By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Presidential and Vice presidential candidates for the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) have faced each other in a debate at the Miatta conference center.
The debate which is traditionally organized by the Sierra Leone Reporters Union focused on the agenda of candidates for the organization and their capacity to achieve them. The theme of this year’s debate held on Tuesday was “SLAJ, the last man standing.”
According to the organizers, the theme was born out of the fact that the association is among the few that is yet to be negatively influenced by external factors like politicians.
This is the first event that has managed to get all four candidates on the same stage.
This weekend SLAJ members will gather in the southern district of Bo for their triennial general meeting, during which a new executive body will be voted. The campaigns have been rigorous so far, with all parties involved fighting to defend themselves from scathing attacks and allegations, and issuing counter-allegations.
Incumbent President Kelvin Lewis is running for his second term in office against his vice president, Stanley Bangura Jnr.
During Tuesday’s debate, which was moderated by Joe Pemagbi, Country Director of the Open Society Initiative for West AfricA, both candidates had the chance to discuss the content of their vision with the membership of SLAJ.
Lewis boasted of a proud track record of what he had done as president of journalists in the last three years.
“I managed to bring more members on board. During my tenure none has left the association. We would have our disagreements but they will stay in the house,” he said.
He made reference to the infamous disassociation of journalists David Tam-Bayoh and Philip Neville from the association. “I managed to get these two journalists together, even though many people doubted that.”
There has been much concern about the seeming lack of unity in the association. After the 2008 SLAJ election both journalists left the association with post election grudges.
Stanley’s message during the debate focused on inclusiveness. He vowed to provide an inclusive leadership for the organization.
Critics of Kelvin say he had marginalized most of the members of the association and had sometimes made decisions on his own.
On his part, Kelvin said he did not have enough authority and in the future could be pushing for more specific powers to be given to executive members and himself as the president. However critics say this will concentrate too much power in the hands of the president.
There is also much disagreement between the two presidential candidates over how the money of the association should be handled.
Kelvin has suggested that all monies should be deposited in a central account meant for SLAJ. Stanley on his part says this is against the constitution and will increase dependency.
There was a lot of focus on the presidential candidates but there were also highlights of the performances of the vice presidential aspirants. Kasho Holland-Cole and Samuel Haffner are the aspirants for the position of vice president. Both candidates boast of at least a decade of experience each in the media.
Haffner is the southern region coordinator of the Independent Radio Network (IRN). In the past he has been mentioned in a passport scandal, a scandal which he has always said he was set up to take the fall for. During the debate he was rather focused on the importance of unity for the association.
Holland-Cole who is the founder of Lion Mountain radio in the Waterloo peninsular have been questioned in recent weeks over his deep involvement in football and how much time he could make for SLAJ. He replied that he has more passion for journalism and therefore he would make time to serve it.
“I love football; I will always be part of it. But my job, what I really have passion for, is journalism,” he told Politico in an interview.
Some journalists believe that apart from the future of SLAJ as an association, a lot more is at stake with this election. Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation journalist Asmieu Bah told Politico that the timing of the elections makes it more crucial.
“After this election, the country will have like two years in preparation for the general elections,” he said, adding: “SLAJ needs to position itself for the 2018 elections, because it has been branded as the last man standing.”
Elections at SLAJ are held once every three years. The next SLAJ president would be in office until 2019, a year after the country will have gone to the polls.
(C) Politico 01/06/16
