By Umaru Fofana
Amadu Lamrana Bah is a precocious journalist who has a huge opportunity standing ahead of him and staring at him. This is enhanced by his rare blend of meekness and intrepidity. At an interesting press conference at State House last week, the first by President Ernest Bai Koroma since 2010 when he briefed us on the London Donors’ Conference on Sierra Leone, the Star Radio journalist asked the president whether he had been forced to meet the press by the recent infantile behaviour of, and approach to information dissemination by,some State House officials. Spot on! Absolutely pertinent question!
The presser comes three years late and means Koroma held only two press conferences in his first term – the second being his first presidential anniversary lunch-that-never-was with journalists. He did not eat with members of the media. The conference venue itself – Miatta Conference Hall – was taken over seemingly to intimidate – by his party supporters and government officials. Be that as it may it in no way compares with the media approach of his media-shy predecessor, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. I do not remember Kabbah ever holding a press conference inside the country throughout his eleven years in office despite the dire need for such, in view of the turbulence that beset especially his first term.
President Koroma did not admit to Bah’s query in as many words but it was obvious the mixed messaging by and from some of his staff on issues both of importance and of puerility has left some rotten egg splattered on his face. Blame this on the quality, or the lack thereof, of some of his appointees. But also on the unnecessarily bloated staff he has surrounded himself with at and even outside State House; especially the meddlesome ones who (attempt to) deal with the press or perform the role of those employed to do just that. Many of these staffers are so gratuitous that they virtually are left to do nothing whatsoever. So they have to be meddlesome or attacking of others to be seen to be doing something.
Lamrana’s question was made more pointed,and perhaps poignant, by the reason the president had given for the presser. Following in the trail of his former information minister, Ibrahim Kargbo – whom I am sure both the media and public miss so much – Koroma said that Number 8 of the Advisory Notes given to him by his team of advisers had asked that he be meeting the press (more frequently). In fact MONTHLY. He also said that he was more interested in this proposed ritual now because it is his final term.
This, to my mind, could mean many things including the fact that he is concerned about his political epitaph at least as written by the media. But also because serving out his final term the ramifications of a gaffe do not hurt him as much as they would if he were going to face re-election.
But I wonder if there was an Advisory Note Number 8 (a) which should have mentioned the Press Attachés many of whom have turned themselves into anything but Press Attachés. What a good number of them are busy doing is attacking people perceived to be non-members or critics of the ruling APC party; incoherently praise-singing party officials as if forgetting that they are representing the state and not a political party. They must be told to confine their activities to official state matters and what the ambassador does in his official capacity. But again it boils down to the idleness in the duty stations of some of them, so much so that you ask yourself what use spending thousands of dollars on each of them every month.
Gone are the days when the office of the Director of Information meant anything to press attachés. Now they take instructions from political party officials, not the professionals, demeaning the stature of their boss. Even some of the diplomats in our missions have privately complained about these attachés who seem to have a blurred chain of command and serve more of party interests and have become more of newspaper columnists.
But back to Advisory Note Number 8. There should have been an Appendix B which should have explained who should attend these press conferences. The ministers and heads of Parastatals far outnumbered the journalists in the State House room on Friday. Pretty much like those clerical staff at the weekly information ministry briefing who ensconce themselves while the journalists have to squirm for where to sit on. Does anyone need telling that on a Friday, which is largely half day in reality in many government offices, these officials should have stayed in their workplaces doing the job they are paid for instead of clapping at a press conference? Journalists do not clap at a presser so such was a misrepresentation, perhaps orchestrates.
Talking about Friday, the advisory note should have also told the president that the last weekday is not the best of days for a press briefing in Sierra Leone;unless it is something that needs urgent briefing on. Newspapers do not publish on weekends and radio stations do not have hard-hitting news and current affairs programmes on Friday evenings of weekend mornings. By the time Monday comes, the story has watered down somewhat.
Appendix C: The next time the president addresses journalists he should stand up. That does not only ease his speaking ability because his lungs are freer and his respiratory system and vocal cords function better, it also shows a mark of respect to his audience. His audience at a press conference is the people who voted him in, just in case you think the press is not deserving of such respect. The journalists are only a conduit. It is like answering to a lawyer’s question in court. You are bound to say YES or NO followed by “my lord” as if you are talking to the judge. That is what the media represents at a press conference. So any disrespect for the journalist is disrespect for the public.
Advisory Note Number 8 Appendix D should also have advised that there be little talking by government officials before the president speaks, or there is the danger that some garrulous government person who talks before him would embarrass him with flattery or desalinate his speech. Added to that is the fact that such an attitude makes the process drag on for far too long and waste the president’s state functions and the business of the busy journalists. And the prelude to his address, such as the mimicking and sometimes distasteful tendencies of his information minister on that Friday does not serve any serious purpose.
Another appendix should have noted that no refreshment be served at the press conference – ONLY WATER will do.
The final appendix to advisory note 8 should have stated who should lead the president into his address. I suggest the information minister be struck off it. This leaves me with the quest for information as to who really heads the State House Communication Unit. It is not new, I know. But it is getting worse.
It dates back to the bickering during President Tejan Kabbah’s leadership. At some point the presidential spokesman Professor Septimus Kaikai thought he, not the information minister Dr Julius Spencer, should preside over press conferences. So when the professor succeeded the doctor as minister, his rule no longer held and he changed it. He told his successor, Kanji Daramy, to go hang.
But back to Amadu Lamrana Bah’s question. It will best be answered if government information dissemination is better coordinated. Alpha Kanu, the seeming absentee minister of information, should be more responsive to his phones and journalists’ queries. He is hardly so. Not even when you SMS him sometimes;unlike his predecessor. He is hardly heard on radio clarifying issues. Unlike his predecessor. Where he does talk on radio he sounds as arrogant to the listener as he attempts to deride the journalist interviewing him. And he praise-sings and talks more of politics than he sticks to substance.
Surely this presidential press conference is far, far away from addressing the perennial joking with and jockeying over information dissemination by government. Need I add the level of dishonesty with which such information is disseminated? We await the magic wand as promised by the president. And we hope the president does not chicken out before the egg hatches.
(C) Politico 09/07/13
