By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
As the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) prepares for its annual general meeting, its Secretary-Genaral Moses Kargbo has reiterated the media`s role in national development, a point he said will be at the heart of the next two days` gathering in Kenema in the east of the country.
The meeting proper commences on Friday but journalists from other parts of the country, including Freetown, will begin traveling to the venue today.
SLAJ is the umbrella body for journalists in the country and it came into existence on June 5, 1971 as a welfare-based organization that seeks to protect its members against all forms of harassment and intimidation. It also crucially seeks to provide and facilitate capacity building for its members in terms training and education.
The annual general meeting is one occasion in the SLAJ calendar that every journalist looks forward to. It creates room for interaction among journalists. But it has also always served as a forum to discuss pertinent matters of national concern. And this year`s event will be no different, said Kargbo.
This will be the 44th annual general meeting and therefore the 44th anniversary of the association.
“June 5 of every year is selected for the conference as it is the birthday of the association,” Kargbo said.
The SLAJ scribe said the thematic issues of the Kenema conference is the ‘Media`s Response to Ebola in Sierra Leone. He said the whole nation was focused on the fight for the eradication of the virus in the country and so is SLAJ.
SLAJ was among the first groups of people to engage in the fight against the epidemic when it first erupted in May last year.
Kargbo explained that when the epidemic broke out, SLAJ convened a meeting of journalists and brainstormed on how to intervene and save the situation. He said there were misconceptions and conspiracy theories that cast doubts on the existence of the virus. These were the issues the organization sought to address, he said.
SLAJ eventually set up a group known as the ‘SLAJ Ebola Response Committee’ charged with the responsibility of coordinating its intervention at the national level. Later, the SLAJ ‘Dreb Ebola Radio Programme’ was hatched, aimed primarily at sensitising the people on how to avoid contracting the virus.
Kargbo said the association would soon move from telling people about Ebola preventive measures to rebuilding the nation. He said this would be in line with the government’s post Ebola recovery plan.
“When the agenda and focus of society changes, everybody redirects the focus,” he said. “We will not only be useful during the Ebola period but [also] during the post Ebola period.”
At the conference in Kenema, Retired Major Palo Conteh, Chief Executive Officer of the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC), has been scheduled as a key note speaker.
About three hundred million leones (Le300m) have been budgeted for over three hundred delegates, part of which will be used to provide accommodation, feeding, among other things, for the delegates.
The gathering will be climaxed by a Saturday night party, which this year will witness the association`s maiden awards ceremony.
© Politico 04/06/15
