ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: SHYLLON JAILS JOURNALISTS
When two of our colleagues were arraigned before Magistrate Shyllon last Friday on libel and defamation charges, we had some fears about how the court was going to treat them for the following reasons:
1. The lawyer who is the complainant in the case had suddenly informed the IMC he would no longer pursue his case through the commission and had instead decided to go to court. By this time IMC hearing notices had already been served on all parties. He offended no law by doing that but the fact that the journalists were refused bail has helped us understand why things happened that way.
2. We can’t question the magistrate’s discretionary powers on the question of bail but he said quite a bit in open court that convinced us the bail application by the lawyer for our colleagues would be rejected. Can Magistrate Shyllon now continue with this case given all those statements about his experiences with journalists?
3. When cases like that are well timed for hearing on Fridays, decisions about bail are difficult to challenge in a higher court because by the time papers are prepared, court sessions come to an end and the BLACK MARIA would be on its way back to the jail house.
So now we have a very interesting trial coming up. The whole media will follow it every step of the way. We will cover in extreme detail all the evidences in this matter in the interest of our people. We have seen some interesting video materials. Follow the case on all newspapers and radio stations throughout Sierra Leone.
The fact that our colleagues were jailed on World Press Freedom Day explains in clear terms the difficulties facing free expression in Sierra Leone. We understand Barack Obama spoke about the need for the press in Sierra Leone to be free as in all democracies when De Pa met him at the White House. But alas!
LIKE FAILED LOGUS KOROMA LIKE COACHIE MANSARAY
Once again De Pa has lost a big opportunity to let the whole world know what he thinks about greedy opportunists. With modern governance, accompanied by a hyperactive media making full use of all forms of technology to deliver the message, leaders must never allow such opportunities to go without stamping their views on issues for all to see.
When an SLPP defector called Coachie Mansaray stood on the balcony of APC headquarters, in the presence of De Pa and told the world he had seen no group of people as “STUPID” as Mendes, we expected the leader of all the people of Sierra Leone – not just the Congress – to immediately stand up and close down Coachie’s nonsense but he turned the other way. The next day, De Pa’s Spin Doctors attempted to re-write history. Thanks to technology, we have a video recording of Coachie Mansaray in full flow, make no mistake about that.
Now we have another missed opportunity. Failed Logus Koroma was on radio and TV last week telling the world De Pa might seek a third term in office. He knew the implications of what he was saying considering the position of the 1991 constitution on the issue. De Pa has still not shamed Logus for fishing in troubled waters.
Anyway, they say journalists write the first draft of history. This is what we have done here. Coachie’s statement could cause genocide and Logus is a dangerous guy doing extraordinary things to catch the eye of the man with the patrimony. Logus needs a job but if he throws this country into another round of chaos, he will be housed in a hotel in The Hague as guest of His Majesty the King.
NPSE BLUES – SAPATEH AND CROOKED SCHOOL HEADS ON STAGE
According to Sapateh of WAEC, more than 90,000 pupils were slated to take the NPSE exams last weekend. That number definitely didn’t include hundreds of NPSE candidates who turned up at centres only to be told they were not registered by their schools. It was a real mess at those centres as parents who now inexplicably accompany their children to such exams went wild as their children wept.
Many crooked school administrators have entered this business and unless we are able to weed them out now, we would have a very ugly situation on our hands soon. The same thing is happening in the WASSCE exams.
We feel sorry for Sapateh because he is left with the problem of taking the interest of unsuspecting parents and the future of their children and the issue of cleaning up the exam business into consideration at the same time. We also know that many of those schools that registered pupils have still not submitted Continuous Assessment grades to WAEC for the compilation of the final grades. Here are greedy so-called school administrators stealing from their grandchildren. Things are really bad in Sierra Leone these days.
IS HE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN OR APC SPOKESMAN?
In the bible, Joshua is reported to have told the people: “Choose ye this day whom thou will worship…” Now we say the same to Kan Kan Kan. He has to choose between the people of Sierra Leone and his political party.
Ok, we know he came to political prominence through the APC but as spokesman for the government, he speaks for even those who belong to other political parties and those who have no interest in Sierra Leone politics. He is called SPOKESMAN FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE. We call on Kan Kan Kan to resign the position of APC spokesman immediately because there’s no doubt he wants to remain in the cabinet and as information minister he will continue speaking for the GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE.
This country is not known for considering the opposition as part of the structure we call Government. Opposition leaders are not allowed consular services when they travel abroad, in fact staff of our diplomatic missions have made it their favourite pastime to constantly harass and abuse senior opposition party leaders on the pages of newspapers and on websites. As far as we know, they believe they are serving the ruling party with the state paying their salaries.
If the leader of the opposition Labour Party in the UK visits Sierra Leone in his official capacity, the British High Commission will put their services at his disposal. We have seen opposition Senators from the US being treated here in the same way the embassy treats those from the government side. Why are we different? Backwardness?
Kan Kan Kan cannot be the public face of our government and the public face of one political party, in this case the APC. If he doesn’t sort himself out soon, we will get the people of Port Loko to sort him out as they did on that Pray Day.
BOB MARLEY NITE DAE CAM BACK OOOOOOOO, IG MUNU.
We are bracing ourselves up again for another night of mindless violence and criminality on our streets, De Pa calls it LAWLESSNESS. On 11th May last year gangs of young men under the guise of celebrating the anniversary of the death of reggae King Bob Marley, raided homes and mugged innocent people in the Brookfields area and at Saint John. There were even reports of at least one death. Swept under the carpet huh?
In the days following that incident, police media people went on all radio stations telling the story of gangs that had taken over certain sections of Freetown. Saturday will be another Bob Marley night and we are ready to bet anything we hold sacred that even after this timely reminder our so-called Force for Good will be caught off guard again.
We don’t know where this idea of a Bob Marley night came from. Even Jamaicans are wondering why Sierra Leoneans are weeping more than the bereaved. Bob Marley stood up against injustice, corruption and oppression of the poor and exploitation of the African people by especially multinational corporations. The best tribute to pay to the legacy of this great man is to join the struggle to rid Africa of these evils. But to engage is free-for-all marijuana-smoking and criminality on the day of his death is truly shameful.
Munu must concentrate on criminals like those who carried out that disgraceful activity around Brookfields and Saint John and not spend all his time, energy and resources chasing hapless opposition supporters to send them to jail because, according to him, they were heard singing “INCH SONGS”. Foolish! This is classic 1980s Salone policing…or present day communist policing typical of the situation in Azerbaijan.
