Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
18 June 2008
press release
Accra — Contrary to reports that Dida Halake, now former managing director of the Banjul-based pro-government Daily Observer newspaper had been released, he is still being detained by The Gambia Police Force.
Although there has not been any official explanation from either the police or the Daily Observer management for his arrest and subsequent detention, he has been linked with several allegations including financial misappropriation and sexual harassments of female staff of the newspaper.
But Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources in The Gambia reported that his arrest on June 14, 2008 followed his reluctance to step down as Managing Director for the Daily Observer.
The sources said Halake, a Kenyan-born journalist, was to hand over his position as managing director to Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, former Minister for Communication and Information, and assume the position of Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper.
Two days after his arrest on June 16, Halaka was seen in the company of police personnel at the Daily Observer premises. This, the sources said, was for him to hand over his responsibility as Managing Director to Macdouall-Gaye.
Since the deportation of Kenneth Best, veteran Liberian journalist and founder of the Daily Observer, about a decade ago, the newspaper has become a propaganda tool of the regime of President Yahya Jammeh. Party functionaries have managed the newspaper and been its guard dogs. Editorial independence has been undermined. Independent journalists are perceived as opposition elements, and subjected to arbitrary arrests and dismissals.
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