By Mustapha Sesay
It’s an open secret that the current executive of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) has been embroiled in so many quarrels.
Observers have blamed this unpleasant situation on various factors, depending on who you talk to. Some said it’s as a result of clashes in personal interest; others linked it to the president dictating how the association should be run without due consideration of the opinions of other executive members.
From whatever angle you look at the entire situation, it is SLAJ as an association that has paid a steep price. And if care is not taken, others go on to warn, running to the forth coming Triennial General Meeting in Bo, the credibility of an association many have viewed as the only uncompromised pressure group in the country would be tarnished for good.
Tension is already mounting among the candidates vying for various positions within the executive. This is how the animosity is cultivated.
Some SLAJ members, apart from the squabble within the executive, are of the view that the current executive has not matched up to expectation in line with meeting the welfare demands of the general membership. Thus, they are demanding change of the current executive members. But ironically the only two presidential candidates have been in charge of the affairs of SLAJ - Kelvin Lewis and Stanley Bangura Jnr. This has led to people labeling them “two evils”. The word has been that voters have the task of choosing between the lesser of two evils.
Most of the other positions up for grab are equally hotly contested, with the exception of the Secretary General’s position, which went unopposed. The incoming holder of that office, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, believes he went unopposed because of the confidence and trust his colleagues had in him.
“It shows the level of confidence my colleagues have in me. They have saved me from campaigning and I don’t know many journalists from up country,” Nasralla said, adding that in spite of the seeming problems that have plagued SLAJ, he was coming to work with whoever wins the Presidency. He said he would not allow any quarrel to consume the coming executive. He added that he was ready to open the space and rebrand the image of the association by promoting the aspiration of journalists, welcoming creative and innovative ideas that were geared towards achieving the goal of SLAJ.
Nasralla vowed that if he witnessed anything contrary to the ideas and aspirations of journalists in the coming executive, he would expose it and possibly resign.
“If we are the watch dog of society, we should avoid those things that we see as inimical to society among us as journalists,” he said, adding: “as journalists we should live by example.”
But critics of Nasralla hold a negative view of him. They say he agrees with everybody over anything, and that he is that person who doesn’t play hard ball and, and therefore too weak to handle the Secretary General’s position. He rejected this assertion.
“They get me wrong. On every national issue I have taking a stand and I think SLAJ also should have a position on national issues. I don’t disagree with people if they are right. I disagree with them if they are wrong and agree with them when they are right. That’s the way I do my own things.”
Nasralla is not the only candidate that has enjoyed the privilege of going unopposed in the 2016 SLAJ election. His predecessor, Moses Kargbo, also went unopposed in the 2013 election.
The outgoing SLAJ scribe denied that there were any confrontations within the current executive; rather he said they were having disagreements. Kargbo also denied widely held views that he was not in talking terms with Kelvin Lewis.
Accordingly, when the problems within the executive heightened, the general membership sanctioned an elders’ committee which was assigned to look into the disagreements with a view to resolving them.
Kargbo told Politico in a telephone interview from the Ghanaian capital Accra, where he is currently undergoing training, that at some point they decided to put personal issues behind them and work for the good of the association.
Kargbo offered some advice for his successor. He explained that the bulk of the work of SLAJ lied with the secretariat and that as such the Secretary General needed to be strong, proactive instead of reactive. He said the office holder also needed to be in consultation with both the president and the general membership of the association.
The Secretary General has an official assistant. But this position is being contested for by Sulieman ‘Storm’ Koroma and incumbent Joseph Turay.
The two candidates contesting for the Vice Presidency have some work to do to clean their past record. Samuel Hafna, who is currently the chairman of the SLAJ Southern Region Office, has been accused of involvement in a US visa fraud case. But he told Politico that he was victim of a conspiracy. He said ‘419ers’ had used his name and personality to defraud people.
The case landed Haffner in police custody and he is currently paying off a fine levied by the police after an out of court arrangement.
Haffner said he is contesting to give a better representation to SLAJ members who were in the provinces.
Haffnner is contesting against Kasho J Holland-Cole, who happens to be vying concurrently for the vice chairmanship of the Western Area Football Association (WAFA). Cole has been accused of embezzlement during his tenure as Secretary General of WAFA. He did not return several calls and a text message from Politico to respond to such accusations.
(C) Politico 25/05/16
