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Former President J. A. Kufuor has advised media practitioners to sanitise and regulate their profession with the aim of attaining efficiency and impacting more positively on society. He said this in a keynote address delivered on his behalf at the opening of a three-day Africa media and democracy conference in Accra yesterday. It is being organised by the Africa Media & Democracy Institute and attended by media practitioners from various African countries. Role of media Mr Kufuor said the media played a critical role in the development of society but when such responsibility was exercised arbitrarily and with careless abandon for parochial means, �both the media and society become worse off as the other arms of the state become sorely tempted to muzzle and emasculate the media and prevent it from being a terror�. He said in the process, totalitarianism ensued and, in most cases, development was stifled, adding, �The role of the media in democracy and development, therefore, cannot be taken for granted or left in the hands of people who do not appreciate the enormity of the task that they carry.� He, however, noted that when the media used its responsibility with circumspection, society benefited and development was enhanced. Free media Mr Kufuor underlined the importance of free media, saying it enhanced democracy and development, but pointed out that where the media was chained, it undermined democracy and development. He said it was in such spirit that although the media criticised him even after he had repealed the criminal libel law from the country�s statute books, he did not have any regrets. �But I never regretted repealing that law, no matter how biting or unpalatable the criticisms were, as I saw a free media as essential to the development of our democratic process,� he remarked. Objective of confab The Executive Director of the Africa Media & Democracy Institute, Barima Adu-Asamoa, said the objective of the conference was to examine the impact of the media on governance and democracy. He said what Africa needed was quality leadership to address poverty, disease, violence and other development challenges on the continent.