By Kemo Cham
Police in Sierra Leone briefly detained the editor of a local newspaper on the orders of parliament after he had written a letter to the House seeking clarification on a story he was working on. The letter, about allegations that MPs were not properly accounting for funds given to them for their constituents, angered lawmakers who deemed it “disrespectful”.
The editor of THE FUTURE Newspaper, Moisa Sallu Keikura, was briefly detained on Tuesday August 23 and was released on bail pending further investigations by police, sources familiar with the case told Politico.
In a letter dated August 17, 2016 and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament, the newspaper wrote requesting for an interview in relation to allegations that Members of Parliament had failed to account for money amounting to Le120 billion allocated to them for development purposes in their constituencies.
The issue had set parliament against NGOs and the media since the allegation was first made by the UK-registered Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI).
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) has criticised the newspaper and called on them to apologise to parliament. It expressed dissatisfaction with the “tone and manner” of the letter requesting the interview, describing it as “reckless and disrespectful.”
In a statement on Friday, SLAJ said that while it believed in the right of the media to question the operations of public institutions and officials, this must be done in a professional responsible manner.
It quotes the association president, Kelvin Lewis, as saying that the paper did not represent the ideals of the journalism profession.
SLAJ is currently in talks with the government for the decriminalisation of libel which is seen as stifling free press.
Some journalists have expressed disquiet over the position of SLAJ for not condemning the detention of the journalist, not least because the offending material was not published, rather contained in a letter.
© Politico 26/09/16
