh has been in and out of detention after he was first charged with publishing false news in August 2022 and subsequently remanded into custody by a court in March 2023.
The Radio Ada journalist has not been the only victim – in February 2022, the Police arrested Accra FM journalist, Kwabena Bobbie Ansah on the charge of publication of false news and offensive conduct for a video he posted on social media which claimed that the President’s wife had illegally acquired state lands.
In February of the same year, the Executive Director of an anti-corruption organization, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, was arrested by the police for publishing allegations that members of the President’s family travelled by the Presidential jet to the UK for shopping.
The coalition points out that these arrests and prosecutions are totally unbecoming of the government led by President Akufo-Addo who actually oversaw the repeal of the criminal libel law when he was Attorney General of the John Kufuor government in 2001. The press conference also reminded the President about his position on the problematic provisions in question in a lecture he granted in 2011, labelling them as unconstitutional.
“Our job is basically to remind him that, Mr. President, these were your views, we are still operating the same constitution, we are still talking about the same laws and these positions that you upheld are basically what we are saying we are in support of. You know we support you and we want you to take action in line with your convictions at that time,” said Mr. Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the MFWA who also addressed the press conference.
Ghana officially repealed its criminal libel and seditious law on July 27, 2001. However, in the years after that, Section 76 of Act 775 and Section 208 of Act 29, have proven to be vestiges of these repealed laws. The MFWA has long campaigned for their repeal making the current call yet another rehash.
Here‘s the full statement read at the press conference.
In the last few years, democracy in Africa has been in recession. The rollback has been manifested through the alteration of constitutions to change term limits by autocrats, the deliberate politicization of electoral bodies with partisan appointments, and the weaponization of the judiciary for partisan objectives.
Along with these, civic spaces within many African countries have shrunk while the media have come under attacks from governments which have often brandished archaic criminal libel laws as weapons to arrest dissenting journalists.
As part of a new wave of anti-media opportunism, autocratic governments have also leveraged existing broadcast license laws to levy hefty fees on media houses and have attempted to close such media houses down over inability to pay.
Even so, of all of these markings of the democratic recession on the continent, the most disheartening has been a new wave of coup d’états on the continent. In the immediate post-independence era of the 1950s, coups and counter-coups were common in Africa. However, by the early 90s, a new trend of democratisation had started after Benin held elections in 1991 and Ghana followed suit in 1992.
By the early 2000s, the majority of African states were democracies. However, since the 2010s, a new trend of coups has returned. Of the 16 coups recorded globally since 2017, all but one, which happened in Myanmar in 2021, have been in Africa.
While in 2020 only one coup was reported (in Mali), in 2021 there were six coups or attempted coups recorded in Africa. There were successful coups in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan and failed military takeovers in Niger and Sudan in that year. In 2022, there were five attempted coups with two – in Burkina Faso – being successful.
In addition to the new trend of coups, there is also worry about the fact that the current generation of coup leaders in Africa are very young with their ages ranging from 34 to 41. This means these putschists and the military juntas that they lead are likely to stay in power for a long time to the detriment of democratic governance, unless we are able to get them to wean themselves off power and re-initiate democratization.
It is against this background that the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is dedicating the 2023 edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA) to highlighting and discussing the current trend of democratic recession in Africa.
WAMECA 2023 will thus run on the theme: Media and Democracy in Africa. This being the seventh edition, West Africa’s biggest media event will come off in Ghana’s capital, Accra, from 19 to 21 October, 2023.
“WAMECA 2023 will be the platform to host all key democracy and media stakeholders on the continent and representatives of the regional blocs to discuss and map out strategies, make commitments and garner support and collective efforts in suppressing the rising tendencies of autocracy, unconstitutional governments and the shrinking media and civic space in Africa. There cannot be any other time to do this than now given the recent developments we are observing on the continent,” said Abigail Larbi Odei, the MFWA’s Programme Manager for Media and Good Governance.
WAMECA 2023 is expected to bring together prominent governance and democracy activists, political and development advocates, and media and press freedom stakeholders across Africa. The event will also host representatives of the regional blocs, government officials, members of the diplomatic community, and heads of civil society organisations across the continent.
Over the years, WAMECA has served as a platform where experts in various media, governance and democracy-related fields converge to ponder media development and good governance issues on the continent.
Last year, In 2022, the conference focused on Media and Women Empowerment in Africa. Participants deliberated on how the media on the continent can give women and girls the needed visibility, amplification of their voices, driving women’s participation in governance and showcasing women’s leadership in all fields.
In 2021, guests and participants at the event shared insights on the evolving phenomenon of “Misinformation, Digital Media Regulation and Journalism in Africa”. The theme was necessitated by the growing number of legislation in Africa that tend to strengthen state control over citizens’ use of the internet, online communication outlets, and digital media platforms including social media platforms.
In 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world on its head and was distressing an already precarious media ecosystem on the continent, WAMECA focused deliberations on “The Future of Journalism”. In the previous year (2019), WAMECA focused on the theme: “Social Media, Fake News, and Elections in Africa”.
Conference and awards
WAMECA 2023 will open with a conference which will be packaged with panel discussions on topics on this year’s theme. These discussions are expected to put into perspective the current state of democracy on the continent and also throw up actionable solutions that will drive a call to action.
The conference will then be crowned with an awards night where West Africa’s most outstanding journalistic works will be spotlighted and their authors, awarded.
For enquiries, partnership, or participation at the event, please contact us at wameca[@]mfwa.org or call on +233302555327.
The statement by Ghana’s Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, that his party will retain power at all cost in the upcoming 2024 elections in Ghana is distasteful, divisive and disappointing. The Minister’s comments threaten to dissipate Ghana’s democratic consolidation, peace and stability garnered over three decades since the advent of the Fourth Republic.
The Minister who is also a member of parliament of Abetifi constituency made the provocative statement on Monday, April 10 during a rally organized to climax a health walk by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the country’s Eastern Region.
“I promise the people of Eastern region that as IMF has come to our aid and our policies are working better, the NDC [leading opposition party] will collapse. But if they decide to employ violence and intimidation in the 2024 elections, we will show them we have the men.
“It will never happen that the NPP will hand over power to the NDC. We will use whatever means possible to retain power,” Mr. Acheampong said to a cheering crowd of party supporters.
It is distasteful for a Minister to brazenly tell the opposition and the entire nation that his party will use “every means possible” to win an election, which suggests that even crude and dishonest methods are not off the table. It is even more dangerous when the Minister knows and, indeed, anticipates possible violent reactions to such a scenario, and goes ahead to declare that his party is preparing to crush its opponents when they go violent.
The MP’s comment has the potential to further aggravate the already rising tensions ahead of the December 7, 2024 elections. His statement poisons the discourse on elections in the media and on the political landscape which must ideally be focused on critical issues of development and ideas on nation-building and citizens’ exercise of their franchise.
With a multi-party system, multiple media platforms which are mostly divided among the political lines and affiliations, and extreme polarisations, Ghana’s political landscape ahead of the presidential and political elections are often characterized by heightened tensions. These tensions are contributed to and are as well manifested by the use of hate speech and abusive campaign language by political actors.
Since 2012, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has been monitoring indecent campaign language, particularly on radio stations, the main source of information in Ghana. The reports from the monitoring over the last three elections (2012, 2016, 2020) have demonstrated the precarious nature of the country’s elections emanating from the use of hate speech and abusive language in the media.
MFWA’s monitoring has also observed that politicians, communication officers and representatives of the two leading parties, NPP and NDC, are the main perpetrators when it comes to the use of indecent language during elections. For instance, in the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, both the NPP and NDC contributed to 61% of the entire violations recorded during the period of monitoring.
With a little over a year to the elections, the Minister of Agriculture’s comments point to a disturbing foreshadowing of what is to be expected during the polls and it must be squarely condemned and discouraged.
What is further worrying is that, in January 2019, while in office as Minister of National Security, Bryan Acheampong oversaw a security brutality against citizens during a by-elections organized in the Ayawaso West Wuogon, a constituency in Ghana’s capital. The brutality included beating, maiming and opening fire on protestors and citizens who were casting their votes. Even though he has denied authorising the violent security operation during the by-elections, the incident was a stain on his office. One would have therefore expected that the MP would use his return to a ministerial position to make amends for the ignominy of the Ayawaso West Wuogon electoral violence. He is the last person one would have expected to make inflammatory remarks in connection with any event, much less the crucial 2024 elections.
The MFWA deplores the minister’s statement and urges him to retract and apologise. We also call on President Akufo-Addo and leaders of the ruling NPP to openly criticize and dissociate themselves from the statement of the Minister of Agriculture.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has appealed to Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice to intervene to end the persecution of journalist Noah Dameh who has been remanded in custody.
The Magistrate Court in Tema on March 30, 2023, remanded for two weeks Dameh, who is the Deputy Station Coordinator of Radio Ada based in Ada in the Greater Accra Region. The journalist is being prosecuted on false publication charges under section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
Dameh was summoned in May 2022 upon a defamation complaint by ElectroChem Ghana Limited (EGL), a salt mining company based in Ada. The complaint followed a Facebook publication in which the journalist accused the police of abusing the rights of one Benjamin Anim by chaining him to his hospital bed. He also claimed the abuse was on the orders of Daniel Mckorley, the owner of EGL.
In December 2022, the Tema Magistrate Court dismissed the case only for the police to re-arrest Dameh on false publication charges. He was remanded in custody on March 30, 2023, at the request of the prosecutor who said his surety had failed to produce him in court on three previous occasions.
“The MFWA is concerned by the evolution of this case from a defamation complaint, which should have been a civil matter, to criminal prosecution for alleged false publication,” the organisation said in the petition to Ghana’s Attorney General.
The MFWA also said it is dismayed by the Police’s refusal to pursue the officers who allegedly abused Anim, “as opposed to their determined schemes to prosecute the whistleblower.”
“Given that the police are accusing him of false publication, we urge your office to help probe Noah Dameh’s claim that the police abused Benjamin Anim. And if the abuse claim is proven to be true, we demand that the perpetrators are brought to face the law and the charge against the journalist dropped,” the MFWA requested in the petition which was copied to Ghana’s Chief Justice, the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Written by our programme officer, Kwaku Krobea Asante, this article was originally published by Poynter, host of the International Fact-Checking Network, where MFWA’s Fact-Check Ghana is a member. The piece was published in commemoration of International Fact-Checking Day, held April 2 each year to recognise the work of fact-checkers worldwide.
In the wee hours of Dec. 20, 2019, armed security guards stormed the quiet residence of the Beninois journalist Ignace Sossou. Without an arrest warrant, they dragged the journalist from his wife’s and 5-year-old daughter’s side to the Central Office for the Repression of Cybercrime. He was detained for four days.
Sossou had quoted Benin’s public prosecutor in social media posts when the public official spoke at an event. At a forum in Cotonou in December 2019, the prosecutor was reported to have said “The internet shutdown on polling day on April 28 (2019) is an admission of weakness on the part of those in power.” Later regretting the impact of his comments, which appeared to criticize the government for shutting down the country’s internet on election day, the public prosecutor recanted his claim. He said the journalist had quoted him out of context. At the prosecutor’s insistence, Sossou was arrested.
Despite protests for his release by many press freedom organizations across the world, Sossou was eventually sentenced to 18 months in prison under the country’s “digital code” for “harassment by means of electronic communication.” Adopted in 2018, just months before the journalist’s arrest, the digital code was to regulate the country’s digital economy while dealing with online harassment and the publication of fake news.
Ignace Sossou was eventually sentenced to 18 months in prison
By January 2020, less than two years after its adoption, Benin’s digital code had caused the prosecution of at least 17 journalists, bloggers and political dissidents of President Patrice Talon’s regime. Sossou’s unfortunate imprisonment added to the numbers.
Emergence of new fake news laws
The rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation has sent many governments across the world scrambling for solutions. In West Africa, where the “information disorder” poses a more imminent danger due to weak democracies and highly tense socio-political atmosphere, the push for laws is perhaps more intense.
Over the period, governments in the subregion have adopted two main content regulation measures to deal with the menace of false information – technological (censoring or blocking access to the means of exchanging information) and legal (bills to regulate false information). The former measure is only temporary, mainly adopted during key nationwide events like elections and protests but heavily criticized for infringing on the internet rights of citizens. The latter measure is becoming more pervasive as it is permanent and adopts some democratic trappings during its creation.
In the last decade, many countries in the subregion have either passed a law that specifically targets fake news or are in the process of adopting one. However, these fake news laws are increasingly being appropriated against journalists critical of West African governments.
Benin is not alone. In Nigeria, the Cybercrime Act, adopted in 2015, has become a key weapon for muzzling critical journalists. Notorious for having hostile provisions against freedom of the press and of expression, the Cybercrime Act has led to the continuous harassment of Agba Jalingo, publisher of the online newspaper Cross River Watch. Jalingo spent 174 days in detention after being charged with treasonable felony and terrorism for publishing a story that alleged the misappropriation of state funds by the Cross River State government.
Agba Jalinko has continuously been harassed with the Cybercrime Act
Journalist Oliver Fijero was charged with five counts of “cyberstalking” under the act in 2017 after his news website published a series of reports alleging corruption at the state-owned Sterling Bank. In 2020, Saint Mienpamo Onitsha was kidnapped by four masked men from the Department of State Service for alleging in a news report that the COVID-19 isolation center of Kogi State had collapsed. The State denied the journalist’s report and later charged him with publishing fake news under the Cybercrime Act.
While the list of victims of the law is long, as it includes many human rights activists and political opponents, it is worth noting that in many cases where the Cybercrime Act has been invoked, the only “cyber” connection is merely that the claims were published online.
About a year ago, the Economic Community of West African States human rights court ruled that portions of the Cybercrime Act of Nigeria are inconsistent with international laws including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The court has ordered a review of the Act.
Like Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Niger and Togo have all adopted similar cybercrime or cybersecurity laws that repress freedom of expression and harass journalists on the grounds of publishing fake news at the least provocation.
In 2017, Senegal, once considered a beacon of press freedom and democratic governance in Africa, passed its Press Code after about a decade of review. Not exactly a cybersecurity law, the code was being reviewed under the general notion that it was to improve the working climate for journalists. But it ended with amorphous provisions that criminalize publications that “prejudice public decency” and publish “fake news” with jail terms of up to three years as punishment.
In the Sahel regions of West Africa, democracy is receding, and military governments are resurging. Fundamentalists and jihadist groups are also gradually closing in, and violent protests are becoming rampant. These have created a tense political atmosphere with the media being the principal victims. Here, media reports need not be deemed “fake news” to warrant the arrest of journalists.
In Burkina Faso, now governed by a military junta, two main amendments in the penal code regulate how much information media houses can publish about military operations related to terrorists’ attacks. Burkina Faso’s journalists risk being imprisoned or fined up to 10 million CFA francs ($17,980) for publication deemed to undermine the country’s security.
Although not strictly enforced, the laws require the media to obtain authorization before publishing stories.
In Mali, the transitional military government that came to power after a May 2021 coup has created a hostile press freedom environment, suffocating media houses into self-censorship. Multinational media organizations that appeared to be challenging the regime’s abuses are also being barred.
In March 2023, Malian authorities accused Radio France Internationale (RFI) and French state-owned international TV news network, France 24, of “false publications with no basis or whatsoever.” This follows the stations’ publication of investigations reporting that Malian Armed Forces are engaging in human rights abuses. The two stations have been “suspended until further notice.”
Old laws appropriated for the ‘fake news task’
In Ghana, new laws have not been passed to police fake news. Old repressive laws in the books are good enough to execute the task. Section 208 of the Ghana criminal code (Act 29) and Article 76 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, ACT 775 have been invoked ceaselessly to shut up journalists.
Noah Dameh, deputy station coordinator for Radio Ada, is standing trial for allegedly publishing false information
In less than two years, about five journalists have been prosecuted in Ghana under these laws. Journalist Noah Dameh, deputy station coordinator of Ada radio, a community radio station in the Greater Accra Region, is currently standing criminal trial for a Facebook post deemed false by the police. In the post, he sought to hold to account a politically aligned businessman and his salt mining company whose activities were abusing human rights and destroying the livelihoods of the residents in the Ada community.
Today in West Africa, journalists and fact-checkers have to deal with the problem of fighting “fake news,” mainly propagated by politicians and their agents, and avoid being jailed by fake news laws passed by the same politicians.
