By Mustapha Sesay
The newly appointed Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Bangura, has said he was more committed to addressing the controversial Seditious Libel law which is deemed by many journalists as a deterrent to their profession.
The Minister, while meeting with executive members of the Sierra Leone Reporters Union (SLRU) last week, promised to meet with media stakeholders to chat a way forward in addressing some of the issues surrounding the law and possibly having a clear pathway for its expunction from the country’s law book. And he wants this done before the next SLAJ [Sierra Leone Association of Journalists] AGM.
“We want to meet with SLAJ executive and other media stakeholders on a preliminary level to have a clear pathway on the libel law before we go to the AGM,” he said.
Bangura, who had been a journalist before his political glory and a victim of the same libel laws, said his Ministry was committed to working with media professionals to ensure that the media operated freely and responsibly.
As it has been the case, State House and other government functionaries have only been covered by selected media institutions and communication units created within government circles. This is also another issue he promised to tackle, in response to an observation made by Amadu Ramrana Bah, President of the SLRU. Bah appealed to the minister to create an open space where every “credible media institution” and journalists could have direct access to some of the information coming from State House.
The SLRU President said his union was more willing and prepared to collaborate with the Ministry to disseminate government information that were geared towards the development of the country.
“We want to collaborate to improve on media coverage of government activities that promote development, but the space needs to be opened to credible and independent journalists. It should not be limited to State House Communication Unit, Facebook, and Whatsapp,” he said.
Bah also pointed at the government weekly press conference organized by the Information Ministry, noting that it had lost momentum among senior journalists because of the way it has been organized recently. Thus, he called on the Minister to look at the set up of the press conference and redesign it so that it could attract more journalists.
While responding to suggestions made by the reporters’ President, Minister Bangura said he was more determined to look at the information structure from State House to the Ministry of Information to attract “critical and credible journalists.” He said he was aware that most of the journalists that go to the weekly press conference “are not even attached to any media houses.”
“Since I was appointed as Minister I have not been to the press conference, because it is not appealing for me to be there,” the Minister said
He added that they were planning to make it a point of duty to have reporters from various media institutions who were capable of effectively disseminating information permanently attached to State House to cover the activities of the President in and outside of the country. This, he said, was because they believed in the media to promote the development ideas of government.
He also spoke on calls for a free press, but noted that the press also needed to operate responsibly.
Successive governments over the years have used Part 5 of the 1965 Public Order Acts to silence and muzzle journalists and media institutions that are seen as critical of their administration. Opposition parties on the other hands have used expunction of the draconian law as means to get the media approval to ascend to the seat of power.
In the run up to his 2007 election victory, President Earnest Bai Koroma vowed to expunge the Criminal Libel law and uphold press freedom. But since his election to power this law still remains as a threat to a free press and he has been accused of series of press freedom violations, notably in the form of detention of journalists, although his supporters have shielded him against these allegations.
Marking the World Press Freedom day in Sierra Leone, the President of SLAJ, Kelvin Lewis, called on President Koroma to make real his promise made as opposition leader.
“SLAJ again reiterates its call to President Koroma, to make do his 8 years old election promise, to repeal the Criminal Libel Laws,” Lewis said, adding: “from 2007 to now [2016] over 25 journalists have been arrested interrogated, detained and/or jailed and two have been convicted of Criminal Libel Laws.”
He said the existence and use of the Libel Laws have remained as a constant threat to the practice of journalism and the right to media freedom. This, he added, was because government wanted to regulate the media to suit it purpose.
However, the government and those in favor of the laws have argued that the laws were not only there to harass and intimidate the press but also to protect other members of the society from defamation. They said the rights and reputations of other citizens were equally important as those of freedom of speech and of the press.
Even so, the SLAJ President believes that “there are enough provisions in the civil laws to address any redress sought from those aggrieved by our work.”
(C) Politico 17/05/16
