GENDER MINISTRY AND ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN
The reshuffle is come and gone. Those adversely affected are licking their wounds, civil society and media people have had their say and the new appointees are warming up to go into action. The rest of us are neither here nor there. All we want is for somebody to really give us a very clear explanation of the shape of things now in at least two ministries under the new arrangement.
What use to be the ministry of Social welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs has now been divided into two – there is the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs. We have the following questions:
1. Will the two ministries be housed in the same buildings at New England?
2. How long will the re-organization of the ministries take – moving staff and files around the place and all that?
3. It is easy to figure out what the role of the Gender Ministry would be but with all of that gone, what is left for Social Welfare? Why didn’t the press release announcing the changes in cabinet note unambiguously that the ministry was divided and that the lady in charge up to that day would keep hold of the Social Welfare portfolio?
The new Ministry of the Environment is under our radar because we want to know what happens now to the Environment Protection Agency whose former boss has been made a minister. Government should not allow the kinds of questions we are asking now to fester around. We need some explanation.
What would now happen to bodies like the Wetlands Commission or Protected Areas Authority – those kinds of bodies? There are just too many of these commissions and authorities doing the same thing. We must try to save some money now by killing off redundant commissions with big salaries and allowances.
ANOTHER ARREST ON THE EVE OF THE REPEAL OF CRIMINAL LIBEL
The final kilometer on this long road to the repeal of the criminal and seditious libel laws in Sierra Leone is proving a little bumpy. A journalist landed in a CID cell on Tuesday and we are hearing that a few more are about to be picked up in connection with a story having to do with Senior Prefect and some alleged money transfers in a certain bank in Freetown. These are really sensitive matters right now in the middle of a police investigation that could go either way. We are keeping a close eye on this unfolding situation in our usual way.
In the meantime we want to make the following points to Principal and we urge him to take us seriously.
1. The whole country knows that arresting journalists for any reason connected to their newspapers is not a good idea and can only soil the reputation of the arresting authority, in this case, the government. Whether the libel matter is as huge as Youyi building, the government never wins in the court of public opinion locally or abroad.
2. This government has taken concrete steps toward towards the repeal of the laws under which media people are frequently arrested and detained which is very commendable. Between now and the date of Principal signing the repeal bill, the government should declare a moratorium on the use of that law.
3. SLAJ is bound to defend its members in all situations. However, it also has the responsibility to put in place a robust internal disciplinary mechanism, trusted by the public to deal with the excesses of their members. We should make it clear that this is not related to the current issue. In fact we are simply re-stating something SLAJ itself is committed to. We want to see the internal disciplinary system take off in a very serious way.
4. This current matter is something the IMC could have handled in their usual way. There would be no such noise if the IMC is asked to investigate.
5. Anyway, is the media cocktail on this year? We should let Principal know that to go there without the repeal of the libel law going through would be a huge miss.
SIERRA LEONE vs. LESOTHO IN AN EMPTY STADIUM TODAY
History will be made in Sierra Leone on Wednesday with our national football team being compelled to play in an empty – well not totally empty. Our information is that a few journalists and officials will be allowed to witness the match. Lesotho is not very well known for their prowess in football but these days no club or country should be underrated. We still remember how the tiny island of Sao Tome and Principe defeated Sierra Leone. So no complacency please!
This punishment from FIFA is something we brought upon ourselves with our eyes wide open. We lost control of our return leg World Cup qualifier with neighboring Liberia to the extent that fans entered the stadium to watch the Liberians train and ended up getting involved in a scuffle with the visiting players and officials. The Liberians went to elaborate lengths to dramatize whatever happened on social media and then document it for the attention of FIFA. It is difficult to believe they actually wanted us punished in this way by FIFA. What we are sure of is that they were looking for some explanation for their home audience in case they we eliminated them. As it turned out they escaped by a whisker.
So once again we call for the following:
1. The media must be MUST be allowed into the stadium.
2. Police must be deployed in strength around the stadium to enforce the FIFA ban and to prevent riotous fans from ambushing our visitors to and from the stadium. It is very possible.
3. Those radio and TV stations with the requisite technical capacity should be allowed to do commentaries and show pictures for the benefit of the whole population.
4. Our players need psychological training in how to handle such matches. Some of our players are facing this situation for the first time. Often fans are a factor in football matches. How will our boys cope without the usual shouting from the stands?
5. Lesotho should have no problems with this situation. They were expecting to be overwhelmed with noise from tens of thousands of fans shouting them down. But now they are fine. They could take full advantage of our absence and what about the match officials? Anyway, good luck to Leone Stars.
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