'Daudi Mwangosi Fund' launch for Press Freedom Day (May 3)

In an effort to recognise and honour reporters working in dangerous situations, Tanzania is set to launch the ‘Daudi Mwangosi Fund’ this Friday while marking Press Freedom Day (May 3).

The ceremony’s organising chairperson, Tumaini Mwailenge, made the announcement during a press conference held yesterday.

Themed “Safer and better working conditions for journalists in East African Region” the two day forthcoming Press Freedom Day will be held at the regional level in Arusha.

East African Community Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera is the expected chief guest.

“The fund will help reporters access such services as healthcare in the unfortunate event of being injured while on duty,” he explained.

“The recent abduction and torture of the chair of Editor Forum Absalom Kibanda and threats against journalists call for effective interventions and that includes setting up the fund,” he said.

This year’s commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day is expected to attract about 200 delegates from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Other expected representatives are from community media, diplomats, politicians, media institutions’ representaives and local journalists.

It is also expected that a report on the state of the media in Southern Africa, authored by the Media Institute of Southern Africa, will be presented.

Also, country papers on the safety of media, particularly on the safety of journalists in EAC member countries will be presented.

Veteran journalist Salim Said Salim will also present a paper titled ‘Media transformation in East Africa: the case of Tanzania’.

Another old hand journalist Atillio Tagalile will present the ‘Country media situation (safety and security of journalist in Tanzania) paper and Tobias Rahim from UN Tanzania Office will present a paper on ‘Human Rights situation, government commitment and process.’

The event has been jointly organised by MISA-Tanzania, Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Tanzania Media Fund (TMF), Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC), United Nations-Tanzania (UN) and the Tanzania Citizen Information Bureau (TCIB)
Others are Media Owners Association of Tanzania (MOAT), Tanzania Editor’s Forum (TEF), Arusha Press Club and East African Journalists Association (EAJA).

The UN General Assembly declared May 3 the World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness on the importance of freedom of press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights.

It is also to mark the anniversary of the declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principle put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

Last September Daud Mwangosi, a Channel Ten correspondent who was brutally killed by police while on duty in Nyororo village, Iringa. Other incidents include the killing of Kigoma-based Issa Ngumba and numerous threats to various journalists.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN