By Assan Bah
Isatou Keita, the President of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), has sharply criticized the Cybercrime Bill 2023, calling it a threat to investigative journalism, which she said wíll kill transparency and accountability in government.
According to Ms. Keita, this bill has contributed to the lack of progress in this year’s Global Press Freedom Index for the country, as published on May 2, 2025. According to this year’s Index, The Gambia has not made any progress in the Global Press Freedom Index published recently by Reporters without Borders, but has maintained the same 58th position globally, just like last year, but dropped to 11th position in Africa.
“Some of the factors highlighted as reasons for the stagnation relates to the arrest and detention of journalists and court proceedings brought against them notably, ‘The Voice’ Newspaper’s case. Other reasons include economic challenges such as high taxes and a lack of subsidy for media houses; lack of political will to ensure the safety of journalists; lack of implementation of the Access to Information law, and existing draconian media laws in the country,’’ Ms. Keita said, adding that in March this year, The Gambia defied the 2018 ECOWAS Court Judgement when the National Assembly passed the Criminal Offences Bill which contains a draconian provision on “False Publication and Broadcasting.”
According to the GPU president, the Union has presented and submitted a position paper to members of the National Assembly’s Human Rights Committee recommending for the removal of the provision from the country’s laws, which she said was widely used to repress the media during the former dictatorship, and is also currently being utilised by the current Government to achieve the same result as the former dictatorship – to harass, intimidate and force the media into self-censorship, and to abandon its obligation to unveil the truth as a duty to the people of The Gambia. She further said that despite Gambia’s Supreme Court ruling in 2018 that declared the previous internet law unconstitutional, the current government is making more dangerous laws that would significantly affect press freedom and freedom of expression.
“The Cybercrime Bill, 2023 has provisions that go beyond addressing false news online, with a direct attempt to punish investigative journalism and to kill transparency and accountability in government. The GPU has also presented and submitted a position paper to the National Assembly Committee on Education and ICT. However, these exercises are increasingly becoming a mere box-ticking exercise to say all stakeholders were consulted by the Committees, when our observations, concerns, and recommendations are ignored by the very lawmakers who are supposed to promote and protect fundamental human rights in the country,” Ms Keita said.
Since 2017, she said, the Union has noted continuous physical assault on journalists that were never investigated or taken to court, and no one has been held accountable. She said the threats, harassment and intimidation of journalists and media houses has continued both online and offline. Ms. Keita concluded that the government’s selective patronage of media houses in terms of advertisement and funding is also a cause for concern, calling for the need for an annual media subvention for all media houses in the country.
On his part, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr Ismaila Ceesay, said “there is no threat to the media freedom” in the country, arguing that the Gambia has moved up on the index ladder of media freedom since President Adama Barrow came into office. According to the Minister, some of the bad media laws have been removed from the country’s legal texts, but others still remain, requesting them to work together towards removing them.
“Also under this government, journalists are no longer in fear of losing their lives, limbs or loved ones from doing their work, and there is no censorship. The Gambia has moved from a country with one TV station to one country with countless TV stations where all of them are enjoying complete editorial freedom and employing Gambians and contributing to national development,’’ Dr. Ceesay said.
He assured the journalists of government’s commitment in further partnering with the GPU, the Media Council and members of the Access to Information on Commission, to widen the professional milieu for press men and women.
“This we can do by having strong media codes of conduct as well as by working with stakeholders to develop an action plan to fight disinformation and or misinformation, which will give The Gambia a comprehensive way to ward off the dangers around fake news,’’ Dr. Ceesay said.
He said a simple fake news can destroy nations and communities, and that a slur uttered against a community or religion can start a war, as he warned against fake news.
‘‘It is our duty to make this country great and beautiful and prosperous through enhanced access to information on factual information and on measured and polite opinion pieces expressed within the parameters of our democratic laws and social norms,” Dr. Ceesay concluded.
