2023-05-21 16:33:13
It is no longer an open secret, the military power in Conakry has a hidden agenda for the press. As soon as the CNRD came to power, simple actions of seduction towards the press were carried out.
The first is the appointment of several journalists within ministerial departments and even to the presidency. Then, the granting of a press house and the increase in the annual subsidy allocated to the media.
We rushed to applaud without realizing that it was a scam although no one might imagine it.
The Minister of Information and Communication, Dame Aminata Kaba, herself incapable of managing the crisis which opposes her to the workers of the RTG, rejoiced, on May 3, on the occasion of the International Press Freedom Day that no journalist be imprisoned in Guinea.
It’s not totally untrue, but Minister Kaba has just forgotten that there is no wrong way to lead a journalist to prison than to force him to put away his pen and his microphone.
Let her resume her speech, failing to call on her government spokesperson counterpart to do the same. Because the power to which he belongs is now ready to muzzle the press in the name of refoundation.
Beyond the simple fact that it does not come under its prerogatives, it is ignorance or madness to stop in front of the cameras to announce with arrogance and contempt that a government which came to power by a coup of State can shut down a media outlet.
It is the first time in the history of this country that a regime has officially shown its desire to shut up media men. However, doing it in full light, as Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said, is only one way of exposing yourself to the midday sun. The CNRD is therefore warned because it will not work.
Freedom of expression was obtained under the military power of the late General Lansana Conté, it has never been threatened as is the case under the governance of the Colonel-President who nevertheless calls himself the friend of the press.
Threat to freedom of expression with the case of Sabari and Love FM radios, jamming the frequencies of certain radios and disruption of the internet, are instruments used by the junta to cut off journalists’ tongues in the name of its “dirty gig”.
What is obvious is the guilty silence of the men, yesterday journalists, today pure enemies of the corporation which defended them in difficult times, simply because they are in the manger. The “eat and shut up” principle applies.
All these unfortunate events are happening with the knowledge and sight of the High Authority for Communication (HAC), a media regulatory institution, headed by a former journalist, head of a media outlet, the Communication Department and the information from the presidency (DCI) also headed by a former journalist, director of a local television station, the Director General of OGP, a former journalist director general of a famous private radio station at the time, the personal adviser to the President himself, former journalist founder of a media, to name but a few.
At some point, either we are for or once morest, but never both at the same time. Unfortunately, this is what seems to prove to us the attitude of certain Guineans bound by the intoxication of power.
It is up to the president to differentiate between those who fight alongside him to help him in his mission to make this transition a success and those who seek to put him at risk with history.
But, it is impossible to pretend to fight for the establishment of a real democracy and give up freedom of expression. Let those who stand in the way of freedom of the press continue to dream in full light.
The refoundation rhymes with values embodied by men. Those values are gone, Colonel!
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