BY: HAJA HAWA KOROMA
The Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) has released the monthly Media Freedom Review which is a publication produced from the monitoring and reporting on freedom of expression and of the press, internet freedom, digital and online rights and safety and security of journalists in Sierra Leone.
In the March 2022 report, MRCG followed an incident regarding journalists being denied access to cover a tribunal; matters between a journalist and the police, a journalist and youths in Waterloo and a journalist and a magistrate in Kenema.
It also monitored consultation on the draft Data Protection and Privacy Bill.
On the 17th March 2022, The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) called on the Judiciary of Sierra Leone in a press alert to allow media access in order to cover the opening session of a tribunal set up to investigate the suspended Auditor-General, Mrs Lara Taylor-Pearce and her deputy.
Some journalists filed in a complaint of denied entry into the proceedings. The SLAJ president Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, responded that in the interest of transparency, the tribunal should be open to all media correspondents in order for the public to get a chance to follow up the process and not just for the benefit of a selected few. The Communication Unit of the Judiciary of Sierra Leone issued out a press release in response to the said allegations saying that the SLAJ allegations were ‘untrue and inaccurate’.
Another matter the MRCG looked into is a follow up on the alleged physical assault and detention of Ransford Wright, a staff (camera operator) of AYV Media Empire by the police on 13th December 2021. The MRCG found out that the matter was still under police investigation.
Furthermore, a follow up on the alleged physical assaulted journalist Alusine Antha of Eagle Africa FM 91.3 in February 2022 by seven youths in the Waterloo Community in connection with a land saga showed that the matter was still in court.
Also, another follow up was conducted on the complaint at the Human Rights Commission for Sierra Leone (HRCSL) that was made by a journalist Osman Hardy Jalloh, against Magistrate Joseph Toby of Magistrate Court No 2 in Kenema on his arrest and detention. The Deputy Director for HRCSL Regional Service East, Sylvester Kallon stated that the commission had sent a copy of the admissibility study to the complaint for his verification, signature and tin be sent back to them before taking the next step of action.
He also said that the commission was waiting for the response from the complaint. Mr Jalloh acknowledged receipt of a copy of the admissibility study.
Another report is The Ministry of Information and Communications in collaboration with the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) on 22 March 2022 organized a two day Bench Marking and Experiences Sharing Exercise on the Draft Data Protection and Privacy Bill.
The purpose of this workshop was to compare the Bill to both local and international best practices in order to ensure universal acceptability of the proposed law. The Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray, said that the workshop was part of fulfilling the desire of the government to ensure that Sierra Leone is transformed into a digitally inclusive country.
For further information on the issues mentioned above, the details of the cases and issues will be published in the MRCG Bi-Annual Press Freedom Report for December 2021 to May 2022.
