Sierra Leone: Staff of broke national broadcaster on strike

By Kemo Cham

APA-Freetown (Sierra Leone) Aggrieved by poor working condition, the staff of Sierra Leone’s struggling national public broadcaster, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), have on Tuesday embarked on an indefinite strike action. According to reports, the protesting staff are demanding the resignation of the management over its failure to provide them the necessary aide to do their job.

They say they have no equipment like computers, cameras and even

reliable electricity supply. They also accused the management of

condoning political interference in the public service broadcaster.

SLBC was transformed into what was supposed to be an independent broadcaster from the former Sierra Leone Broadcasting Services (SLBS) under a United Nations funded project meant to strengthen the country’s

Sierra Leone journalist union condemns attack on members

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone’s umbrella journalist body has expressed alarm over a series of attacks on its members while covering Saturday’s presidential run-off election.

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) said it received reports of several attacks on journalists in Freetown and elsewhere in the country, leading to the hospitalization of some of them.

In a statement issued out on Monday, the association cited three of the incidents which occurred in Freetown and it said were corroborated with eye witness accounts.

One of these cases involved a reporter with one of the country’s leading dailies, Concord Times. The reporter, Patrick Jaiah Kamara, was allegedly beaten by thugs on the instruction of leading politicians identified as

Sierra Leone: US mission dismisses ‘fake news’ attributed to Donald Trump

By Kemo Cham

The United States has refuted a comment attributed to US President Donald Trump congratulating one of the candidates in the just concluded elections in Sierra Leone.

In a tweet that has gone viral on social media, the tweet purporting to be from Trump hailed the electoral process as free and fair and then congratulated opposition leader Julius Maada Bio for winning the election.

Sierra Leoneans went to the polls on Saturday to vote in a run-off presidential contest between Samura Kamara of the incumbent All People’s Congress (APC) and Bio. Two days since the voting, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has been counting the results without releasing any figure. And the two rival parties have been claiming and counter-claiming victory.

Sierra Leone: Telecoms regulator denies ordering internet shutdown

By Kemo Cham

The National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) of Sierra Leone has dismissed reports that it ordered the shutting down of internet connectivity on Saturday.

Internet connection went off shortly after counting began, and the blackout lasted for about 12 hours. It sparked speculation from specially opposition supporters that the governing All People’s Congress (APC) party could be up to a game to rig the election.

Local observer organisations, including the Independent Radio Network, which comprises some 40 radio stations nationwide, use the internet to transmit results across the county which serves as provisional results. The political parties also use the internet to collect data from their agents and tally them. Critics say the APC could have acted to prevent these organisations from tallying their results.   

How Sierra Leone is using technology to fight corruption at source

KEMO CHAM in Freetown

In a room within the first floor of the headquarters of the Sierra Leone National Lottery Company, the telephone lines are unusually busy.

A young lady, aided by a male colleague seated opposite her across a desk of computers, is busy receiving calls from anonymous callers.

This is part of a pioneering initiative dubbed ‘Pay No Bribe’ campaign, the latest approach by the Sierra Leone government in its crusade against bribery, considered the most prevalent form of graft in the country.

The callers are guided through a set of three main questions: has a government official demanded bribe while they seek a public service; did they pat the bribe; or did they meet an honest person who didn’t demand bribe.

Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) officials say various studies have pointed to petty corruption, prevalent in the public sector, as having the most profound effect on the livelihoods of the masses, depriving them of much needed and sometimes lifesaving services.

Sierra Leone: The media and the fight against corruption

By Kemo Cham

Last October the role of the Sierra Leonean media in the fight against corruption was put to a test. One of the country’s telecommunication operators was found wanting for tax evasion. According to the National Revenue Authority (NRA), the company understated its tax returns, among other offenses.

Only a sizeable number of the media got wind of the story; journalists from about half a dozen media outlets invited by the taxman to cover an operation to shut down the offices of the telco. Agents representing the telco allegedly sought to bribe all the journalists to kill the story.

With the exception of the state owned Daily Mail and Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), no media outlet aired or published anything about the incident. All the other media houses reported to have sent journalists to cover it denied knowledge of it.

‘Sierra Leone media lacks integrity’ – Ady Macauley

By Kemo Cham & Mohamed T. Massaquoi

Lack of integrity in the Sierra Leonean media is frustrating efforts in the fight against graft, the head of the Anti Corruption (ACC) has said.

Ady Macauley said in spite of the valued collaboration his commission enjoys from the media, it also realized that a lot of journalists were hindering its efforts by serving as hired hands for corrupt public officials. Journalists, he said, are sometimes paid by officials under the radar of the anti graft agency to divert attention from them by attacking the personalities of anti corruption officials.

“Sometimes immediately the ACC arrest an individual that is high up there, I expect an attack from the press,” Macauley said. “They go out there and pay certain individuals in the press. So the focus is shifted to the Commissioner. That’s when they will bring about all sort of stories about the commissioner.”