SIERRA LEONE: Freedom of Speech/Expression, or Abuse of conditional Privilege, or Abuse of Power? I still admire President Ernest Bai Koroma as a leader of formative implementation in comparison to previous leaders of Sierra Leone although his administration is generally hampered by those he trust to serve his duties. I often find myself in a compassionate patriotic sector against some criticisms of his government and sometimes being label as a collaborator rather than an objective nationalistic. As all fingers now point at the president for the arrest of journalists Jonathan Leigh and Bai Sesay, I wonder if the Sierra Leone Constitution The Public Order Act of 1965 is being implemented, violated, abused, or simply needs a clear amendment to reflect the worlds popular basic human rights known as the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression. Freedom of Speech is the political right to communicate ones opinions and ideas to anyone willing to receive them. Freedom of Expression is often used synonymously and is recognized as a basic human right according to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which is recognized in the international human rights law adopted in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCRP). Article 19 of ICCPR states that everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference and everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. It is imperative to also note that Article 19 further states certain limitations to these rights as special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be subject to certain restrictions when necessary for respect of the rights or reputation of others or for the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals. On the other hand Article 30(e) of The Public Order Act of 1965 of Sierra Leone under the subtitle Cases in publication is conditionally privileged, 30. No person shall be criminally liable for the publication of a defamatory matter in the following cases__ e) where the defamatory consists of fair comment upon the public conduct of any person in public affairs, or upon the public conduct of any person employed in the public service in the discharge of his public duties, or upon the character of any such persons so as it appears by such conduct. Is it then justified under international law to arrest Jonathan Leigh and Bai Sesay for their publication in violation of the limitations of Article 19 of ICCPR for the respect of the rights or reputation of the president?. Likewise is it justified under the Sierra Leone constitution to prosecute the government officials who arrested the two journalists for their publication upon the character of the president as it appears by his conduct?. No matter what our answers may be, there is some paradoxical facts in this case and the solution may likely be the review and amendments of both Article 19 of UDHR, International human right law, ICCPR and Article 30(e) of The Public Order Act of 1965 of Sierra Leone. While Article 19 appears to incriminate the journalists, Article 30(e) seems to actually favor the journalists if applied. Everyone cries for Freedom of Speech or Expression but sometimes the repercussions are more than the justifications of the very reasons of the declarations, laws, or rights which are often dormant for years instead of amendments based on the worldly trends . Frankly speaking it is often unavoidable to give disapproval or fair comments about our politicians without disrespect of their rights or reputation yet it is our rights to do so. As the detained journalists are said to have received a letter from the Presidents lawyers on the day of their arrest requesting that they retract and apologies for their publication, the Independent Media Commission (IMC) should have been allowed to intervene to deal with the matter according to their mandates instead of the proceedings of the arrest. Because of this action by the president I am convinced that he may not have ordered the arrest and therefore not to be entirely blamed although he may now give the order to free the journalists to allow justice to prevail. In Sierra Leone, our elected officials are still reluctant to acknowledge public criticism as an aspect of democracy yet reporting by journalists is often politicized for popularity and sometimes inaccurate because of poor training, lack of resources, and poor ethical standards among journalists. Most journalists work without pay and as such tend to engage in controversial reporting that often cause conflict of interests and in some cases business interests often influence editorial contents of the media just to make ends meet. International organizations on the other hand often wait for disasters to strike before they start voicing opinions and sometimes demanding actions in the sovereignty of nations instead of undertaking tasks to prevent the problems in the first place. Provisions for training including resources for journalists and conferences for our leaders may help in most cases.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:01:12 +0000
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