Unity Newspaper located at SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) headquaters in Freetown is a real epitome of media poverty through negligence. As the sun slowly sets on President Julius Maada Bio, key SLPP existing structures are being abandoned to their fate.
Unity Newspaper, the party’s mouthpiece, has fallen victim of the party’s persistent neglect. Staff of Unity Newspaper is not paid living wages with the editor, Sulaiman Juldeh Bah as the most neglected.
He does not enjoy good pay package like other editors in most newsrooms in the country. Editor Bah does not even own a bicycle let alone a rickety car to take him to the office. It is a sharp contrast to small boys in key SLPP offices parading as strategic communication experts and getting fabulous salaries.
Tokens and donations to save Unity newspaper from sinking are not forthcoming. Those politicians who portray themselves as party loyalists could not invest in the paper could not extend a helping hand to the newspaper. Left alone to wallow in misery, the editor is sad, morose and taciturn as he wears a mournful looks.
He does not enjoy the largesse which a party in power brings forth to his followers. He is rendered more helpless and vulnerable through squatting to do his editorial duty. SLPP headquaters which houses the newspaper staff is undergoing renovation. Bah could sit anywhere convenient for him to do his work.
It is a big shame for a ruling party to relegate their media personnel to the dustbin after the great fight in 2018.
Unity newspaper’s hardship also tells on the office which is a mere skeleton with scraps of papers littered on the table. The chairs and desks are in need of repairs after years they fallen into disrepairs with a choked up office space.
The haggard appearance of the newspaper also tells on the staff. This appalling situation scares media professionals away.
Unity Newspaper is completely deficient in motivated staff to tell government’s stories to the public. Little wonders that the newspaper cannot withstand the firepower of critical newspaper.
The office is almost always empty of personnel who may be out in street fighting: a fight for survival.
No Sierra Leonean expects that a newspaper of a party in power would be down in gutters. Stories about how SLPP, for many years, has gained notoriety for leaving behind those who have laboured in the cold and in the heat are still alive and fresh.
The Unity editor and staff are trapped into this folklore.
One could hardly find words to explain how Unity newspaper was used to provide a different narrative to the people of Sierra Leone about the then flag-bearer, President Julius Maada Bio.
Bio would occupy the front and central pages of the Unity Newspaper for proper visibility and marketing. Although the name, Bio appeared to be a household one in Sierra Leone during the elections, the then flag-bearer still needs the party’s newspaper to counter negative media propaganda at the time.
Although Bio was a one-time military head of state that laid a solid foundation for democratic transition in Sierra Leone, many Sierra Leoneans and key propaganda outlets presented Bio in a negative picture to generate hate and ill-will among Sierra Leoneans. It does not mean that the people’s claims were true, but their aim was to deprive Bio of the country’s presidency.
It is not usual in politics for the people and the media to go against a popular candidate to bring him down.
In such a situation, the party whose candidate is being pulled down needs an effective media platform to counter the fake news. At a time when voices were silent, it was Unity Newspaper that stood up to the misinformation campaign and set the records straight. Newspapers on the fringes although purported to be pro-Bio, could not raise a potential challenge equal in scale to Unity Newspaper’s.
It goes without saying that The SLPP Newspaper’s sacrifices yesterday put smiles on the faces of several SLPP politicians as they took back State House in 2018.
An experienced SLPP politician has told this press that SLPP is making a fatal blunder by supporting other newspapers while neglecting their own. The argument holds that those papers sponsored now would only come closer to the party when it is in power.
They could switch their loyalty to any other political party that takes over from SLPP. Unity Newspaper would not switch it loyalty. The newspaper has always been there for the party either in or out of power. Why should it be allowed to rot?
SLPP’s attitude towards their own Baby, the Unity Newspaper is a far cry from APC’s ‘We Yone’ Newspaper. APC which was quite aware of the role the party played in 2007 did its best to keep its media institution not only up and running but buoyant. The media foot soldiers were well catered for. Their take-home packages actually took them home. Their status and standards of living are a clear reflection of a party that that held state command. The party displayed its gratefulness beyond measure when Cornelius Deveaux, ‘We Yone’ editor was appointed Deputy Minister of Information and Communication. Political parties know what it means for a person to become a deputy minister. Other Staff of APC’s newspaper were also appointed to similar posts. Most were made press attaches to foreign embassies and missions, and they excelled.
SLPP has made little effort to appoint their newspaper staff to positions of eminence in the party. It is not known whether SLPP just wanted to see its newspaper to be relegated to the newspaper. A dominant public opinion has always been that the ruling party is pouring millions of dollars in PR firms and media consultancies abroad to create a good image of their government even when Unity Newspaper is capable of doing so. Former Chief Minister who is now Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor David Francis reportedly spent …..in a PR firm in the United states to do the bidding for government. The huge expenditure was unauthorised as it did not go through accepted procedures, a US-based media agency, Africanist Press reveals.
No sign that Unity Newspaper’s situation will improve exists for now. Sierra Leone’s mainstream media have seen and welcomed Several SLPP-sponsored newspapers which have has sprung up quite lately. These papers, reliable sources say, are set up by SLPP stalwarts at the detriment of Unity newspaper, the party’s voice, which faces a big threat. It is a clear manifestation that SLPP is in no mood to solve Unity Newspaper’s problems.
The miserable state of the newspaper sends a cloud a clear message that SLPP is never a party to lean on. One may ask that if the party could treat its own darling baby like that what about others who come into the party. The saying that how a country treats its own people is an indication of how it will treat others is very much relevant here. Such thinking will scare away strong men who might want to come to the party.
Calls for President Bio to adopt practical steps to save Unity Newspaper continue to intensify. Bio is the party’s leader , and must make it a policy that when party members especially ministers and members of parliament pay their dues, a certain percentage must go the newspaper’s upkeep or Unity goes out of the newsstands.