Press freedom and Political development in Africa

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the importance of a free press (print and electronic media ) in the political economy of the sub-Saharan African region. The paper argues that a free press is vital in the development of the political economy of the sub-Saharan region.It attempts to demonstrate how a controlled press, such as the African press,is incapable of unearthing graft,fraud ,theft,corruption,bribery,embezzlement,smuggling and export-import swindles inherent in the ruling bourgeois class. For, corruption and these other illicit economic ventures by the dominant African bourgeois class have been identified as part of thereasons for the failure of development projects in Africa.