By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
President Julius Maada Bio has increased the annual subvention given to the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLJA) from Le 500,000 (five hundred thousand to Le 700,000 (seven hundred million new Leones).
He made the disclosure during his annual Presidential Media Cocktail at the Country Lodge in Freetown on the 7th December, 2022.
In his statement, President Bio noted that, he has fulfilled a generational promise he made to secure a free, independent and pluralistic media since his government was ushered in from the Kevin Lewis led SLAJ administration to the present Ahmed Sahid Nasralla’s. Bio said after decades of unfulfilled promises on the repeal of Part V of the Public Order Act of 1965, his government was bold enough to repeal the criminal libel law in October 2020.
“Not one journalist is in jail for the practice of journalism. No journalist is in fear of death or imprisonment for the practice of journalism,” he said.
President Bio further said that as further demonstration of government’s commitment to strengthen the media and address its viability and poverty, it will give a matching grant for the International Fund for Public Interest Media’s (IFPIM) first institutional grant which he said has already been provided for in the 2023 budget.
He encouraged journalists to be professional by ensuring that their work is accurate, verified, balanced, neutral and respectful of human dignity. He also advised media practitioners to avoid inflammatory reporting which may threaten the peace and stability of the nation.
“As citizens, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the upcoming elections are not only fair and transparent but also reaffirm our faith in our nation’s democratic consolidation,” he asserted.
The President further said that government has enacted the Independent Media Commission (IMC) Act, noting that, there is more professionalism in the media, more opportunities for investment and better conditions of service for journalists. He added that, in five years, government has also supported more media institutions and journalists with capacity building through training and partnerships.
In his address, President of SLAJ, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, stated that the most fundamental change that has happened in the media is freedom, noting that, the freedom for journalists to practice , that did not exist pre-2020 is now visible.
“I have even forgotten when last, I and my Executive visited the CID or the Police to secure the release of journalists detained under the obnoxious criminal libel law for doing their work. That is the freedom I am talking about,” he said.
He pointed out that they have developed a national framework and policy on safety of journalists and have established a National Coordination Committee on the Safety and Security of journalists in Sierra Leone. He said Sierra Leone has for the first time been listed as one of 17 countries in the world to benefit from the IFPIM.
“In preparation for that intervention, we have worked with the support of all the stakeholders, including government of Sierra Leone, under the platform of the MRCG with support from BBC Media Action, to begin to put the structures in place,” he said.
The SLAJ President highlighted that a project proposal has been submitted which, when approved, will see Sierra Leone benefit from an initial $100,000 (one hundred thousand United States Dollars) from the international fund. He said 50 percent of that fund will go towards setting up of structures which work he said they have already started putting in place. He also said they expect government to soon announce their counterpart allocation to the basket fund as one of its commitments during the conference.
While expressing the challenges the media is facing, he claimed SLAJ and a lot of other people have concerns around the cyber security bill and what that will mean for free expression and media freedom during the elections. He said they vehemently condemn, in advance, any use of that law by the security and justice sectors to clamp down on critical and dissenting views or political opponents in the guise of allegations of ‘incitement’.
According to Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, the Presidential Media Cocktail provides an opportunity to collectively celebrate the gains made in the information sector, gains he stressed that promote a transparent and accountable government, and expand the frontiers of freedom. He reaffirmed that, journalism has indeed been a critical tool in the transformative development undertakings of the President’s administration.
“Indeed, the media has been a partner in the implementation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2019-2023),” Swaray emphasised.
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