By Kemo Cham
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) of Sierra Leone has been nursing a huge loss after a Freetown High Court ruled against it in a case filed by the popular talk show host David Tam-Baryoh.
The court ruled last week that IMC’s decision to ban Baryoh’s popular weekly radio programme, ‘Monologue’, was ‘unjust’ and ‘hash’.
‘Monologue’, dubbed by the presenter as the ‘Good Governance Programme’, was arguably the most popular talk show on radio in the country when it was yanked off the air after its presenter was accused of violating media codes of practice. This followed a clash between the journalist and a cabinet minister following a discussion programme on the controversial purchase of 100 buses from China towards the end of last year. That programme pitched Baryoh against Minister of Transport and Aviation, Leonard Balogun Koroma, who lodged a complaint with the media regulator regarding Baryoh’s reportage of his role in the procurement process.
The IMC subsequently suspended Monologue.
The court, presided over by Justice Musu Kamara, said at the end of the ensuing seven-month long trial on June 17 that the Commission had no right to suspend the programme while the matter was being investigated by its complaints committee. It said by doing so the regulator effectively worked against its own Act.
The court also ordered the IMC to compensate the journalist, who is now asking for the mouth-watering sum of Le760M (US$150, 000).
IMC, as its name implies, was designed to operate independently of government and serve as alternative to the court system with regards grievances and complaints generated by the media. But many, especially in the mainstream media, today hardly believe it’s actually independent. Critics say the government, particularly State House, controls it remotely.
Political Interest
The drama that characterized the appointment of the current management of the commission, particularly its chairman, Alieu Kanu, remains the strongest indication yet of the suspicion between government and independent journalists.
Baryoh is no stranger to controversy in line with his work as a journalist. He has been sanctioned either by the IMC or the government through the regulator, on at least three occasions. And he has no doubt that, like in all previous instances, the latest action against him was influenced by political interest.
In May 2014, Monologue was forced off year, reportedly on the orders of Cabinet, for two months. That was followed by the detention, in November that same year, of the journalist himself, again, according to reports, on ‘orders from above’, a statement that usually means from high profile state officials.
Baryoh noted that since the ban on his talk show was by a cabinet decision, and his sanctioning was done “to please a cabinet minister,’ it all justified his claim of political interference in the work of the Commission.
“[And] every time I do a programme on Saturday, they will call me and ask me to send them (IMC) a copy, even though they have the technology to record it…So then you know that they are after something,” he added.
Baryoh is owner of two radio stations – Citizen and Eagle Africa – both of which have been airing his talk show which is also relayed by a network of other radio stations nationwide, thus giving him an exceptionally wide national coverage.
Citizen Radio was among over a dozen newspapers and radio stations suspended about two weeks ago by the IMC over allegations of failing to meet its regulatory directives. That suspension was however later rescinded, but before that almost all the media houses sanctioned had refused to comply.
Despite the ban on ‘Monologgue’, Baryoh continued with his weekly programme, albeit under a different name [One-On-One]. He said he did so because it was ‘Monologue’ that was banned, not him.
Last Saturday the programame aired for the first time under its official name, after about nine months.
IMC Chairman, Alieu Kanu, told Politico that the Commission had decided to appeal against the court’s ruling. He said on a telephone interview that they were doing so “because we feel that the decision is wrong in law.”
The effect of the ruling has meanwhile reverberated beyond the media landscape.
Shortly after the verdict was revealed, reports emerged on social media that the presiding judge was summoned by Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh who allegedly conveyed government's disapproval of the decision. The judiciary was forced to issue a statement dismissing this.
While admitting that Justice Kamara was in fact at the VP's
office, Acting High Court Master and Registrar, Stephen Yaya Mansaray, said in a statement that she was there on an altogether different matter.
"We acknowledge the fact that the Honorable Justice Musu D Kamara went to the office of the Honorable Vice President...with some Muslim women on the invitation of the Vice President to be part of the planning committee of this year's Hajj [annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca]," the statement reads.
"Her visit to the Vice President's office therefore has nothing to do with her ruling," it adds.
Mansaray said the allegations risked reversing efforts by the new Chief Justice, Abdullai Cham, to restore public confidence on the judiciary which had been deemed highly compromised.
While describing the ruling as a “sign that all is not lost yet in the judiciary,” Baryoh said the verdict also represented “a lesson for us all [journalists] that we should be careful with the IMC.”
On the Commission’s decision to appeal, Baryoh said: “I think the IMC is a rat that does not want to die without shaking its tail.”
(C) Politico 28/06/16
