By Ragan Conteh
A constituted committee that was investigating the alleged beating of two female journalists during the Leone Stars/Liberia Qualifiers Match for the 2020 World Cup, has yesterday presented their final report to the Minister of Information and Communications after a thorough investigation with very strong recommendations.
Amongst other things, they recommended the immediate removal of the Presidential guards who were reported to have beaten the two female journalists from President Bio’s Security Guard detail with immediate effect and also be subjected to prosecution.
Handing over the report, the Chairperson of the Committee, Doris Sonsiama, disclosed to journalists that the mandate of the Committee was to look into alleged actions of the President’s security detail.
She added that the committee during their investigations interviewed all parties involved including the victims and the alleged perpetrators.
She also disclosed that the committee collected physical and electronic evidences to inform the outcome of their investigations.
She disclosed that the Committee had constituted members of the Sierra Leone of Association of Journalists, Sierra Leone Reporters’ Union, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, Women in the Media Sierra Leone, CARL, among others.
The committee, according to Ms Sonsiama, was supported by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
She told newsmen that the report had captured also the testimonies of witnesses and other volunteers who, according to her, explained the veracity of the incident.
The committee, she concluded, had at the end of the investigations proffered 13 recommendations including the removal of the perpetrators from President Bio’s Presidential Guard detail for further investigations and prosecution.
The Committee, according to its Chairman, had also called on the perpetrators to make a public apology.
The committee called on the state to finance the further medical facilitations of the victims both at home and abroad where necessary.
She however expressed thanks and appreciation to the government through the Ministry of Information and Communications for providing the committee with the enabling environment to undertake and complete its investigations without any hindrance or interference.
She recounted that such a display of transparency will contribute to press freedom and the rule of law.
Receiving the report, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rado Swaray thanked the team for working so hard to see the process through and through.
He said the Government of President Bio respects press freedom and freedom of the press and also commended the committee for applauding the government for its non-interference in the entire investigative process.
The Minister however promised to peruse the report and later communicate with members of the public in the not too distant future.