By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), tasked with reviewing the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, is urging media practitioners to cooperate with the committee in order to fulfil its mandate.
The effort to garner media cooperation with the CRC is being championed by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Guild of Editors, and Independent Radio Network, whose representatives said at a workshop on Tuesday that it is through publications of news stories, features and commentaries that understanding of the work of the committee would be enhanced.
At a workshop held at the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown on Tuesday, which attracted journalists from various media institutions in the Western Area, Samuel Coker, Executive Secretary of CRC, said journalists had a key role to play in the review process as information flow was crucial to the work of the committee. The media, he said, should not only inform the people about the review process but should also manage public expectations.
He said ensuring the provision of information would compel the CRC to open up the committee to the media and be responsive to journalists in the quest for information. Coker reminded journalists that through effective non-partisan reportage, the people would be actively involved in the review process.
“Let us put away partisan sentiments or parochial interests that will undermine the work of the CRC,” he cautioned, while emphasising on the need for accuracy and objectivity in reducing the potential for public misunderstanding of the constitutional review process.
“If we fail in the mandate of reviewing the constitution, it is the people of Sierra Leone that fail and if we succeed, it is the people of Sierra Leone that succeed.”
In a power point presentation delivered by Tonya Musa, lecturer and head of department of the Mass Communication Department of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, the academic cautioned journalists to see the constitutional review process as Sierra Leone-owned and said reportage on it must encourage Sierra Leoneans to take ownership of it.
Mr Musa cautioned journalists to be objective in their reportage so that a positive opinion on the process would be built among the public. His presentation also delved on the concept of agenda setting, which he said media institutions could adopt when reporting different issues that bordered on public interest.
“In the agenda setting theory, you accelerate, impede or divert the attention of the public on the constitutional review process. Journalists are very good at it,” Mr Musa said.
He said even though media institutions enjoyed some amount of editorial independence and press freedom, they must ensure doing do with responsibility. “We must report the CRC process by way of reducing conflict, enhance the CRC process so that we can have a credible outcome that the people of Sierra Leone can take ownership of,’’ he advised.
At the end of his presentation, the Mass Communication lecturer cautioned media practitioners not to commercialise their reportage of the CRC process at the expense of democracy. And in response to a question posed by a participant about criticism of the CRC in case the committee indulge in some negative activities, Musa said even though journalists were free to criticise, they must embark on ‘’constructive criticism.’’
Journalists made several contributions ranging from suggestions to have reporters attached to the various committees of the CRC, to holding of weekly press conferences, among others, which they think should greatly enhance information flow about the work of the Committee.
The CRC was set up by the government and launched in 2013 with the objective of reviewing the current constitution so that it can be in harmony with the demands of a modern Sierra Leone. It is funded largely by the government but with support from its development partners, notably the United Nations Development Programme.
Since its formation, the committee has conducted consultations with various stakeholder groups in the country geared towards harnessing views on the type of constitution the people want to see.
When the Ebola Virus Disease struck last year, the CRC had cause to conduct the process of consultations in a low key manner with a particular focus on the Western Area, although it also ran programmes in the provinces through partnership with other relevant public institutions.
The committee, comprising 80 members with eight specific sub committees, has since resumed its work as the rate of new cases dwindle, hoping to complete its mandate in March next year.
(C) Politico 29/07/15
