African Gov'ts Must Protect The Media - Vice President

Mr John Mahama is the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana


By William Yaw Owusu

Monday October 5, 2009
Vice President John Dramani Mahama says African governments must come to the realisation that the only way to guarantee accelerated development on the continent is to grant the media the needed space to operate freely without intimidation.

“African governments must learn soon enough that the media is a partner in governance and not an opponent and this would allow for the provision of appropriate legislation that would create the space for freedom of expression and proper training of journalists so as to raise the standard of journalism for development”, he said.

The Vice President was speaking yesterday at the 8th Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC) currently underway in Accra.

The three-day conference which had the theme “Learning from the future: Africa’s media map in 2029” is being organised by the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at the Rhodes University in South Africa in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

The AMLC series which was launched in 2002 has become an annual high-level platform for strategy formulation, networking and sharing of ideas and experiences by African media chief executive officers and editors-in-chief of media organizations.

A Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah who presented a paper on behalf of the Vice President said the government will relent on its effort to create an enabling environment for journalists to report freely, critically and responsibly in order to effectively support the goals of democracy, economic development and the promotion of human rights.

Vice President Mahama urged the journalists to eschew what he called “irresponsible journalism” and persist to serve as “agents of development and progress and not agents of conflicts, retrogression and destruction.”

During an open discussion, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwah said any party in government that makes it impossible for the media to operate cannot expect the same media to treat them fairly when that party finds itself in opposition.

“There is always the need to grant the media unhindered access to information and help in its growth”.

Francis Mdlongwa, Director of SPI said to prepare Africa media for the future, there was the need to create more networks between the traditional and the modern media.

“In a world in which social capital and networks are playing an ever more critical role in defining the success of any business, we at the SPI are grateful to the KAS for its solid financial and logistical support without which this important network would not have been possible”, he explained.

Topics such as the growth of broadband and mobile phone in Africa and their opportunities and threats as well as whether or not mobile content is the answer to the needs of Africa’s digital natives were treated by participants.