News Story

FREETOWN: STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE SIERRA LEONE PEOPLES PARTY ON RADIO BROADCAST BAN.

SIERRA LEONE PEOPLE'S PARTY

The Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) wishes to draw the attention of the public to an attempt by the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) government to muzzle freedom of expression and debate in our country.

The incident that has necessitated this press briefing has to do with the Unity Radio FM 94.9. In August, 2007 the SLPP registered a radio station with the Independent Media Commission (IMC) as is required by law. That radio station was deliberately targeted by identifiable elements of the APC and their hired thugs on the very day the election results were declared in their favour. Several other properties including computer equipment were carted away with and the office comprehensively vandalized.

The SLPP made official representation to the President and his Vice to admonish them about the message such action would send about his government’s commitment to plurality and the basic freedoms that are enshrined in the constitution of this land. Some arrests were made and charged to court. To date, no one knows the state of the case.

The party then made tremendous efforts to replace the equipment that were stolen by the APC thugs on that fateful day. The party wrote a letter to the Independent Media Commission (IMC) to notify them of changes in the particulars of the replacement equipment as required by the IMC application procedure on March 31, 2008. The party also wrote an application to the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) requesting space at Leicester Peak. Our application was approved and rent for the lease paid to SLBS. The Party fully complied with the rules and regulations and paid all the fees as required by statute governing IMC and National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM).

On the evening of Thursday, May 8, 2008, I learned that the Unity Radio was off the air. Upon further enquiry, I found out that the radio has been shut down on the instructions of the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji I.B. Kargbo. I immediately reached him on the phone to find out why he had so instructed. He informed me that he had instructed SLBS engineers to shut down the station because the radio was "interfering with other frequencies". I reminded him it was wrong for him to have issued a directive to shut the radio station as such issues do not directly fall in the purview of his Ministry. If there was any frequency interference, the responsibility was with IMC and NATCOM that had assigned the frequency to Unity Radio to notify us.

We agreed to meet and discuss the matter further. As promised, we (Alhaji Momodu Koroma, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and I) arrived at his office at 9:30AM on Friday, May 9, 2008. We met with the Minister in the presence of the Deputy Minister, Mr. Mohamed Koroma, Permanent Secretary and other officials of his Ministry. The Minister repeated his misleading statements about frequency and his lack of knowledge of the transaction. He dodged the issue and left in a frightful hurry claiming that he had to pick up a flight to Cairo. Although he left us at 10AM, we later learnt the flight departed at about 6 PM. In the meeting with him, he directed the Deputy Minister and the Permanent Secretary to meet with us at 3PM and resolve the matter. In the 3PM meeting, the Deputy Minister pretended not to have received any directive from the Minister. He then informed, us that in the absence of his Minister, he could only act if directed from State House. We immediately confirmed our original suspicion of a game plan to deprive our freedom to broadcast.

We reached the Secretary to the President, Mr. Sanpha Koroma who called the Deputy Minister and the SLBS Engineer, Dr. Sesay in our presence. The Engineer confirmed on the telephone that there was no technical problem and interference with any other radio station. Mr. Sanpha Koroma then summoned the Deputy Minister to State House. The Deputy Minister promised to call me after his meeting with the Secretary to the President. He never did. I made several efforts to know the outcome of the State House meeting on this issue but the Deputy Minister repeatedly refused to take my phone calls. As I speak to you, the station remains off the air.

A number of things are evident in my narrative:

1. Unity Radio did not allocate the 94.9 frequency itself. The frequency was allocated to us by the appropriate regulatory body, the IMC

2. Any interference with other frequencies should be reported to the IMC which has the authority to notify the station and to agree remedial measures where so required

3. Unity Radio applied to SLBS for space at Leicester Peak and that permission was granted in writing to us and copied to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication and the required rental fee paid.

4. It is the responsibility of the statutory bodies to brief the supervising ministry on developments within their respective departments.

5. It is evident from the behaviour of the Minister and his Deputy that their action is part of a carefully contrived scheme to curtail our freedom of expression by keeping Unity Radio off the air.

6. Despite its rhetoric, it is evident from the actions above that the APC government has no intention to abide by the basic rules of democratic governance and the scheme has the backing of State House.

Members of the fourth estate, we would like to remind you that this action on the radio is not isolated and is part of the series of devious attempts (including human rights abuses, vandalisation of Party offices, intimidation, harassment and molestation of party members and candidates for the Local Government Election) by the APC government to muzzle the opposition.

Let us be on record that the SLPP will not allow this nation to suffer any reversal in our had won freedoms. We call on government to cease and desist from following the destructive path that they have chosen. Failure to adhere to this will be seen as a direct assault on our freedom both as a legitimate political opposition and as citizens of the state.

The SLPP is prepared to use every tool guaranteed by law to resist this frontal attack on our fundamental freedoms. In the meantime, we urge all SLPP supporters across the country to exercise restraint as this matter plays out.

We call on the UN and the International Community who are guarantors of our hard won peace and the IMC to intervene immediately to return Unity Radio on air.

To our membership, be assured that our Radio Unity, your pride MUST come on soonest.

Signed

Jacob Jusu Saffa
National Secretary-General
Freetown,
May 10, 2008