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.”

The battle to control social media in Sierra Leone

By KEMO CHAM in Freetown

[First published on www.africareview.com] In November a magistrate court in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, arraigned two youngsters as part of an ongoing crackdown on social media activism.

The accused, including 20-year old university student Theresa Mbomaya, were held for posting “inciting statement” on Whatsapp. The case prompted mass protests and condemnation.

The Sierra Leone Government say a growing trend of misuse of social media has posed a national security threat and it wants to regulate its use.

But rights groups are questioning the intention.

When plurality strangles press freedom

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] By 2011 the Independent Media Commission (IMC) of Sierra Leone had registered 62 newspapers, 67 radio and five TV stations. That’s a major leap from just a decade earlier, when there was only one radio and one TV station nationwide, and a handful of papers.

With the current trend, according to the Commission, which regulates the media, the number of outlets combined is sure to have doubled, if not tripled, by 2018, an election year. Newspapers are expected to experience the biggest growth. One IMC official estimates that they will have reached at least 150, citing the frequency and number of applications received in a month.

Too many cooks spoil the broth

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] Here is a selection of the Monday August 8 edition of some of the leading newspapers in Sierra Leone. If you had all these there was more than 90% chance that you hadn’t missed any news of the day, or rather the week ending Friday 5^th August.

Interestingly  though, none of these papers had anything on what was supposed to be one of the biggest news of the day – the death of one of the country’s most popular businessmen, Moseray Fadika.

Mr Fadika, a politician, was a presidential hopeful until his death the previous day. Two of these papers, as you can see, interestingly standout.