{"id":446477,"date":"2011-06-23T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T14:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/23\/stop-killing-journalists\/"},"modified":"2011-06-23T14:53:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T14:53:05","slug":"stop-killing-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/23\/stop-killing-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Killing Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Concord Times (Freetown)<\/p>\n

With John Momoh<\/p>\n

22 June 2011<\/p>\n

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opinion<\/p>\n

Freetown \u2014 The cold-blooded murder of Ibrahim Foday of the Exclusive newspaper at Grafton town on the outskirts of Freetown recently is an abominable action that should be condemned by all peace-loving and patriotic Sierra Leoneans. It is normally assumed that after the brutal and despicable murder of the Acting Editor of the For Di People newspaper allegedly by the children of a Member of Parliament of the ruling SLPP few years ago, those enemies of the press who seek revenge for unfavourable publications may have by now learnt their lessons especially in view of the change of regime from the SLPP to the APC in 2007.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some of the regrettable inconveniences that the press went through during the SLPP era such as the prolonged imprisonment of the Publisher of the For Di People newspaper and the demise of Acting Editor of that same newspaper Harry Yansaneh are nowadays re-emerging in different forms. What cannot be denied is that the degree of press freedom that continues to prevail in Sierra Leone is unprecedented since independence in 1961.<\/p>\n

Up to the beginning of the rebel war in 1991, there was limited press freedom as only the official government mouthpieces such as the Daily Mail and the APC party newspaper, ‘We Yone’, were operating with maximum serenity, while independent newspapers operated in an atmosphere of suspicion. The minimum degree of press freedom that was encouraged by the APC regime of the late President Joseph Saidu Momoh was a way of government empowering a climate of democracy after the re-introduction of the multiparty constitution in 1991.<\/p>\n

Certainly, the mushroom of newspapers that emerged under Momoh’s APC regime was further enhanced during the SLPP era with the opening of many radio stations across the country; such as ‘Radio Democracy’ which was established as a war-time media organ to supplement the propaganda objectives of the United Nations and ECOWAS peace-keeping missions, as they strived to bring peace to war-torn Sierra Leone. The present government continues to be relentless in maintaining the press freedom heritage of their predecessors. The APC government has even gone a step further by making moves to introduce the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. If passed into law, the FOI Bill will surely add feathers to the press freedom hat of the government, as for the first time journalists and other professionals in the country will have unfettered access to sources of information. It will serve as a legal empowerment to oblige decision-makers and institutions to dish out much<\/p>\n

needed public information especially to the media.<\/p>\n

The killing of journalists or posing restrains on them including the molestation and humiliation of journalists or the muzzling of the press in any form is totally condemned and counter-productive to enhancing a climate of good governance and democracy, as the press is a very vital organ of the democratic process in any nation. The role of the journalist and the press in general is to serve as the watchdog of the ills and shortcomings of the society such as to mirror the poverty and corrupt tendencies of society, thereby making the press an important catalyst of national development.<\/p>\n

What is being observed is that those who bully the press sometimes do it cowardly. This is because in several instances when a hue and cry is raised over their actions they either deny any involvement or camouflage their actions into a sea of controversy. Such was the case after the death of Harry Yansaneh in a local clinic after mercilessly being flogged by the children of an ex-SLPP Member of Parliament. Controversy erupted over the circumstances in which Acting Editor Yansaneh met his untimely death as an autopsy report tended to establish that he died of natural causes, contrary to evidences adduced from eyewitness reports.<\/p>\n

The only attack on journalists in recent times that the perpetrators were easily brought to book was the one that took place at State House compound, involving Presidential guards beating up and molesting certain journalists as they waited around for news over the outcome of mediation talks between the leadership of the ruling APC and the opposition SLPP, brokered by His Excellency the President and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative. As the journalists were patiently waiting around the compound, angry presidential guards began intimidating and molesting them; and their working tools such as camera and mobile phones were snatched away from them. The Police however later recognized wrong-doing and later paid some financial compensations to the victims. This attack on journalists at State House was followed several months later with the molestation of the Acting Editor of the Exclusive newspaper, David Jabati during a mini-SLPP Convention<\/p>\n

in Bo, for which the SLPP Secretariat later expressed apology.<\/p>\n

The general consensus among journalists is that practitioners working for both the For Di People and the Exclusive newspapers should be very careful in the discharge of their duties. This is because both of the well noticeable victims of government’s high-handedness during the SLPP era in the person of publisher Paul Kamara and Acting Editor Harry Yansaneh were from the For Di People newspaper, while Alima Fofana who apparently lost her mobile phone during the skirmishes at State House, David Jabati and the late Ibrahim Foday, during the present APC regime, are from the Exclusive newspaper.<\/p>\n

How did journalist Ibrahim Foday meet his brutal death, after being stabbed several times in the stomach by a mob of angry youths is what is presently the subject of Police investigations. Several arrests of suspects involved in the drama have been made, such as the Kossoh Town Headman.<\/p>\n

Harry Yansaneh was beaten up upon the orders of the landlady of a building on Short Street that used to be rented out to media institutions. It is alleged that For Di People newspaper refused orders for renters to vacate the premises.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim Foday on the other hand was stabbed when palaver brewed between the Grafton and the Kossoh town community leaders over a parcel of land that was distributed among youths of the Grafton community in compensation for communal labour done for the authorities. Some of the unemployed youths who cannot find the means to develop the one lot surveyed for them were smart enough to develop them by putting up dwelling structures on them. It occurred later that Kossoh Town community leaders later raised the contention that the land that was distributed to the youths rather belongs to them and not to Grafton.<\/p>\n

What is worth noting is that the Grafton youths, some of whom stay in the old and new displaced camps or either at Grafton town or the Police barracks where Ibrahim Foday was staying, never foresaw the possibility of violence erupting from the land deal. As one resident observed, Ibrahim’s father is a trained Policeman that was blessed with several boy children. Unfortunately all of them lost their lives in tragic circumstances such as accidents, and Ibrahim was the last of his sons.<\/p>\n

Land is a very sensitive issue especially in both Grafton and Kossoh Town. After the Grafton candidate lost the Headman election last year the resulting tension sparked off animosity between Grafton, who are in the minority and the newcomers in the old and the new camps who constitute a large segment of the Grafton population as the town where the cemetery in the area is located refused residents of the old and new camps the rights to bury their dead until Police reinforcement from Kissy rushed to the scene to establish law and order.<\/p>\n

It is hoped that the Police will do their utmost to bring the perpetrators of the murder of Ibrahim Foday to justice. After several years of a devastating rebel war it is high time to do away with every form of violence or people taking the law into their own hands by resorting to jungle justice to seek redress for infringements on their rights. As Sierra Leone celebrates the 50th independence anniversary, there should be no place for violence under the present democracy and good governance dispensation. It is time to give a breathing space to the prevalence of the rule of law and development.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Excerpt from:
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Concord Times (Freetown) With John Momoh 22 June 2011 opinion Freetown \u2014 The cold-blooded murder of Ibrahim Foday of the Exclusive newspaper at Grafton town on the outskirts of Freetown recently is an abominable action that should be condemned by all peace-loving and patriotic Sierra Leoneans. 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