March 11, 2021
By Mohamed M. Sesay
Parliamentary Stakeholders’ Discussion on the Bill Entitled “The Cyber Crime Act 2020”, has elicited immense support with laudatory comments for Minister of Information and Communications. The law seeks to address the rife incidence of of Identity theft, cyber Bullying, cyber terrorism, among other things.
During his contribution, the Leader of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Party Hon. Chernor Maju Bah affirmed the importance of the Cyber Crime Bill indicating that it is bound to impact lives of not only Sierra Leoneans but create a condition to rope those in the diaspora perpetuating the crime. Hon. Bah said that questions regarding extradition and other issues would now come into play.
He further encouraged other Members of Parliament and the team from the ministry to robustly engage in public education using the bottom-top approach. He added that children are the most victimized in cyber bully and must be engage in the mass education to include people who sell Kolanut or groundnut but equally use WhatsApp by sending voice note.
He argued that these people need to know about about the ramifications of cybercrimes. He urged all to expedite the cybercrime bill before May which would be the end of the parliamentary session if not he said, they would have to start all over again the entire process of the Bill.
He further stressed the need for the Ministry of Information to popularize the Cybercrime Bill adding that, the leadership of parliament has agreed with the West-Minister Foundation to corporate and collaborate with Civil Society Organizations in order to enhance a better mechanism in reaching out to the general populace with regards to the cybercrime bill.
The Deputy Leader of the Main Opposition APC Party Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said he is of the view that as long as Sierra Leone continues to expand the Information Communication Technology (ICT), cybercrimes would multiply. He therefore said they have to always find ways and means to combat the upsurge of cybercrimes. He added that, those who handle the ICT sector should be very prepared in making sure that the society is protected, and also to expose the Sierra Leone police system to training which would make it easier for the force arrest and bring to book those people who commit cybercrimes.
Hon. Ben Kargbo further stated that crimes like child abuse and child pornography have become a topical issues that must be addressed immediately. He emphasized on the policing system that would counter all of the ills of cybercrime including terrorism.
He also advised that the laws of the land must be very clear in order to making it possible for the country to be able to arrest and bring to book anybody who commits cybercrime. He referenced Boko-Haram saying that they sit in Abuja and communicate with South Africa using the ICT sector. He concluded that they now have the appropriate time to enact the bill and therefore pledged his party’s the APC support to the enactment of the law.
Chairman of the Committee on Information and Communications in parliament Hon. Boston Munda said they had had similar discussion on the same cybercrime bill with the Ministry of Information and Communications at the Country Lodge wherein, civil societies made their inputs in the drafting of the law.
He added that the cybercrime bill which they are about to pass into law is not by their on making but rather said, Sierra Leone is part of the Budapest Conventions. He noted that, what has been lacking over the years is the domestication of those treaties and that is the more reason he said, they want to effect Sierra Leones laws.
He continued that Ghana and Senegal are all part of the Budapest treaties and said they have even domesticated their own laws on cybercrimes. He furthered that cybercrime is a global crime as long as one is using internet and therefore, they expect hackers and crackers to infringe into peoples’ personal data. He added that the cybercrime bill would address the marathon misuse of social media in with the law on the protection of the freedom of speech of every Sierra Leoneans.
The Deputy Leader of Government Business Hon. Bashiru Silikie observed that they as members of parliament are mandated to make laws and that, the laws that they make should always ensure that the laws stand the test of time. He acknowledged that the country is now in an advanced stage of technology but said regulations have not been made in readiness of the technological advancement. He further asked for the inclusion of the Sierra Leone police into the enactment of the Cybercrime bill adding that, the Sierra Leone police is going to be very pivotal in terms of executing the laws on cybercrimes.
He noted that Members of Parliament have been victims of the cybercrimes adding that of recent, they arrested an alleged suspect who claimed to be the Leader of government Business by exploiting monies from the public. He acknowledged that the country’s data are not safe and there are expert who are engaged in this heinous act. He concluded that they would be confident in their data storage when there would be law to police the uses age of the technology.
Explaining the nitty-gritty of the bill, the Acting Director at the Ministry of Information and Communications Mohamed Jalloh said the enactment of the cybercrime bill would be one of the giant stride that Sierra Leone is taking in order to embrace digital technology adding that, there would be no way the country can embrace digital technology if the country does not provide guidance of what would be the acceptable behavior during the course of the utilization of digital technology. He added that the bill is about preventing the abusive use of computer system and also the timely and effective collection of electronic evidences for the purpose of investigation and prosecution. He furthered that the bill also provides for the protection of the country’s critical and national information infrastructure.
He continued that most country in Africa are actually establishing a whole body dedicated to the administration and enforcement of cyber related issues. He made mention of the last ECOWAS inter-ministerial meeting, where the issue of cyber security was discussed; adding that ECOWAS is almost recommending for the members state in the sub-region to have a dedicated institution that would look at the cyber related matters.
“In terms of offences in part five, the bill has actually identified about forty-six offences that are now offences in Sierra Leone by way of cyber activities. I will just briefly list some of them. Unauthorized access protected systems, misuse of devices, computer related forgery, identity theft and impersonation which is very common in Sierra Leones, cyber bullying, infringement of copy right, online child abuse, registration of cyber café, cyber terrorism etc. are all now a crime under the cyber offences bill”, he concluded.