The immediate past president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Mr Demba Jawo, has implored his colleagues to be on their guard so that they do not play into the hands of people who want to turn the GPU into a puppet organisation.

He made this call in a letter he sent to The Point in the wake of the criticisms levelled against the current leadership of the GPU.

We reproduce the full text of the letter below:  

While I have no wish to hold brief for the executive of the Gambia Press Union over the criticisms being levelled against them, I wish to caution against the possible ulterior motives of some of those critics subjecting the GPU executive to such unmitigated criticism.

Indeed, I agree entirely with The Point editorial of Wednesday that as journalists who frequently criticise others, we should not lose our cool when we are criticised constructively. Therefore, I expect Madi Ceesay and every other member of the GPU executive to welcome criticisms as that would help them realise where they have fallen short and make the necessary amends.

However, like I said at the beginning, some of those criticisms may be a prelude to something more sinister. Indeed, the Press Freedom Day was certainly not the best of forums to make such scathing criticisms. The GPU is supposed to hold a monthly general meeting and also, any member has the right to summon an emergency meeting when he or she gets the required backing from the other members.

Therefore, I would have thought that if any member had any grievances against the executive or any other aspect of the GPU administration, they should have waited for the next monthly meeting. Rather than, as OJ said, wash our dirty linen in what was supposed to be a solemn forum to reflect on more serious issues affecting us as journalists. 

Already, the independent media in this country is faced with a multitude of problems, which of course include the onslaught on media freedom through the unmitigated closure of media houses without any legal backing. The frequent arrests of journalists and the ongoing trial of some of our members, and even the still unexplained disappearance of our colleague Chief Ebrima Manneh, are the sort of issues we should have been discussing at the Press Freedom Day forum instead of internal administrative matters.

 We have all heard about some possible conspiracies by certain people with some ulterior motives to "take over' the administration of the GPU through the back door, put in journalists who can be easily manipulated and eventually transform it into another appendage of the system. There are, of course, several examples of such institutions in this country and it would be a sad day if the GPU would also be allowed to fall under such a category. 

Therefore, while we should all advocate genuine transparency and accountability in the administration of the GPU, we also need to be vigilant not to give chance to the vampires to devour it.