Plan International has committed twenty thousand United States dollars ($20,000) to support the work of the Moyamba District Children’s Awareness Radio (MODCAR), a community radio it set up in February 2005.
Program manager for Plan Sierra Leone in Moyamba district, Santigie Bendu, made the disclosure at a recent meeting with the Independent Media Commission (IMC), staff and board members of the station in Moyamba town.
He also requested the assistance from the Independent Media Commission to provide technical expertise by training journalists in ethics, general programme production and financial management at the station while they re-focus their programmes on the original idea behind the setting up of the radio station.
A press release from IMC dated February 21, 2012 states that the Commission had had cause to intervene to “settle serious problems between the management and staff and members of the board of trustees...” of the radio station as a result of complaints made by the Station Manager, Alpha Lalugba, against the radio’s Board of Trustees and a senior PLAN official in the district.
The IMC release says there has been “frank discussions” of all the issues, among other things to keep the ad-hoc management review committee in place for another three months to organise a formal meeting of the General Assembly at which a new Board of Trustees will be put in place.
The leader of the IMC delegation says the station manager was warned against unethical conduct in future to avoid strong measure being taken against him by the media regulator.
In a telephone interview, station manager, Alpha Lalugba praised PLAN Sierra Leone for supporting the station again. He said the money would be used to purchase a “Public Address System for the resource centre and a DSTV connection to raise funds for the running of Radio MODCAR”.
