By Kemo Cham
The media has a crucial role to play
in ensuring that the African Union realizes its mega development plan contained
in Agenda 2063, outgoing AU Commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma,
said over the week end.
Mrs Zuma challenged the African
media to hold governments accountable by reporting on the implementation of the
project which seeks to fulfill Africa’s longstanding dream of integration. She
told a session with the African Editors Forum as part of the 27th
Summit of AU Heads of States in Kigali, Rwanda, that the media can and should
give voice to the powerless, bring to the forefront the problems faced by
citizens, disseminate warnings about disasters and report on whether government
lived up to its policies.
Zuma also said this would require
that the media should be credible, responsible and responsive.
“We all agree that media and mass
communications play an important role to inform, educate, and to influence
public opinion,” she said. “Responsible journalism speaks truth to power and is
therefore essential to democracy, to development and to transformation. The
African media, in its great diversity, has a responsibility and an important
role to play, to promote Pan Africanism and Africa’s Renaissance, as we seek to
implement Agenda 2063, and to hold us accountable in the decisions we take and
their implementation.”
The AU Summit, which was scheduled
to conclude on Monday, was hosted at the Kigali International Convention
Center. It was held on the team: ‘2016: African Year of Human Rights, with
particular focus on the Rights of Women.’
The African Editors Forum and AU
Commission Roundtable on Agenda 2063 was one of several sideline events
organized in the Rwandan capital. The session was designed to enlist the media
into helping meeting the goals of the AU in its renewed effort in achieving its
long held dream of integration.
Agenda 2063 is an elaborate plan
that aims to encourage discussion among all stakeholders
on the viable approach to ensuring the continent effectively learn from the
lessons of the past, build on the progress now underway and strategically
exploit all possible opportunities available in the short, medium and long
term. It seeks to ensure the realization of positive socioeconomic
transformation within the next 50 years.
Among other things, the summit
witnessed the launching of the African Common Passport, which is part of the
elaborate plan of easing visa requirements for Africans traveling within the
continent.
The chance of the continent
achieving the Agenda 2063 goals largely depends on the media’s way of
reporting, said Zuma. She spoke about the need to counter the one-sided
narrative perpetuated by non-African media, which has weakened the continent’s
ability to fully exploit its resources.
Media plays a critical role in
shaping narratives, and therefore in socialization, she said, noting that the
media should hold up a mirror to society and give the people a sense of what
they looked like.
“This is a critical role, and as we
look at the state of African media today, we should examine all these roles and
how these evolved,” she said.
© Politico 19/07/16
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