By Ramatoulie Jawo
Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, the Minister of Information and Media Broadcasting Services, has announced plans to formulate an Information, Media, and Broadcasting Bill.
Speaking during his ministry’s first press conference for 2025, held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center in Bijilo on Wednesday, Dr. Ceesay outlined the ministry’s priorities for the year, with the proposed bill taking center stage.
“One of our priorities is to formulate what we call the information media and broadcasting bill. You remember in 2022 the ministry was unbundled Before that it was called the Ministry of Communications and Infrastructure. It was unbundled and we have communication and Digital Economy, and we have communication and information, because of that now how do we navigate in using one act because of new dynamics. We are working on formulating our own act as a sector which is called the information media and broadcasting act,” he explained.
Dr. Ceesay further stated that his ministry is committed to ensuring the bill is passed by the National Assembly in 2025.
Additionally, he disclosed that the ministry is finalizing a strategic plan for 2025–2029 to guide its activities. He highlighted the critical role of strategic planning in helping institutions achieve their goals.
Dr. Ceesay also revealed plans to roll out the first phase of the Digital Terrestrial Transition (DTT) infrastructure, a $11 million project.
“But if we can not start across the country at the same time we can start rolling out and scale up as we go because it is a very important project that the Gambia must implement as soon as possible,” he said.
Dr. Ceesay stated that the ministry is actively working to raise awareness about the Digital Protection and Privacy Bill while preparing for the operationalization of the agency once the bill is enacted.
He also highlighted ongoing efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation, revealing that a dedicated campaign to address these issues is set to launch this week.
“We are launching a campaign called Countering Misinformation and Disinformation a two-week campaign with billboards, videos, and training. We will also do community engagements by sending a team to the upcountry for two weeks to go to each region and have town halls to talk to citizens about the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how they can counter it,” he said.
He emphasized that as the elections approach, certain individuals will intentionally spread misinformation to mislead the public. He questioned how such harmful information, which undermines social cohesion and national security, can be effectively countered. He further noted that some individuals are skilled at disseminating information that serves no public interest and is detrimental to the nation or individual citizens.
“So we are rolling a campaign on that, but also we are providing training for 50 journalists, fact-checkers and editors. This training will also train them on the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and the outcome of this training will be three key documents one is to develop an action plan against disinformation, and two is to create a code of practice against disinformation and these are not legislative documents. We are all media practitioners and civil society can buy into and sign and make commitments not to distribute disinformation to the public which is detrimental to social cohesion,” he said.