Sierra Leone MPs threaten to gag media over coverage of Ebola funds use
A worker from medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) checks his protective clothing in a mirror at an MSF facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, on August 15, 2014. AFP PHOTO | CARL DE SOUZA
What you need to know:
- The money was meant for MPs to mobilise their constituents and sensitise them on how to avoid the spread of the epidemic.
- Parliamentarians claim the media was responsible for the "bad press."
FREETOWN
Sierra Leone parliamentarians are threatening to take drastic action against the media over coverage of use of funds allocated to fight the Ebola epidemic.
The country`s lawmakers are particularly angry with coverage of a controversial allocation to them in the name of anti-Ebola sensitisation, which has for the past weeks attracted public outcry.
The government recently released about 8 billion Leones ($1.7 million), which saw individual MPs cashing in 63 million Leones ($15,000) each.
The money was meant for MPs to mobilise their constituents and sensitise them on how to avoid the spread of the epidemic.
There have been reports of misappropriation of the funds and in some regions, paramount chiefs accused their MPs for pocketing part of the money.
'BAD PRESS'
But parliamentarians claim the media was responsible for the "bad press".
The heads of the Independent Media Commission (IMC) and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) were summoned to a special parliamentary hearing.
In the meeting, the politicians ordered the media regulator to censor the snooping media.
Deputy Speaker Cherno Bah called the media reports "hate speech" and said Sierra Leoneans needed to be united as the country faces the Ebola crisis.
Opposition parliamentarian and the minority leader in parliament, Bernadette Lahai, asked the IMC to "censor" radios and newspapers` coverage of the issue.
But a defiant SLAJ president Kelvin Lewis insisted that the entire media could not be held accountable for the action of a few journalists.
