Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon.
Stakeholders of the September 30 municipal and parliamentary elections in Cameroon are busy in their respective spheres to ensure total success. The media regulatory body in Cameroon, the National Communication Council, NCC, is not left out. The Vice President for NCC, Peter Essoka is in the Southwest Region to not only monitor how the press in the Region is doing its job at this critical moment of campaigns and build up to the elections, he also has some advice to his colleagues on how they should carry on with their assignments. After meeting with media men and women in Buea, he granted this exclusive interview.
Excerpts:
What is the Vice President of the National Communication Council, NCC, doing in the Southwest Region?
Peter Essoka, Vice President of the National Communication Council
I am monitoring the way the press and media organs are covering the campaigns of the September 30 twin elections in Cameroon. I have had meetings with media men and women and the advice is that they should go out there and do their job with dignity, integrity, objectivity and honesty. If we follow the ethics of our profession, nobody will complain.
What is the motivation for regulating the Cameroonian media landscape?
We want to see that the media landscape in Cameroon is effectively working, especially in terms of ethics. Media men and women must always be reminded of what their role is in society. Many of us have gone our way to say things that are not proper. They do not take into consideration the dignity and right of another person. Where do our rights end as journalists? That is where another person’s obligation begins. It is a question of taking responsibility for what we say and do. And if you are taking that responsibility, then you have to examine yourself and do what is right, especially when you are reporting.
How should Cameroonian journalists and others coming into Cameroon cover the municipal and parliamentary elections of September 30 2013?
They should go out, observe what is happening and report to their news organs. One thing that they will not be allowed to do, according to the law is to publish the results. They will have to wait for the Supreme Court sitting in for the Constitutional Court to publish the final results.
Is the law not infringing into freedom of speech?
It does not infringe into freedom of speech. It is calling for greater responsibility. We have to avoid bias by all means so as to be free from violence and other uncomfortable situations. That is not what we want in Cameroon at this time. We have to preserve the peace of the nation. However, the issue you have raised will be discussed in other quarters for a possible amendment.
Interviewed by Walter Wilson Nana.
