Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

15 protestors have been arrested and detained for demonstrating to demand that the government of President Adama Barrow respect its pledge to limit its mandate to three years.

Twenty years after the first draft, Ghanian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo assented to the Right to Information (RTI) Act which was passed by Parliament earlier this year.

Seven members of the opposition have been sentenced and charged, for staging protests opposing constitutional changes that will allow Guinea’s President Alpha Conde to seek a third term.

The Media Foundation for West Africa is concerned by the Ghanian authorities’ selective application of regulations resulting in the closure of 2 radio stations aligned to the opposition.

In an intensified crackdown on freedom of expression and media freedom in Benin, 2 protestors were killed, a journalist arrested and detained and the internet temporarily shutdown.

A disturbing 152 violations ranging from killings to kidnapping, physical attacks, arrests and detentions and freedom of assembly violations were recorded during 2018 and documented by MFWA in their 2018 West Africa Freedom of Expression Monitor report.

The Media Foundation for West Africa reports on the assaults, arrests and detention of several journalists in the region in its latest quarterly report on freedom of expression.

A directive requiring journalists in The Gambia to be screened for accreditation to cover the President was withdrawn followed by a discussion between The Gambia Press Union and the Director of Press and Public Relations.