NEWS ITEM
8th March, 2021.
The media plays a crucial role in the fight against corruption as it, inter alia, can responsibly demand accountability and transparency from the public and private sectors and accordingly inform the public or anti-graft agencies for appropriate actions to be taken.
It is as a result, the North-East office of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) engaged journalists at its Conference Room in Makeni on 4th March, 2021 to maximize the potential of the media to more seriously take on corruption and corrupt practices.
In her opening statement during the engagement, Manager of the ACC’s North-East office, Mariama Navo, thanked the journalists for their valuable contributions towards tackling unethical public officials and practices in the country. She said the Commission would have hardly made any success stories without the collaboration and support from the media.
The media, she pointed out, wields tremendous influence on the public particularly with regard to the dissemination of information. She then appealed to the journalists to hone their skills and harness them more with the view to helping the ACC achieve its vision of a corrupt-free country. ‘We cannot work alone in the campaign against corruption. We therefore consider it a privilege to work with the media, and this relationship should continue as there is so much to do to win this national fight,’ she affirmed.
Apart from complimenting the reporters, the manager updated them on recent stories on cash recovery made by the Commission in the interest of the public. She said the anti-graft agency has recovered about 27 Billion Leones in the past three years, including the 8 Billions Leones that was recovered and presented to President Julius Maada Bio. “This does not include recoveries made on behalf of other government agencies, like the 1 Billion Leones recovered from LEOCEM for EDSA,” she said.
The Commission is poised to do better in the interest of all Sierra Leones, she empathized, adding that the media’s handling of ACC stories with professionalism and credibility for public consumption would go a long way to build the image of the lead anti-graft agency in the country. However, she lamented occasions when some media outlets would only relish peddling groundless claims about the Commission instead.
ACC’s Public Education Officer (PEO), Aiah P. M. Sourie, who spoke specifically on the role of the media in fighting corruption, reminded the journalists that the bedrock of their craft is objectivity and this attribute should be observed at all times. In addition to furnishing the public with relevant information, the media, especially investigative journalism, can trigger formal investigations to expose corruption, Mr. Sourie said.
This, the PEO explained, falls within the context of whistleblowing and reporting corruption in the pursuit of justice for the masses. “Constructive journalism has the leverage to fuel public outrage at corruption in the public and private sectors, and can force impeachment or resignation of corrupt public officials,” he noted. He however cautioned his audience that this huge advantage of the media should not be adulterated with lopsided or malicious reporting.
One paramount requirement for the media to work well to unearth corruption, according to the officer, is Freedom of Information, and went further to congratulate the Government of President Julius Maada Bio for the brave decision to amend the 1965 Public Order Act, which effectively repealed the 55-year-old seditious libel law that criminalized free speech.
Earlier, Public Education Officer, Abdul Karim Bangura, who steered the course of the meeting, implored the media practitioners to partner with the ACC regional office to keep a careful watch on activities of public functionaries in the region. He assured them that the Commission is open to suggestions from the media in an attempt at strengthening the two entities to toughen the fight against all forms of corruption.