By Nasratu Kargbo
The Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE) is set to rebrand Sierra Leone through the formation of a film policy, national media and information policy, national records and archives policy and National Civic Education Policy and Strategy, all of which will be established before the end of the year.
Speaking on the 4th August 2024, at a High Level Dialogue and Consultation on the Civic Education Policy and Strategy and other policy, Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah stressed the need to rebrand the country and rewrite its history, stating they intend to use film to change the country’s image.
Highlighting the short term goal of the National Film Policy that they are currently creating, Bah in his presentation explained that they intend to use film to shape perspectives to increase positive energy in the country while promoting creativity, changing the bad image of the country, promoting civic education and creating a legal framework that protects film makers.
He noted that the policy will be geared towards creating a modern film infrastructure, film training institution, regulate and categorize films, amongst others.
In the area of Civic Education Policy and Strategy, the Minister explained that they have analyzed the civic education models of various countries such as China, Turkey, Rwanda and Morocco, adding that these countries have a strong identity due to a robust civic education system.
He spoke on the need to rewrite the country’s history and change the narrative. He stated that the main pillars for the civic education policy and strategy are to ‘love Salone’ by increasing patriotism and national cohesion, ‘feed Salone’ through food security and ‘Clean Salone’ - promoting climate awareness, migration and justice amongst others.
For Media and Information Policy, the Minister said they want to build an ecosystem that is participatory, progressive and proactive in order to contribute to national development.
He said that they have already hired consultants that will help them think through the entire government communications and infrastructure, working towards communicating with one voice across all ministries. He cited that as of now, some Ministries have different letterheads, use different font types and sizes as compared to others, some putting out information without the knowledge of MoICE which will later be charged with the responsibility to defend them.
The Minister explained that with this policy there will be structures and that ministries will know the types of release and information they can publish without informing MoICE and those that they cannot publish without going through MoICE.
On Records and Archive Policy, Bah said it’s no secret that the country does not handle records and archives badly, stressing that there is no standard uniform or guidelines for retention, with no permanent room for archives. He spoke on the need for the introduction of a new law that will help in digitizing records and archiving and the need for institutions such as National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) and others to ensure records are safe.
He cited that what entails in most institutions is that instead of creating an email address that is owned by the state, they instead create a personal email, which should not be the practice.
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Kenyeh Barlay in her address said civic education should not be confined to the schools and universities , but that even the elders need to be re-educated and re-orientated.
She said the country has a good education, but was quick to note that some narratives needed to be rewritten.
“I’d like to emphasize that civic education does play a pivotal role in fostering national identity and pride, I’m urging all citizens that this is what we need to follow up on to assume responsibility for the country’s future, and make constructive contributions to its advancement”, she said.
A representative from UNDP applauded the ministry for analyzing civic education models of other countries, with emphasis on Rwanda, which according to him has changed their country’s narrative from that of genocide to using the history to generate revenue.
He spoke of how civic education has led the Rwandan capital-Kigali to be known as one of the cleanest, surpassing other cities such as Washington, Paris and Sydney.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (07/08/24)
