By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
Cabinet in Sierra Leone has agreed a repeal of the hated Criminal and Seditious Libel Law which has been in the country’s law books since 1965, according to Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Rahman Swaray.
Addressing journalists, he said the repeal of the 54-year-old law now rested with parliamentarians who will handle it when they resume later this month.
“We are repealing the 54 year old criminal libel law. Cabinet yesterday passed it resoundingly. Now we are taking the next step, that is taking it to parliament,” Swaray said.
Swaray however warned against reckless journalism saying “the repeal is not going to give you a carte blanche to get reckless”.
He added: “The repeal should not give anybody the veneer to get into irresponsible journalism. If you are on point, we will take your concern and we will learn from you.”
Campaigners of free speech, particularly journalists, see the law as an impediment to the progress of the media.
Repealing this law was a major campaign promise made by former President Ernest Bai Koroma. President Julius Maada Bio too promised during campaigns to repeal it.
Minister Swaray said for fulfilling his promise, President Bio deserved a special place in the history of the fight for freedom.
“In the history of press freedom, pluralistic media, President Bio deserves a very special place in the history of rights to freedom,” he said.
Swaray said that when the Bio administration started the repeal process, many people doubted it would happen. But, he noted, as the government had promised to run a “transparent and accountable government,” they believed that fulfilling the promise was part of enhancing accountability.
“This is part of opening government up to responsible scrutiny,” he said, stressing that the government was serious in meeting every commitment it has made.
“We have said that we will create an enabling environment for the media to practice and we are still irrevocably committed to that commitment” the minister said, calling on journalists “to work with us to make that happen”.
“Already, you know we have matched every word with our actions. We said we would give subvention to SLAJ. You know we did that. In SLAJ’s many, many decades’ history, we are the first government that budgeted for them in the national budget. This is because we believe you are playing a critical role in national development. We treat it serious because governance is a very rigorous thing,” Swaray explained.
He assured journalists that he would continue to be their chief advocate to his colleagues in cabinet for media training. “We can’t expect much from you if we can’t invest much in you. We all agree there is a lot of room for improvement,” he said.
© 2019 Politico Online
