The crack-down on journalists in the Ebola states

The ebola-stricken countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,  have all declared states of emergency.

 In Liberia, the hardest-hit country, police last month used batons and whips to disperse protesters as lawmakers debated a request to extend president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s powers beyond the already sweeping ones accorded by the state of emergency declared in August.

Legislators in Sierra Leone threatened to gag the media over their coverage of the controversial allocation in September of 60m leones (£8,620) to each MP to boost Ebola awareness in their constituencies. Sierra Leone’s state of emergency empowers president Ernest Bai Koroma to arrest any person without a court order. A journalist in Sierra Leone who has criticised the government’s handling of the Ebola outbreak was allegedly beaten then jailed under those emergency laws meant to help bring the epidemic under control.  An executive order to arrest David Tam Baryoh, was signed by the president, chief superintendent Ibrahim Koroma told Reuters. “The powers were derived from the Ebola emergency regulations the country is currently under,” he said, without detailing the charges against the journalist or specifying the length of his detention.

Local journalists said they fear a crackdown as they seek to keep on top of hundreds of millions of aid coming in. Residents, journalists and an official told the Guardian that trucks carrying food aid were sometimes parked outside quarantine cordons, which intended recipients couldn’t cross. The food was then looted by those meant to be distributing it. Burial teams have repeatedly gone on strike over unpaid hazard allowances.

“It’s a very tough time for journalists. A lot of money is moving around the country and we as journalists have to do our jobs and make sure it is being properly allocated,” said an local investigative reporter speaking on condition of anonymity.

Peter Nkanga, West Africa representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: “Sierra Leone’s genuine state of emergency means that critical thinking and public debate are more important than ever. Locking away journalists without charge helps nobody.

Part of the aid inevitably disappears into government coffers in a nation that ranks 119 out of 177 on global corruption indexes.  Last year, a number of top health officials were indicted for siphoning about $500,000 from a childhood immunisation fund sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

Tanzanian Journalists Murdered By Police

Today (2nd September 2013) marks exactly one year since journalist Daudi Mwangosi was brutally murdered at the hands of the Tanzania Police. His only crime was being a journalist. As the sole breadwinner, his demise meant a new life of suffering for his dependants.

To the media fraternity, Mwangosi’s assassination was to become only the first of many attacks on journalists. A community radio journalist, Issa Ngumba, was found dead in a forest in Kakonko, in the northwestern region of Kigoma, on 8 January, three days after he went missing. It was clear from the injuries on his body that he had been murdered. Furthermore, a reporter for Radio Kwizera, 45-year-old Ngumba, left his home on the evening of 5 January to look for medical plants for his second job as a traditional healer. After he was reported missing, police and civilian volunteers searched extensively until his body was found in nearby Kajuluheta Forest.

A month earlier, on the night of Tuesday 4 December 2012, Shaaban Matutu, a journalist with Free Media Limited - publishers of the Tanzania Daima newspaper – had been shot by police. This happened at Matutu’s home in Kunduchi Machimbo after an alleged altercation with police officers, one of them firing and hitting Matutu in his left shoulder. It was, however, the attack on Absalom Kibanda, the Chairman of the Tanzania Editors’ Forum in March 2013 that sent a strong message of intent and put the recent crackdown against the media and freedom of expression into context. The June 2012 indefinite ban on Mwanahalisi and brutal attack against Dr. Stephen Uliomboka, had seemed like isolated incidents.

Within the last 12 months, Tanzania has gone from being the beacon of hope in the region, to becoming one of the worst human rights offenders.

For a country going through a constitutional review process, these attacks on the media are counterproductive as they have a chilling effect on any meaningful debate of the issues raised by the draft constitution and active involvement of the citizens in the subsequent democratic processes, including elections.

For all these attacks, no one has been held accountable, despite the various promises by the state, including the personal pledge by President Jakaya Kikwete after the attack on Mr. Kibanda. The journalists, like all citizens have a right to free speech and free expression without threat of attack, and the state has a duty to thoroughly investigate the reported cases of abuse and violations of these rights to their logical conclusions and bring the culprits to book.

The right to freedom of expression is not a preserve of the media alone. Any violations and attacks on the media have far reaching consequences on the enjoyment of all other rights exercised by citizens. The government of Tanzania must demonstrate its commitment to the protection of freedom of expression as proposed in the draft constitution by first; ensuring that journalists are safe from all kinds of attacks, apprehend and hold all those implicated in these attacks, including its own officers accountable; as well as allowing for meaningful dialogue.

The time for political rhetoric is over. For Mrs. Itika Mwangosi and her children, the wait to see justice for those responsible for killing her husband should not be a lifelong experience. The same applies for Dr. Uliomboka, Kibanda, Matutu and others who have been brutally attacked in the recent past.

* Paul Kimumwe works with the freedom of expression group, ARTICLE 19, in Eastern Africa, which first published this article.


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