Journalists under Siege At APC Press Conference
Journalists were under siege at the All People’s Congress (APC) Party headquarters on Saturday, 17th March, 2018 where they were covering a press conference on the invitation of the red team. But things went sour when one of their spin masters, by the name of Moissa, begun instructing certain media houses like Mamba TV and others to leave.
This spin master forgot that this was a press conference and started instructing journalists not to snap or record. The AYV reporter was even whisked away and his camera was audited.
Supporters of the party largely accused the press of biasness in covering the election and their continued silence, over what they referred to as flawed results by NEC, shows that they are part of the conspiracy to defeat the actual will of the people.
These accusations were the same for the civil society, NEC and the international observers. Even the press conference was poorly organized, as journalists waited for over one hour thirty minutes, while their spin master, Cornelius Devaux, was trading hints at the media present.
One could see anger on the supporters in the hall. They almost descended on the peaceful journalists as, according to them, “We are SLPP.”
Come on, are they trying to cover up the reality that they have lost the traditional media and eventually losing grip on power? ‘Una go learn!’
What is happening at NEC?
Citizens are highly concerned about all political parties contesting the elections, complaining about irregularities. The Commission is overwhelmed with these concerns and was not able to address them before publishing the results.
We are even more concerned that there is recounting all over the country with some areas like Kambia undergoing recounts severally. What is happening? Even some of their adhoc staff has come under the radar for being strong party stalwarts.
If the allegations coming out are true, these people have no business working for NEC, largely because they could be potential troublemakers. We are waiting for the parliamentary results.
SLPP, APC…
Pay attention to the selection of party agents
The SLPP and APC should this time pay attention to the people they recruit as party agents. We are tired of the numerous complains coming from them as if they had no representatives in the process. Most parties have trumpeted the caliber of people they want to serve as party agents before the polls, but we were taken aback by the way some polling agents behaved in the stations. Some stations, where our reporters were, we learnt that some polling agents left the station to watch the Championship game that was playing that day.
Come on, I think the red guys are already taking action as they have informed the press that they are filling in Members of Parliament to serve as polling agents in the run off.
Is Bio beating the gun?
Why is the presidential candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) beating the gun by calling himself president-elect? The Sierra Leone and the international media were taken aback when a press release, by one of SLPP’s spin masters, Keketoma Sandi, referred to Bio as president-elect.
The spin master came back to apologize for such misbehavior, which is very grave. How can you brand yourself in such a way when the contest is still on course?
Has Theo been finally removed from the SLBC information highway program?
Has Theophilus Gbenda been removed from the information highway program? We have not heard from him this week. Could this mean that he has been removed because of his objective comments on the state of affairs? We want to know.
This program is fast losing its importance because people were gluing to their radio sets because of the comprehensive analysis of Theo. But it is crystal clear that there was a ploy to remove him. We are not surprised now that he has been finally removed. Oh Salone. Nor for tok true!