By
Kemo Cham
[First
published on www.politicosl.com]
Sierra
Leone’s Parliament has invoked a controversial in-house rule forbidding journalists
from reporting on ongoing budgetary hearing, with critics equating the move to lack
of transparency.
Members of the parliamentary press gallery were surprised
when they were informed on Thursday that they wouldn’t be allowed in on the
first day of hearing of the 2017 Appropriation Bill (budget) at committee level
due to the invocation of Standing Order 75. This rule forbids “premature”
publication
of contents and evidence of proceedings of hearings until after the
Committees’ reports have been presented to the well of parliament.
There are six Appropriation Committees which vet government
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in terms of their budgetary
requests. A total of 125 MDAs will appear before these committees within the
next coming days to defend
their budgetary requests and explain how previous allocations were spent.
These
hearings usual begin at the end of the debate that followed the presentation of
the budget by the Minister Finance to the well of parliament.
Sheku Lamin
Turay, a Senior Public Relations Officer at Parliament, told Politico that the
decision was in line with the rules of the House which were necessary to ensure
accurate reportage of proceedings. But Turay denied that journalists were
prevented from covering the proceedings
“Members of
parliament thought it fit that at this stage, members of the press are allowed
to witness the proceeding but not to report on it, until when the matter is
taken to the well of parliament,” he said on a telephone interview.
Critics say some of the parliamentary Standing
Orders that prevent reporting of parliament hearings are bad and should be
discarded.
According to
sources, the Ministry of Defence was one of the MDAs represented during Thursday’s
hearings. At that session all journalists who were supposed to cover it were
prevented from entering the room. Turay said that’s because such sessions were
protected under SO 79 due to the security implications.
A parliamentary press gallery member said the office
of the Clerk of Parliament informed them that the decision was taken to prevent
a recurrence of a previous experience from reportage that attracted bad press
thereby creating negative perception of the House.
The human
rights campaign organization CHRDI condemned the parliament’s decision, calling
for the removal of the rules from the Standing Order of the House.
Abdul
Fatoma, CHRDI's Executive Director, said the law is "very bad” for
transparency and shows disrespect for democracy.
“The Sierra
Leone Parliament’s impunity is back in action. Some Politicians and civil
servants have undermined the fundamental principle of democracy. But others
still back it, despite its faults, using parliamentary standing order, in order
to deny journalists access to the country’s budget hearing. It's a clear
disrespect to our democracy,” he said via a facebook communication from his
base in London.
But Turay
denied that the rules are there to curtail access to information or the liberty
to report.
“Members of
the press gallery are supporting us as part of our strategic media alliance.
And we have a responsibility also to ensure that they report accurately,” he
said.
He said discussions
at the committee level are inconclusive and certain matter of reportage on them
could have bad effect. He cited the example of a recent report on a local
tabloid which warranted the Parliament to summon the editor for questioning.
The case
precisely involves the Salone Times newspaper, whose editor was summoned to
appear before parliament after the paper published a story alleging conflict of
interest involving Presidential Adviser Alpha Kanu. Parliament found the report
as misleading and as incorrect by the House.
“These are
the kind of things that we are trying to prevent. Because once the matter is
before the committee it remains inconclusive until the decision is taken to the
well of parliament.”
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