By Kemo Cham
The head of the European Union Delegation in Sierra Leone, Tom Vens, has praised the country’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it has helped to mitigate the threat it posed.
But Mr Vens warned that despite currently recording low number of cases of the disease, Sierra Leone must not let its guard down. He said with the wave of infections elsewhere in the world, no country should feel immune from the pandemic.
“We have been, by and large, lucky in Sierra Leone by the way that the threat of Covid has been mitigated and managed, but it still has had a serious impact and sometimes we have not always been aware of the impact and the repercussions we may have in the long run and we are not out of this crisis yet,” Ambassador Vens told journalists on Thursday at a press lunch with a section of the media. The event held at the Country Lodge at Hill Station in Freetown brought together about 20 journalists, drawn from the print and electronic media.
The meeting is part of a tradition wherein every year the EU delegation hosts journalists for a lunch to discuss with them issues concerning democracy and governance. It also provides journalists the opportunity to ask questions regarding EU Sierra Leone relations.
Mr Vens has been in Sierra Leone as EU ambassador since 2017. He highlighted two main issues he said were at the heart of the EU – Sierra Leone relations going forward – human rights and the environment.
The top EU diplomat in the country also spoke about development in the media, vis-à-vis the role of the press in promoting democracy, safeguarding peace and security, as well as ongoing efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, among a range of others.
Sierra Leone is among countries recording the lowest number of cases in the world. Vens said while there were some concerns around especially the enforcement of regulations with regards mask wearing and social distance, the apparent containment of the virus couldn’t be disconnected from the response strategy.
“There is a genuine reason to commend the way Covid-19 has been managed in Sierra Leone,” he stated, adding: “I don’t think any country has to teach lesson on how to manage Covid. We all struggled and one way or the other, the way it has been approached in Sierra Leone was very good.”
The EU played a major role in Sierra Leone’s response effort, notably with efforts to curtail fake news, which was considered by experts as a major threat to the country’s response efforts. The EU sponsored a project, through the umbrella Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), through which the mainstream media was used to prevent and counter fake news about the disease and the government’s response.
This, said the EU diplomat, raised the profile of his office at the EU headquarters in Brussels thanks to the impact the project was found to have had on the overall response efforts.
Beyond the Covid-19 response, Mr Vens also had praises for the Bio administration for its efforts in maintaining democratic gains, singling out the repeal of the decades old anti-free speech law – part five of the Public Order Act, which criminalized libel and defamation.
Vens said that’s a “great achievement” in the last year in the country. He noted that human rights hadn’t been that bad in the country within the period under review.
According to Vens, human rights has taken center stage at top level of the EU after its Council on Foreign Affairs this week adopted a zero tolerance policy on human rights violations. He said the EU has resolved to sanction any official, regardless of where they live, for serious rights violations, including through the imposition of travel ban.
The over an hour long discussion also offered the journalists the opportunity to discuss pressing issues militating against their operation, especially in light of the repeal of the criminal libel law which Vens said occasioned a potential opportunity for the media to capitalize on.
SLAJ President, Ahmed Sahid Nasrallah, thanked the EU country office for its support to the media, especially in the last one year with the fight against Covid-19.
Nasrallha said the collaboration paved the way for further strengthening of relations between the EU and the media in the country.
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