By Mustapha Sesay
Sierra Leone’s outgoing finance minister, Dr. Samura Kamara, has challenged journalists to ask more challenging questions in the course of their duty.
He was addressing the weekly Thursday press briefing of the ministry of information and communication at Youyi Building in Freetown where he told pressmen about the current economic situation in the country.
Journalists, he said, have been “rudimental” and less critical in the way they ask question such as “what have you achieved in your ministry,” arguing that that was not challenging and could be easily manipulated.
He advised media practitioners to have love for their profession and refrain from attacking personality and practising speculative journalism.
“Journalists should report on issues and try to specialise in their reportage, as that will add credence to their profession,” he said.
Dr. Kamara recognised the fact that the country’s economy was faced with numerous challenges but expressed hope that irrespective of those hiccups there were prospects ahead with the 2013 budget set to address most of those problems.
The minister said that since the economy started growing in the last three years there were no serious fluctuations and that the country had registered a growth rate of 5-6 per cent.
According to the minister the iron ore industry has boosted the economy and is witnessing a price fall from $ 130 to less than $ 100 per tonnes. “This has had a dramatic effect on the economy,” he admitted.
The minister said that with the introduction of the oil sector, the combined economic growth beyond 2013 would be above 10 per cent. The minister also stated that the 2013 budget, to be read on Friday, would focus on mainstream gender and a transformation of high economic growth to support the “agenda for prosperity”.
