By Kemo Cham
The media regulating body in Sierra Leone has again pulled the plug on one of the most popular radio programmes in Sierra Leone, ‘Monologue’, amidst allegations of violations of the media codes of practice.
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) has also indefinitely suspended the Democrat Newspaper whose editor may face criminal investigation over an alleged offensive publication against Agriculture Minister Dr Joseph Sam Sesay.
Monologue, presented by journalist David Tam-Baryoh, is aired on a network of radio stations across the country, including the host Citizen Radio and Eagle Radio, both owned by Tam-Baryoh.
The IMC said it was investigating certain broadcasts on the programme for two months.
Both Tam-Baryoh and his programme have been the subject of recurrent official censorship over the latter’s contents. The last time the programme was forced off the air was in November 2014. Back then the presenter was detained after featuring an interview by the late opposition spokesman Musa Tamba-Sam who criticised President Ernest Bai Koroma`s widely reported alleged third-term plans.
In that programme Tam-Baryoh also presented issues around the unpopular arrest and detention of disgruntled APC youth thought to be supporters of sacked Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana.
Earlier in January that year, Tam-Baryoh was detained over acrimonious exchanges with Transport and Aviation Minister Leonard Balogun Koroma.
The journalist has also been detained for comments on a reported car accident involving soldiers linked to former Defence Minister Rtd. Major Alfred Palo Conteh, who is now head of the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC). That resulted in a two-month ban on the popular programme in July 2014.
Mr Tam-Baryoh has been quoted as saying no clear reasons had been forwarded for that ban.
For the Tamba-Sam interview, he was detained for 11 days and his passport confiscated. Following that, Monologue went off air for seven months, between October 2014 and May 2015.
Tam-Baryoh, in an interview with Awoko Newspaper earlier this year, cited administrative and security reasons for that break.
“My passport remained seized and that tells me my security was not guaranteed. It is like they were looking for more problems for me and in the course of my silence, I was developing my media houses, improving on my instruments for my radio stations in Freetown and the Provinces,” he said on the eve of resumption of the programme last June.
And yesterday (Thursday August 27), Tam-Baryoh told Politico that his passport was still with the police who, he said, had repeatedly refused to hand it back. He said he heard from unofficial sources that the police were taking “orders from above.”
The head of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Sierra Leone Police, Chief Superintendent Ibrahim Koroma, declined to comment on it when contacted by Politico.
The IMC, in its statement on Wednesday, said it had closed Monologue for it to investigate issues in Tam-Baryoh’s broadcasts in the past two months, which it said it feared would “infringe on national peace and security, while inciting violence and public disorder.”
The board agreed to set up a special committee comprising IMC commissioners and representatives from other institutions to investigate “key issues contained in the said broadcasts,” it said.
Tam-Baryoh denied the incitement allegation. He told Politico that on his programme some citizens had raised issues about the procurement procedures and the exact number of busses government recently procured.
“It has nothing to do with security. It has to do with transparency. The citizens wanted to know about the number of the buses procured and their cost and whether the authorities followed the right procurement process,” he said in a telephone interview.
According to Tam-Baryoh, Transport Minister Balogun Koroma had reported the matter to the IMC and he was summoned in front of the Complaint Committee. He said he was told he would be called back, only for him to see the IMC`s statement suspending his programme.
The Commission is urging members from key institutions, including the Office of National Security, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Civil Society organizations and the Sierra Leone Bar Association to form part of the committee. It said it would issue a statement on the fate of the programme after the conclusion of investigation.
IMC`s Executive Secretary, Terrence Knox-Goba, said no timeline had as yet been identified. He insisted that the Commission`s move had nothing to do with Minister Balogun Koroma, even though he acknowledged the Minister of Transport had lodged a complaint.
The investigations were prompted by a wide range of complaints, including “from other members of the public,” Knox-Goba said in a telephone interview. He denied that it had to do with the issues raised on the controversial purchase of the buses.
He said the Commission had requested four different broadcasts spanning from June and that there was the possibility that they could ask for more.
“There are series of things we are looking at. It has nothing to do with the buses… We will be looking at possible breaches of IMC codes of practices,” he said.
The Democrat Newspaper was suspended “until further notice” over a story deemed as offensive against the Minister of Agriculture.
The IMC Executive Secretary declined to say whether Sam Sesay had himself lodged a complaint over the matter. Knox-Goba said the Democrat had published “some untrue” story about the minister, and upon investigation it was found wanton and ordered to apologise.
But the paper allegedly decided to publish two different editions – one containing the apology, which was sent only to the IMC and the minister, and another which was sold to the public.
The IMC, in its statement, accused Democrat Editor Isaac Swen of attempting “to pervert the course of justice” by his action.
“The Commission found the behaviour of the editor to be unprofessional and borders on criminality.”
The Commission said it was pursuing the matter as a criminal offence and would forward it to the Police for further investigation.
Mr Swen would not comment on the matter when contacted by Politico. He said he was heading to a meeting with the IMC and that he didn’t want to say anything that could jeopardize the outcome of that meeting.
(C) Politico 26/08/15
