By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio is expected to sign the legal instrument repealing the Criminal Libel law today, Politico has learnt.
Bio will append his signature to the bill at a ceremony scheduled to take place at State House in Freetown. The act will bring to an end decades of campaign to expunge one of the most draconian laws in the country.
The law, which comprises Part Five of the Public Order Act, came into being in 1965. While proponents at the time said it was meant to protect the reputation of innocent people, critics said it was specifically targeted at opponents of the government with the goal of stifling critical voices.
While the law affects everyone, journalists believe they have been the most impacted, citing numerous arrests of members of the Fourth Estate for reporting on public interest issues that either offended government or individual politicians and other powerful people.
Veteran journalist Paul Kamara had bitter experience with the law. He was detained several times under the law which he described as the “main bulwark that represented tyranny” in Sierra Leone.
Kamara, a former cabinet minister in the Earnest Bai Koroma administration, said repealing it means freedom for not just journalists but all other members of the populace and said it called for celebration.
“I think it is a welcoming news for all freedom fighters, especially journalists and human rights activists, including even the politicians themselves, because the laws suppressed political freedom,” he told Politico.
Dr Julius Spencer, another veteran journalist and a former Information Minister, also said the day calls for celebration.
“I think it is something that we all need to celebrate. It’s been a long time coming,” he said.
Spencer said the law had a “dampening effect” on the media in Sierra Leone, thereby stifling its progress. He noted that with its repeal, the future of the media is bright as far as the possibility of its being muzzled by government officials is concerned.
Spencer also hoped that journalists will use “that freedom very responsibly” by not engaging on anything that will get politicians regret the decision to expunge the law.
“We need to ensure that we practice professionally, so that everybody is doing what is right,” he said.
Successive administrations under the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the All People’s Party (APC), which have dominated the country’s politics since independence, failed to repeal the law despite repeated promises.
It was a campaign promise of Julius Maada Bio in the 2018 election. After series of negotiations, in July 2020, parliament passed the bill, amidst celebrations. But it could only come into effect with the signing of the instrument by the president.
Information Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray is credited for championing the cause. He says the day means so much for the New Direction government because it marks fulfilment of a key promise in its manifesto, among others.
“It means so much for the government, firstly it is a fulfilment of the manifesto of the government and it is also part of what the human rights commission has called and even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for it.
But most important is the fact that the media has to be unshackled for it to develop and operate in freedom,” he said.
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