The Pan African Agricultural Journalists (PAAJ), has elected new officials to manage its affairs for the next two years.
Declaring the results at the end of the election on Tuesday afternoon, the chairman of the PAAJ electoral committee and Gambian journalist, Dawda Bayohose announced that Nigerian Journalist and Editor-in-Chief of ASHENEWS, Abdallah el-Kurebe, was elected unopposed.
Others elected unopposed are Beene Mujala of Zambia as Treasurer and Amadou Jallow of Gambia as Assistant Secretary.
According to Bayo, Jean Baptiste Musabyimana of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) defeated Somalia’s Daud Abdi Daud to become Vice President, while Pojoley Essonana of Togo edged out Uganda’s Williams Moi to secure the position of Secretary-General.
Before ascending to the presidency, Abdallah served as PAAJ’s Vice President from 2022 to 2024 and later stepped in as Acting President from October 2024 to February 2025. His tenure in these roles showcased his commitment to strengthening agricultural journalism across Africa, promoting collaboration, and advocating for greater media engagement in food security and climate resilience.
As the founder of ASHENEWS, a media platform specializing in agriculture, science, health, and environmental reporting, Abdallah has distinguished himself as a multiple award-winning journalist with a track record of impactful storytelling. He is also the Registrar of the Society of Digital Newspaper Owners of Nigeria (SDNON), further underscoring his influence in media leadership and digital journalism advocacy.
Meet the new team
The newly elected PAAJ executive team is expected to steer the association towards greater regional integration, professional development, and enhanced coverage of agricultural policies, innovations, and challenges affecting the African continent.
President: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Abdallah el-Kurebe is a seasoned Nigerian journalist and Editor-in-Chief of ASHENEWS, with expertise in agriculture, science, health, and environmental reporting. With a career spanning over two decades, he has worked with leading media houses, including Newsdiary Online as Editor, Newswatch Magazine as Northwest Regional Editor, and Vanguard Newspaper as Bureau Chief.
He is a multiple award-winning journalist, recognized for my contributions to agricultural biotechnology and investigative reporting. His accolades include the NUJ Torch Bearer of Press Freedom Award (2024), GYB Media Merit Award (Editors Category, 2021), and Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) Best Body of Work in In-Depth Coverage (2014). I was also the 1st Runner-up (Print & Online Category) at the OFAB Africa Media Awards (2017) and won the Best Agric-Biotech Reporter (Print) at the OFAB Nigeria Media Awards (2017).
Abdallah is actively involved in journalism advocacy and capacity building. I was elected as the Vice President of the Pan-African Agricultural Journalists Network (PAAJ) and am now the Acting President of PAAJ. I am also the Registrar of the Society of Digital Newspaper Owners of Nigeria (SDNON), a Media Fellow with Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) and a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Abdallah’s extensive participation in national and international workshops has solidified his expertise in agricultural reporting, and he is a strong advocate for science-based agricultural reporting, food security, and media development in Africa.
Vice President: Jean Baptiste Musabyimana
Jean Baptiste Musabyimana is a professional journalist and communicologist of peasant organizations in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region. After his studies in Radio Television Production and Organizational Communication, he had his little moment to work at the National Congolese Radio, a provincial station of North Kivu before he started his first career as responsible for communication and the Agricultural Market Information System within the Federation of Organizations of Agricultural Producers of Congo, FOPAC. Since 2007, he has set up radio programs for the dissemination of agricultural information in the DR Congo. Alongside these radio programmes, he published a magazine called “Wakulima Amkeni or Wake up Farmers”. From 2021 to 2024 he was a member of the IFAJ committee. As part of the collaboration with the agricultural stakeholders of the CEPGL, a community of States of the Great Lakes Region, he led a programme to capitalise on the achievements of projects financed by the Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires of Belgium. Here, he set up a regional bulletin called ATAOP. Agriculture and the environment are the two sectors that interest him.
Secretary-General: Podjoley Essonana
Podjoley Essonana is a journalist and director of the Publication of the first agricultural and rural information magazine in Togo: Le Journal Agricole. He is also the promoter of the online site www.ruralinfos.tg, which deals exclusively with topics related to the development of agriculture. A holder of a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, Written Press option, he has worked at the Communication Department of the Presidency of the Togolese Republic as an Officer on agricultural issues.
He was Communications Officer of the Togolese Coordination of Peasant and Agricultural Producer Organizations (CTOP), Communications and Advocacy Officer of the Union of NGOs of Togo; Director of Communication of the Union of Regional Chambers of Trades. In 2008, Podjoley Essonana received training on techniques for supporting farmers’ organizations in their process of creation or transformation into a cooperative. In 2012, he was co-opted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, as a Resource Person, responsible for coordinating the press at the launch of the National Agricultural Investment and Food Security Program (PNIASA).
President of the Togolese Journalists for Agriculture and Development Network (JTAD) and a member of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), he is also President of the Journalists for the Right to Food Network (RJDA), set up with the support of FAO-Togo.
Treasurer: Beene Mujala
Beene Mujala is an agricultural journalist working with the Ministry of Agriculture under the Department of National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS). She is currently a producer of a Radio Programme under NAIS and her role involves radio programme production and news writing and anchoring, television documentary production and presentation, feature article writing.
Beene has over 20 years of practical experience in journalism, public relations and development communication. She has also built a solid reputation as a seasoned Communications practitioner having worked as a communications and publicity officer in several government assignments such as the National Constitutional Commission that was tasked to adopt the republican constitutional recommendations between 2007 and 2012 under the Ministry of Justice.
She is a member of the following committees – Integrity Committee, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; Salaries and Tuition Advance Committee, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; Budget Committee, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; Livestock Market Development Committee (involving ministry and private sector), Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; Risk Management Committee, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; and Audit oversight committee – Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
She is one of the pioneers of the establishment of the President of Zambia Green Writers and Communicators Network (ZGWCN), and a committee member of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ).
Assistant Secretary: Amadou Jallow
Amadou Jallow is the sitting President of The Network of Agricultural Communicators (NAC)- The Gambia. He has extensive 17 years of experience in the field of journalism and 12 years in reporting on agriculture and related matters.
Amadou has served in the position of Secretary in several organizations in The Gambia, and leadership positions which together have shaped his leadership and professional skills for the past years. As a trained journalist who chose agricultural reporting as a professional career, he has been leading NAC for more than eight years now and during this period, he and his team are leading a transformational path to promote and communicate agricultural engagements in The Gambia and beyond.
Under his leadership, NAC has established some partnerships and networks with media and agricultural institutions. These include our two-time partnership with The Gambia Press Union (GPU) to train agriculture journalists on agriculture reporting, and signing of a partnership agreement with REVOLVE, an agency that specializes in communicating sustainability-related topics and one of the 14 partners involved in an agroecology project in West Africa called CIRAWA. The partnership entails collaboration with farmers and other key stakeholders to make agriculture more resilient in the context of climate change and population growth – you can have a look at the project.
President’s acceptance speech
In his acceptance speech, Abdallah assured African agric journalists that “Together, we will build a stronger, more connected network that amplifies our voices and deepens our impact.“
I am deeply honoured to be elected as the President of the Pan-African Agricultural Journalists (PAAJ), alongside a formidable team of leaders committed to advancing our profession. This victory is not just ours; it belongs to every African agricultural journalist who strives daily to tell the stories that shape the continent’s food systems, rural economies, and climate resilience. Your trust in us is a testament to the collective vision we share—a vision where agriculture journalism is at the forefront of policy influence, innovation, and development. Together, we will build a stronger, more connected network that amplifies our voices and deepens our impact.
As we embark on this journey, we are committed to fostering collaboration, enhancing capacity-building, and ensuring that agriculture journalism in Africa remains a driving force for positive change. We will strengthen partnerships, embrace digital transformation, and champion the critical role of journalists in shaping agricultural narratives. This is our moment to elevate PAAJ to new heights, and with your support, we will achieve lasting progress. Let’s write the future of African agriculture together!
