This has emerged in the wake of the much talked about award he received from the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) for what the association called the president’s promotion of journalism and journalists, as well as for the repeal of Part 5 of the 1965 Public Order Act (POA).
We think that the award is out of place. Far from it, President Bio and this SLPP government is not a champion of free speech. Were SLAJ to truly have the interest of journalists at heart, they wouldn’t have cited the president as a champion of free speech – Tom Vens of the EU, yes; but President Bio, certainly not.
Yes, repealing Part 5 of the draconian Public Order Act – that has been used to jail and cower journalists and anyone looking to speak out against actions by our leaders or anyone – is a commendable thing to do, though he does not deserve the praise singing he has received for it. It’s his job; he should not be praised for it. While the repeal was a little too late for those that had suffered under that law, their fears of suffering have been stretched beyond the limit with the Cybercrime Bill.
Maybe SLAJ has forgotten that the Cybercrime Bill makes Part 5 of the POA look like a walk in the park. As a matter of fact, the Cybercrime Bill is a replacement of Part 5 of the POA by a dangerous stretch. By insisting and forcing the Cybercrime Bill on the people of Sierra Leone, President Bio and his team of advisers are telling us that we should only say what they would approve of; anything less than that would see the Minister of Information and Communication and members of the perceptibly very corrupt Sierra Leone Police take action against the one that runs afoul of them.
Having been thrown from pillar (POA) to post (Cybercrime Bill), it is a shame that SLAJ would ignore this and award President Bio for limiting our freedom of speech. This administration was expected to champion freedom of speech. There was an expectation that we would see our people emboldened and encouraged to hold a peaceful demonstration every now and then, which is their constitutionally guaranteed right, instead of having to first inform the police. As a matter of fact we see how the country’s 60th Independence Day anniversary that was to be celebrated in an atmosphere of joy and happiness was made into a day of gloom with hundreds of heavily armed men and women patrolling the streets of Freetown, just to stop bikers from protesting the police corruption that is killing their self-created professions.
SLAJ should not forget that freedom of speech and assembly are intricately tied together, one is just as important as the other. Denying the public the right to one while approving the other, is as undemocratic as a government action can be.
Among other things this government has been passing bad laws and bulldozing its way on any issue that the people, through our representatives in parliament, are against. Any government elected by the people is beholden to the people to do things in their interest. By the actions of this government, they are telling us that our voices don’t matter. They only matter during election time; after that, this government is telling us that we are incapable of knowing what’s good or bad for us.
In closing, President Bio is not a champion of free speech. As a matter of fact, all of the actions of his New Direction government point to clamping down on our rights. After all our calls to investigate and where applicable prosecute people in this government accused of graft, why is our elected government not doing so? When is the case of the 10 MPs that were removed from the Well of Parliament by the SLPP ever going to court? Is the Speaker of the House the people’s speaker as per procedure? Let us not forget that for media houses or associations to be seen courting elected leaders, especially presidents that are known for no listening to the people, sets a bad precedent that we as media practitioners approve of such behaviour or action.
