By Aminata Phidelia Allie
A high court in Freetown yesterday ruled against the operations of Afri-Radio, owned by AfriMedia Sierra Leone Limited whose license was suspended by the media regulatory body, the Independent Media Commission.
The ruling came a week after defense lawyer, L.M. Farmah had argued strongly as to why the Afri-Media case should be thrown out of court.
He argued that the only appropriate way to challenge the IMC if it had contravened Section 21 of its Act, was to seek redress in the High Court, which was the “appellate jurisdiction” as provided for by section 22 of the IMC Act, 2007 as amended.
According to him, the plaintiff, AfriMedia had failed to invoke the correct jurisdiction of the court that would enable it to hear and determine the matter before it. He added that the application, instead of it being an appeal before the court, was seeking to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction over the IMC in contravention of Section 22 of the IMC Act.
The defense also said that it was impossible for the court to supervise the IMC because it was a statutory commission which could not be supervised.
Prosecuting lawyer, Yada Williams, argued that whenever the IMC decided to take a decision in line with Section 21 of its Act, it automatically constituted itself into an adjudicating authority over which the high court had supervisory jurisdiction under Section 134 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone. He said this could not be amended by any subordinate legislation like the IMC Act.
Justice Abdulai Cham, in his ruling, said the main issue to be determined in the whole case was whether or not the plaintiff adopted the proper procedure for seeking the alleged contravention of Section 21 of the IMC Act and not whether or not the High Court had supervisory jurisdiction over the IMC.
“In the instant case, I hold that the appropriate procedure in invoking the jurisdiction of this court has not been adopted. In the circumstance, this application is dismissed”, he ruled.
Speaking to Politico, associating defense counsel, Christian Fio Edwards expressed joy in their winning the case. He said that people would now treat the IMC with seriousness and comply with its Act. He said the ruling was a lesson to the public that whenever they were asked to go by a way of appeal they should follow it.
Africell’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Joe Abass Bangura told Politico that the court dismissed their case on procedural grounds and not on the basis of its content and details. He said they would not appeal on that dismissal but noted that they would re-submit the matter in court, using the right procedure required by the court.
