A delegation from the International Festival of Freedom of Expression and the Press (FILEP) and the Norbert Zongo National Press Centre has commended Namibia for its commitment to access to information and freedom of expression.
One of them, a media consultant at Mali Givean, Ndey Tapha Sosseh, made the remarks during their visit to the BBC.
The delegation was briefed about the operations and workflow at the News and Current Affairs Division.
At the meeting, the delegation was impressed by how Namibia is handling access to information, which highlights access to information as a right and not a privilege.
They say Namibia has always been number one in press freedom, which was also affirmed with a special recognition in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, during the International Festival for Freedom of Expression and the Press.
The Namibian media, compared to many other countries where they have been, operates in a freer environment.
“We find that Namibian journalists have easy access to information; they have fewer restrictions, so the environment that they operate in is enabling them to do good journalism, whereas where we came from in other parts, this is normally not the same; journalists do not have access to information, and even if they do, there is a lot of self-centership or state-centership,” Ndey Tapha Sosseh noted.
The group visited different departments to familiarise themselves with the workflow and various news and programmes.
Translating for the FILEP’s organising committee, Sosseh says that other things that stand out are the beauty of the Namibian road networks and the friendliness of the people.
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