Sierra Leone: President Threatens over Irresponsible Media

Freetown---Sierra Leone’s president Ernest Bai Koroma has warned of tough measures against the media over involvement in the country’s politics highly blemished by tribalism and regionalism.

The president told journalists and civil society activists to stay away from politics at the height when the media tussles over tribalism, saying that those who want to become politicians should not hide behind activism.

“The honeymoon for reckless journalism is over,” he said in a statement. “Those who want to be politicians should do so openly and not hide behind activism."

The statement added that the government was commitment to upholding freedom of the press and boasts of a record of not locking up or harassing any journalist, even though the media has been implicated in the past political violence over its hype of the regionalism.

He warned that the enjoyed freedom could be soon over.

 “We believe we have given space, but that does not mean people should be free to talk anyhow they like,” he said.

The president’s statement comes after he attended a traditional ceremony last week involving one of the country’s minority ethnic groups, the Lokor, where he was declared elder.

Mr. Koroma, himself from ethnic Temni group, believes the acknowledgement was twisted by the media into an embarrassing tribal-regional shape, which he says has since gone viral.

“Some journalists reported that I have declared myself as a Lokor man. This is the type of journalism that is practised,” said the president.

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) has slammed the president’s statement, though it acknowledged entrenched incompetence among its members but said there were better ways to handle such matters.

Sierra Leone had a bitter experience with decade-long civil war in early 90s where Tens of thousands of Sierra Leonean civilians died during the war accustomed with cases of rape, amputations, abduction and forced recruitment of child soldiers.

It has since established a UN backed Special Court to try suspected masterminds of atrocities committed during the war. The only case pending is that of former Liberian President of Liberia Charles Taylor awaiting sentencing, whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has since found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes in the Sierra Leone civil war.

Cairo Egypt

Egypt Vote in Landmark Polls

Egyptians are set to vote in their first ever presidential election since the ousting of former leader Hosni Mubarak in the famous Arab spring 15 months ago.

The interim military rulers who assumed power since end of the uprising have promised a free vote and civilian rule, in the election where fifty million people are eligible to vote.

The election pulls 13 candidates, among four major front runners in the contest that pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against the former Mubarak-era ministers.

The front runner include: Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force, who served briefly as prime minister during the February 2011 protests, Amr Moussa, who served as foreign minister and head of the Arab League, Mohammed Mursi of the  Muslim Brotherhood 's Freedom and Justice  party and Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate.

This vote marks Egypt’s first time the electorate are having a chance to choose their leader in the country’s history of 5,000-years. Still it remains unknown, of the powers the new president will hold, awaiting for it to be spelled out in a new constitution yet to be voted.

A run-off vote is scheduled for 16 and 17 June if there would be no outright winner with more than half the total votes cast.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) has assured Egyptians of a fair vote, following worries of a potential post-election unrest with claims that the military is determined to position itself as power behind the presidency.

"It is important that we all accept the election results, which will reflect the free choice of the Egyptian people, bearing in mind that Egypt's democratic process is taking its first step and we all must contribute to its success," said a statement by Scaf on Monday.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzuri has expressed hope that the election will be calm, calling on candidates and other political forces to urge their supporters to respect the will of others and accept results of the elections.

The next president faces huge challenges including delivery of a new constitution and carrying out major reforms more so in the police to restore hope in the people. There is much need of of reforms in the brutal and corrupt police service to deal with the upsurge of crime that led to collapse of the Mubarak regime.

Egypt has seen turbulent moments including violent protests and a dwindling economy with flight of foreign investment since Mubarak’s dramatic exit from power.

President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on 11 February 2011, handing over power to the military, following 18 days of mass protest against his three decades of autocratic rule, in a wave of Arab uprising that began in Tunisia, inspiring pro-democracy activists across the Arab world.