By Kemo Cham
The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) has suspended five of its staff in Kono over the brewing dispute over a controversial mining project.
The reporters working with FM90.2 in Kono were sanctioned for failing to report on a press conference organized by a government minister at the center of the saga, details of documents seen by Politico indicate.
According to one of the suspended journalists, Abass Foday Kallon, they were suspended because they decided against airing comments by the minister, Karamoh Kabba, which they felt could have worsened an already tense environment in the district.
Kono, in the east of the country, has been divided for months now over the government sanctioned mining activity on a popular bridge linking the diamond-rich district headquarter own of Koidu to the capital, Freetown. Congo Bridge is thought to be sitting on a vast deposit of diamonds. But exploiting it, besides being illegal as per the country’s mining laws, also required that a bypass had to be created.
Heavy downpours last month submerged the the bypass route and the entire district was virtually cut off from the rest of the country as a result. A number of houses were affected, with about five completely destroyed.
This reality provoked anger among residents who protested the mining activity and called for an end to it.
Mr Kabba, who is Resident Minister for the Eastern region, and the major political sponsor of the controversial mining, reportedly angered the residents, particularly the women folks, with remarks responding to their protests. Kabba reportedly repeated his comments at the press conference.
Four of the five suspended journalists who were in attendance decided not to air the story on the basis of “professional judgment.”
One of them, Abass Foday Kallon, a reporter and producer, said they decided at an editorial meeting against airing the minister’s comment because they felt it could worsen an already complicated matter for which the media had already been blamed.
The initial protests had been blamed on allegedly inciting media coverage. The resident minister reportedly ordered a journalist working with a private radio station arrested over the issue, although that order never materialized.
“Owing to the fact that SLBC is a national broadcaster, and we try to maintain peace and stability as part of our functions, we decided to come into our newsroom, we shared ideas together…” Kallon told Politico.
One of the suspended journalists, an editor, was reportedly penalized for endorsing the decision not to air the report.
Kallon said a team of producers, including himself and devoid of the Station Manager, usually takes a decision on whether a news item gets aired. He said they decided to call the Station Manager this time round because of the sensitive nature of the report. But the Manager did not turn up on time, he said.
The Station Manager, David Francis Cole, could not be reached when contacted by Politico.
But a copy of a letter of suspension bearing Cole’s signature explained why Kallon was suspended.
“You should by now know that you are under the direct supervision of the Regional Station Manager, who alone controls the authority over what is aired or not,” it reads in part.
It adds that Kallon failed to communicate properly to his office.
SLBC was transformed into an independent broadcaster in 2010 to promote independent journalism within the state broadcaster. But very few believe the broadcaster has lived up to that.
© Politico 12/08/16
