Gambia News : Press freedom, a challenge in Gambia, says US Ambassador
Feb 27,2009 00:00
by
lamin
The United States Ambassador to the Gambia, Barry L. Wells, has said
his country has enjoyed a good relationship with The Gambia for a
number of years and the elections held most recently are deemed to be
free and fair by international election observers.In an interview with PANA Thursday, Wells said The Gambia was indeed a democratic country, adding that human rights reports, Amnesty International and others had commented on some of the challenges that remain in The Gambia, which include press freedom. The envoy said the message had been consistent with The Gambian government to value adherence to human rights and unresolved issues to be investigated to clear any one, including the government, of any involvement.
He underscored the point that democracy was a challenging institution in many wa ys to manage. “In our own country, we are always looking to see how we can improve; how we can ensure that the rule of law continues; those peoples’ rights are respected and, I think during times of distress, whether external or domestic, one has to be always vigilant to ensure that domestic rule and democratic process are used to address those issues,” he noted.
Wells said US had a very similar view and commitment with the Gambia, especially on issues such as human rights and democracy, education, public health, and agriculture. On the election of Barack Obama as the US President, Wells pointed out that many of his generation believed that they might not see the election of an African-American as the President of the US in their life time. In many ways, he said, Obama's election represented the tremendous progress the US had achieved over the years in terms of social harmony.
On government/press relation, Wells said, in the last two years, there had been a number of programmes his Embassy had supported in terms of training, in conjunction with the British High Commission, where journalists were involved. According to him, such a relationship is important because the government has a responsibility to ensure that the people are informed about its activities in away that is credible, noting that as long as one has access to information, there is no room for misinterpretation.
He said the training programmes were geared towards helping the press to underst and the government and for the government to understand the value of the press. These are relationships worthy of cultivating.