By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Minister of Information, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has told Politico that the government is still committed to repealing the Criminal Libel in the Public Order Act, despite a setback in parliament.
On Tuesday the House of Parliament withdrew the bill that’s expected to bring to the over half a century-old law journalists and other human rights campaigners say hinder their work.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Swaray said: “Government is still irrevocably committed to repealing the Criminal Libel Law.”
The Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Martin Nyuma, announced parliament’s decision on Tuesday that the bill had to be withdrawn because the time to debate it had elapsed following a delay to present the review on the Act of the Independent Media Commission (IMC).
The bill was laid in the well in December last year. As per Parliamentary statutes, a bill cannot go forward in the house if it has been stuck there for three months since its first reading.
“We didn’t withdraw it deliberately; we withdrew it based on procedure. There is a difference between throwing out a document and withdrawing it. First reading had been done for this, so another first reading will be done. We had to withdraw all the other bills, so they will do a fresh entry,” Nyuma told Politico on Wednesday.
Some of the other bills that were also withdrawn are the Consumer Protection Bill and Midwifery Bill.
Nyuma said despite the setback, they were still committed to repealing the law, in spite of concerns from some section of the media that Parliament deliberately dragged their fit in getting rid of the bill.
“We are still committed but we can’t repeal it without following procedure. If we lay it in the house, anyone can challenge it, including members from the SLPP side, by raising their hand and saying the term for the bill has lapsed,” he said.
Parliament has gone for recess and is expected to return in the next three weeks.
During the first reading last year, lawmakers expressed concern about a safe guard to protect citizens from bad journalism, in case the Criminal Libel law is expunged.
There was a consensus that the IMC Act should be reviewed simultaneously with the expulsion of the Criminal Libel Law, so IMC could be strengthened more to serve as a check against “reckless journalism”.
Politico understands that the repeal bill had been partly stuck in Parliament because the review of the IMC Act had not gone along fast enough, with much of the delay coming from the Law Officers Department.
However, Information Minister Swaray said the review had been completed and the document alongside the repeal bill would be ready to be taken to Parliament once the house returns from recess.
“Once you repeal, you will ask for safeguards, those safeguards have been done in collaboration with SLAJ. It (document) has been at the Law Officers Department. The draft is about ready now, they gave us a copy and we looked at it and we all agreed on what needed to be agreed on. They gave us a final copy. All is set really,” Swaray said on the phone.
The Leader of Government Business said once everything is ready in the next three weeks, there will be no excuse for the house not to go through with the bill.
“These three weeks is time for negotiation; SLAJ should now engage the ministry so they will sort out all these processes. So immediately after the recess, we will go through with the process. If everything is ready, we will have no excuse not to go through with the bill,” Nyuma said.
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) was established more than half a century ago on the backdrop of the struggle to repeal the obnoxious law. Its President, Ahmed Sahid Nasaralla, told Politico that apart from the IMC review, SLAJ has already taken steps to enhance professionalism among journalists by reconstituting the Disciplinary Committee.
“On the part of SLAJ, we were asked to give assurances that we could self -regulate. We have gone far with that; we have reconstituted the Disciplinary Committee and we have strengthened their mandate. Now we have regional monitors and district monitors to help them work properly. And their mandate means they have to be proactive and reactive,” he said.
Despite the setback of restarting the process, Nasralla said he was confident that the repeal bill will go through.
“I am very confident. Definitely we have to be positive; there is no need for us to be pessimistic, considering how far we have come in the last 54 years and we are now in the final phase,” Nasralla said.
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