(SLENA, 8th November, 2022).For the third year running, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has rated Sierra Leone high in Freedom of Information category, which measures the legal and practical steps taken by a government to enable or allow information to flow freely in a society. This includes measures of press freedom, a nation’s freedom of information laws, and the extent to which a country is shutting down the internet or social media.
On 9th June 2021, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists crowned President Julius Maada Bio as Champion of Press Freedom, in recognition of the President keeping to his promise to repeal Part V of the 1965 Public Order Act, which criminalised libel. This award was a great testament to President Bio’s unwavering commitment to ensure the media flourishes and citizens exercise their democratic rights of freedom of speech without any tincture of hindrance. Today in Sierra Leone the media is open and widely engaged; the internet is liberalised and not censored; social media users are on the rise and this has enhanced greater participation of citizens in governance.
President Dr. Julius Maada Bio in 2021 signed the Global Pledge on Media Freedom as a commitment to improve media freedom domestically and working internationally with the Media Freedom Coalition to enhance the media landscape. His signing made Sierra Leone the 5th country in Africa to commit to the principles and values of the media freedom coalition.
This year’s MCC scorecard on Freedom of Information like the previous years, has consolidated the fact that President Bio is a true champion of Press Freedom and Free Speech. Sierra Leone got 98% ratings on the MCC scorecard for Freedom of Information,an improvement from last year’s excellent score of 90%.
The Minister of Information and Communications Mr. Mohamed Rahman Swaray, the man President Bio put in charge to implement his agenda in the information sector has done an excellent job to make his boss proud. Minister Swaray has been working assiduously in line with President Bio’s agenda and manifesto promises to ensure Information and Communications are accessible by all citizens. Today, the Minister runs the famous governance program on social media in the country *LehWe Tok To Di Minister a platform where citizens are allowed to ask questions or concerns related to national development.
In Sierra Leone, journalists practice their trade freely with no fear of being jailed and no journalist is in prison for practicing their profession. There are more newspapers, radio and television stations than ever before in the history of Sierra Leone.
MCC hailing the performance of President Bio’s government on Freedom of Information is no mean feat and is not a mistake. It represents the great commitment of the government in taking bold legal reforms in transforming the media ecosystem.
