President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed 'honored' this year’s event in Mogadishu by meeting with the directors of local radio and television stations. In his speech, President Farmaajo as popularly known went ahead to criticize a New York Times article The Bureaucrat From Buffalo Who Pushed Somalia to the Brink -  that had highlighted his government's intolerance to the freedoms the press need to enjoy.

During the meeting, viewed by many as paying mere lip service, President Farmaajo failed to acknowledge any complaints submitted by the media directors present. Rather, he went ahead to accuse them of spreading false news about Somalia and his government both locally and abroad.

Notably, he criticized the media for opposing his two-year extension in office by parliament. He now blames the media for participating  the civil and military disturbance recently witnessed in Mogadishu,

He pointed out his meeting with current African Union Chair and Congolese President, Felix Tshisekedi as an instance where local reporting had influenced the opinion of a foreigner. 

"I went to Kinsasha to convince the AU chief to support my initiative of one man one vote to Somalia and the 2-year extension of my mandate. unfortunately, Félix Tshisekedi, the Congolese president was already aware of what is happening in Somalia." Farmaajo observed.

"I heard that your country is divided, Al-Shabab rules part of it, political turmoil is in the country and you are in a Villa in Somalia while the rest of the country is lawless. " Tshisekedi reminded him. Farmaajo noted that all this was due to local media reporting on Somalia.

According to theSomalia Journalists Syndicate (SJS), 30 journalists were arrested between January and April of this year. In the same period, two of them were indicted and three media houses raided. 

All these abuses are state perpetrated by forces like the NISA and Haramcad Police. Somaliland on the other hand has jailed six journalists in that same period and the Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the death of a journalist, while government security forces shot and wounded two journalists who were on duty. This exposed the dangerous environment with which media practitioners operate in Somalia.

Tellingly, on the same day, May 3, Mustaqbal Media filed a lawsuit with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal Government of Somalia. This is after their media house was attacked by the Haramcad, a special police unit trained in Turkey

The early morning raid into the Mustaqbal Media offices was conducted on April 27. During which, the Haramcad ordered staff down at gunpoint, they also beat up the radio editor, Bashir Mohamud Yusuf, before making away with computers, external hard drives, laptops, cameras, and phones. 

The court papers filed through Mogadishu-based law firm, Heegan Law and seen  directly implicate two high-ranking officials in the Farmaajo government. The first is Fahad Yasin, the Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), and Abdinur Mohamed Ahmed, Villa Somalia's Deputy Chief of Staff. 

The hope of getting justice for Mustaqbal remains small and this is going by previous attempts by journalists to get justice. Take the murder of the cameraman Abdirizak Kasim Iman who was shot dead by a police officer in July 2018 in Mogadishu. No justice has ever been delivered as his murderers walk freely.

"Free press plays a vital role in informing citizens about public affairs and monitoring the actions of government at all levels. When journalists are threatened, attacked, detained and their media houses raided that means citizens will not have the right to raise key issues affecting state-building and rule of law, which are important for Somalia’s governance,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary-General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) observed in his speech to mark the World Press Freedom Day. Reiterating the call for protection of free media in Somalia.