ADVICE TO THE RAPPOTEUR ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

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practices which enhance or impede freedom of expression in each African Country. In this way, he or she would be able to differentiate the best practice from the worst ones with the view to promote the standards of best practice and call for the redressing of bad practice. Hence, the best achievement the Rapporteurs could make is to launch an all Africa Freedom of Expression Report indicating all relevant indices which could be utilised to access the state of freedom of expression in each country. This would help to    promote advocacy initiatives. It is important for people occupying such posts to be knowledgeable on what freedom of expression entails. Freedom starts with the empowerment of each citizen to be the depository of the sovereignty of each country. This makes each person to be a decision maker who is entitled to represent or be represented. Any citizen without political education, regardless of one’s profession, cannot be the architect of one’s destiny.  Hence, one must understand where one’s profession ends and where one’s citizenship starts. Those who tell journalists to keep themselves away from politics cannot be educated in the school of democracy. The sovereign person is a political being who is required to make informed choice in electing representatives or being elected to serve a country, irrespective of whether one is a lawyer, educationists, journalists or member of any other profession. Just as a doctor must perform his or her duty without being influenced by one’s own political leanings, a journalist should also report the truth in good faith in the public interest. The Newsroom should breed new representatives who could serve as honest parliamentarians who could amplify the voices of the most disadvantages and defend their interests.]]>