A Gambian journalist has co-authored a book about press freedom in Africa and the challenges of speaking truth to power. 

Sainey Marenah has written Hounded: African Journalists in Exile with 15 other  African journalists who all gave firsthand accounts of their work and challenges under repressive regimes.

Mr Marenah told Gambiana: “I’m proud to tell my story and the difficult experience of Gambian journalists under a repressive and cruel dictatorship through this international  publication, which further inspires my commitment to journalism and freedom of expression in Gambia and Africa at large.”

The authors of the book are editors, reporters and bloggers from West, Central, East and Southern Africa.

Joseph Odindo, who edited the book, said “Power hates scrutiny.” 

Exiled Cameroonian journalist Mimi Mefo Takambou, who now plies her trade in a newsroom in Germany, said: “why else are there journalists in Africa and other parts of the world threatened for doing their job? Facing murder, disappearances and kidnaps. Journalists have slipped away to continue the struggle at great personal risk.”

The book is published by Media Programmme Africa of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German Think Thank based in South Africa. 

Here’s a link for the book online https://www.kas.de/en/web/medien-afrika/einzeltitel/detail/-/content/hounded-african-journalists-in-exile