By Ragan M. Conteh
The Member of Parliament representing Constituency 059, Kambia District, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara (AKK), has informed that there is no way they were going to tolerate another draconian law like the Cybercrime Bill 2020 laid in Parliament recently.
“The Cybercrime Bill 2020 is just a replacement of the 1965 Public Order Act (POA), which debarred freedom of speech and expression of citizens in the country,” Hon. AKK said.
He made the disclosure on Wednesday 24th March 2020 to Nighwatch during an exclusive interview in Parliament Building, Tower Hill in Freetown.
According to Hon. AKK, the Cybercrime Bill is more draconian than the 1965 Public Act, because this bill, if passed into law, will be used by state functionaries, especially the Ministry of Information and Communication, to ask all mobile companies to handover phone calls to government even if they are secret or personal.
Hon. AKK pointed out that the bill will also specifically target those internet users, especially whistleblowers like Adebayor and Chernor Maju Bah, among many others, who channel their opinions on governance through social media.
“This bill will also drag whistleblowers to Sierra Leone for interrogations; this is an inhuman law that should not exist in the 21st Century like this,” he said.
The MP stated that the bill has good sections, especially when it protects the privacy of citizens and their personal images, but it has some bad sections that must be tamed and thrashed.
“People should stop making laws to suit their comfort; making bad laws will affect generations yet unborn. The Cybercrime Bill is very terrible, especially when it has to do with unveiling personal calls and conversations of an individual (s),” he asserted.
According to him, the Cybercrime Bill is an unnecessary law that debars freedom of expression, adding the bill talks about public interest, “but who can determine public interest?” He asked.
The Whip of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon. Hassan A. Sesay, said they were going to reject such a bill, which does not portray public interest. “It seems as if the bill is targeting dissenting views and opinions on social media,” he said.
“Such a law is draconian. Parliament repealed the Public Order Act because it was draconian, repressive and bad for Sierra Leoneans. We cannot make another law that will deter the gains the country has made,” Hon Sesay canvassed.
He furthered that the Cybercrime Bill 2020 is a bad and contradictory law that targets citizens and protects service providers, posing limits to business capacity, empowers the Information Ministry to determine punishment for unfriendly people and groups in Sierra Leone. “It is not merely for a safe national digital ecosystem,” he protested.
However, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has said on social media that the conspiracy of citizens is assured under the Cyber Crime Bill 2020, adding that Section 10 refers to interception of content data.
He continues that section 10(1) requires for a police officer to apply, through a High Court Judge, for access to content when it is needed for an investigation. He said that does not in any way contravene the law as it is the case in most criminal investigations, adding that a case in mind is the ACC Act that gives power to the Commissioner to have access to accounts, books or documents in their course of investigation.