The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) has challenged the media to take on the role of watchdog in good governance. Speaking at an ongoing media training programme in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, a number of experts on African issues and media veterans called on journalists to check and expose all governance malpractices to help build good systems ona continent largely characterized by bad leadership for years. The head of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) fund for Africa, Alice Birnbaum, said that independent media contributes much to the construction of a firm society and to the country’s development. A media and communication specialist at the Nepad Kenya secretariat, Jerry Okungu, said that most times politicians are not friendly to journalists who expose their ills. The role of the journalist in the course of governance is to be a social mirror or the interpreter. Journalists should be able to keep the Government in check. A journalist should go an extra mile and check out other issues beyond the public sector, but professionally, Okungu said. He asked African journalists to be keen in making Africa a common market, adding that an African journalist has the responsibility of becoming an authority on African issues Lets us not fold our arms in one country; let us cover the whole continent extensively, Okungu pleaded. He said Africa needs strong institutions, not strong leaders, adding that institutions are more important than leaders because they outlast them. The media needs to build institutions that can withstand the wrath of time, Okungu said. It is a responsibility that a true journalist should not run away from. If you run away from this responsibility one day you will run away from your country, he warned participants who include editors and senior reporters. The Spokesman and Senior Legal Advisor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Roland Amoussouga, said that media was an integral component of the civil society, and thus, has a very important role to play in raising public awareness, exposing the ills in their societies, and building a coalition to combat them. Amoussouga also gave a lengthy background of the ICTR, and its achievements since its establishment thirteen years ago. He urged media organizations to give the UN-backed court more coverage in its last days as it is set to close all first instance case by December, 2008, and all appeals in 2010. The four-day training has drawn editors, senior journalists and media experts from the Eastern Africa region.Ends
