Veteran Gambian journalist and co-founder of The Point newspaper, Pap Saine, who doubles as the chairperson of the Newspaper Publishers Association (NEPA) has revealed that the Gambian leader has assured them of his continuous commitment to press freedom and also his desire to repeal the draconian media laws in The Gambia.
The veteran Gambian journalist who spoke to journalists on Friday at State House, in Banjul after he (Pap Saine) and executive members of the NEPA had a meeting with President Barrow, said: "We had a very cordial and fruitful meeting with the President. We were very delighted to visit the president and have a great meeting with him."
Commenting on the purpose of their meeting with the president, Saine said: "We briefed the president about the challenges we are encountering given the fact that it's not easy to manage a newspaper among others. We also expressed gratitude to him for granting us an audience."
Late payment of advertisement, he added, is among the challenges they encounter, adding: "We also discussed with the president the issue of access to information and need for the Gambian leader to repeal the draconian media laws. We also informed him about the difficulties we encounter in terms of having access to our payment and the need for the government to be giving subvention to the media," he declared.
The media doyen maintained that to sustain a newspaper is not easy, saying: "Therefore, we need the government's support in the area of advertisement among others."
Quizzed whether they had discussed with the president the millions of dalasis that was contracted to certain media houses in the country in order for them (beneficiary media houses) to promote government's agenda, he said: "The president's Chief of Staff gave a detailed explanation about the contract the government has with the beneficiary media houses."
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"The Chief of Staff made it clear that the first phase of the initiative was meant for audio visual," he said, anticipating that "hopefully the print media will benefit from the second phase of the initiative."
"We have a very cordial and truthful meeting with the president and the president promises to address the challenges we are encountering, thus we thank him for that. We brief him about all the challenges we are encountering as media houses in the country."
The courtesy-call to the president, he went on, was not necessitated by the money that was given to certain media houses, claiming: "We wrote to the Office of the President requesting us to have an audience with the president one month ago. We wanted to brief the president about our organisation and also to inform him about the challenges we are encountering. However, we are not here for that money," he clarified.
The president, he went on, has expressed his commitment to repealing some of the draconian media laws in the country. "Barrow promised that he was going to do something about those laws with a view to ensure that they are changed."
