August 18, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
The Director General (DG) of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Joseph Ebenda Kapuwa has said the allegation made by the acting Publicity Secretary of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Sidi Yayah Tunis that the party is denied access to the national broadcaster, is baseless and unfounded.
The DG was reacting to comments made by Tunis during an interview in the popular Good Morning Salone programme on Radio Democracy 98.1 where the opposition politician was hosted on Monday. In that programme, Sidi claimed that for the past two years, they have not been invited to the SLBC and that the SLBC does not show up when invited to cover their programmes” if they show up, they don’t broadcaster it”, he alleged. He said they have not done any formal complaint on the issue. According to him, the issue was brought up during the recent NEC conference where he claimed the DG responded by saying that their programmes are development based not need for opposition views.
Reacting to the allegation, Kapuwa said he was not in town when the NEC conference was convened in the first place. He continued that Sidi Tunis could support his allegation with instances where his party had been turned down by the State Broadcaster. He emphasized that he has data of instances where members of the opposition have been invited to discussion programmes.
He cited that last year, Tunis turned down an invitation to a programme sending a text message to the DG that he would not make it. He maintained that APC members like Osman Timbo, Minkailu Koroma, Wara Serry-Kamal, Hon. Mohamed Bangura, Hon. Abdul Kargbo and so on have been invited on different occasions by the Corporation.
Apparently, by an Act of Parliament, the SLBC should serve as the State Broadcaster giving access to all shades of opinion. In spite of state institutions being indebted to them in millions of Leones, this medium has learned that the SLBC continues allocating airtime to those institutions.
Sierra Leoneans observing the political situation have opined that the Director General position which is a presidential appointment should be readjusted as the adage goes “you cannot bite the fingers that feed you”. This is not the first time the State Broadcaster has been accused of not giving space to the opposition.