Professional media organizations demand the immediate lifting of the suspension of Radio Omega – BurkinaInfo – All information from Burkina Faso in real time

2023-08-12 10:44:35

Burkina: Professional media organizations demand the immediate lifting of the suspension of Radio Omega

Ouagadougou, August 11, 2023(AIB)- Professional media organizations on Friday demanded from the government the immediate and unconditional lifting of the suspension of Radio Omega, as well as respect for the powers of the Superior Council of Communication (CSC).

Burkina Information Agency

« OPM statement on the suspension of Radio Oméga

The Professional Media Organizations (OPM) learned with amazement of the decision to suspend “until further notice” of Radio Oméga FM.

It is through a press release signed by its spokesperson Mr. Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo, that the Burkinabè government took this serious and unprecedented decision on August 10, 2023.

The government sanctions Omega for having given the floor to Mr. Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, claiming to be spokesperson for the Council of the Resistance for the Republic (CRR) in Niger.

The government cites, among other grievances against the radio, the violation of rules of ethics and deontology and the denial of its responsibility as media.

The government finally says to suspend the programs of the Omega radio “in the name of the higher interest of the Nation”.

We, Professional Media Organizations, meeting on August 11, 2023 in Ouagadougou, strongly condemn this umpteenth intrusion by the Transitional Government into media regulation.

The government has thus replaced the regulator, the High Council for Communication (CSC).

This suspension of Radio Oméga is illegal from all points of view. Far from any professional considerations, this suspension is political.

The government has no jurisdiction to know whether or not the rules of ethics and professional conduct are respected in a media.

This falls within the remit of the CSC, in accordance with Organic Law No. 004-2018/AN of March 22, 2018 amending Organic Law No. 015-2013/AN of May 14, 2013, on the attribution, composition, organization and functioning of the Superior Communication Council (CSC).

Moreover, the CSC had already taken up the question on interpellation of the government elsewhere and was preparing to examine it when the same government ignored it to take this totally irregular decision.

In any case, if the government has a problem with a media, let it seize the Burkinabe Media Observatory (OBM), the CSC or the judge. If so, it would just be arbitrary.

This de facto suspension of Radio Oméga is not a first. RFI and France 24 were equally victims of political regulation by the MPSR 2 government.

By these acts, the government contributes to jeopardize the public’s right to information and undermines the credibility of an institution like the CSC.

By this fact, it violates the Constitution of Burkina Faso that the Transitional President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has nevertheless sworn to defend.

Indeed, the right to information (Article 8 of the Constitution) and the CSC (Article 160.3 of the Constitution) are an integral part of our fundamental law and no authority should allow itself to interfere with it, or else we are in front of a perjurer.

The recent history of Burkina Faso shows that rights such as the right to information, freedom of expression and of the press have been wrested with great struggle.

Likewise, the level of credibility of an institution such as the CSC was obtained at the cost of enormous sacrifices by all of our people.

History also teaches that the people of Burkina Faso have always mobilized to defend their achievements and it will always be so.

In the name of the public’s right to information in times of peace as in times of crisis, we Professional Media Organizations (OPM), signatories of this declaration, noting that this suspension is irregular and illegal:

– condemn the suspension of Radio Oméga;

demand that the government immediately and unconditionally lift this suspension;

bring our support to the Oméga Médias group;

– invite the government to henceforth make its actions legal;

-encourage journalists and the media to calmly continue their work with professionalism and selflessness despite pressure and intimidation;

-call on the men and women of the media as well as the press organs to remain united, mobilized and attentive to any watchword that the evolution of the situation may require;

– invite defenders of human rights, freedom of expression and the press, as well as democrats, to oppose this abuse in order to preserve the democratic gains won at the cost of enormous sacrifices;

call on the CSC to play its sovereign regulatory role by fully assuming its authority.

Done in Ouagadougou, August 11, 2023

For CNP-NZ,

President

Siriki Drame

For the AJB,

President

Guézouma Sanogo

For MS,

President

Inoussa Ouedraogo

For SYNATIC,

The Deputy Secretary General

Aboubakar Sanfo

For Reporters of Faso,

President

Moumouni Simporé

For the AEPJLN,

The Coordinator

Evariste Zongo

For the AEPML,

The President and PD / The Secretary General

Amidou Kabre

For APAC,

The Transitional President

Benedicte Sawadogo

For the CMA

André Eugene Ilboudo

For UBESTV,

President

Ismael Ouedraogo

For UNALFA,

President

Lamoussa Jean-Baptiste Sawadogo

For the OBM,

President

Hamado Ouangraoua ».

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