Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

With elections less than 2 weeks away, the political landscape in Sierra Leone has evolved dramatically from peaceful to a verbally abusive and brutish environment. In this furore, the media seems focused solely on party campaigns.

World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) presents a major opportunity for the government of Ghana to showcase Ghana’s democratic ideals to the world. It would therefore be extremely embarrassing for Ghana not to have in place a Right to Information (RTI) Law – one of the cardinal pieces of legislation that advances democracy and human rights.

The MFWA has petitioned the National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay, over the brutal assault by the party’s security officers on journalists which occurred at the party’s National Headquarters in Accra, Ghana.

A High court judge in Guinea has delivered a controversial judgement in the case of murdered journalist El Hadj Mohamed Diallo.

In a continuing show of force against opposition demonstrators and citizens, authorities in Togo have announced a ban on political rallies in three cities in the north of the country – Sokodé, Bafilo and Mango.

Daniel Elombah, the Nigerian publisher of London-based news portal elombah.com, has been released from detention. His brother, editor Tim Elombah, remains in police custody.

The membership of the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) and other African internet governance stakeholders attending the Sixth African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), have called for the prioritisation of digital rights of all citizens across the continent.

DRC’s descent into chaos, Ahmed Abba’s release and Sudan’s fear of ‘indecency’ are among the top stories in Africa at the end of 2017.