By Ralph Sesay
Reports reaching this medium state that Cabinet has, on Wednesday 11th September, 2019 decided to expunge part five of the Seditious Libel Law from the 1965 Public Order Act of Sierra Leone.
Parliament, the report states, would have to pass it into law when it resumes sittings later this month.
The move is in fulfillment of President Bio’s promise to the media on his election as President to remove the obnoxious law that has stifled media freedom and private investment in the sector.
Many governments including those of the late Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and Ernest Bai Koroma promised to remove the bad law during their political campaigns, but failed to do so.
They succeeded to use the law to clamp down on journalists and other citizens having dissenting views about their governments.
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) under the Umaru Fofana era, had appealed to the Supreme Court on the issue but the case was thrown out on the grounds that SLAJ as an association do not have the locus standi to make an application on the matter.
Several other journalists like Phillip Neville also made individual applications on the matter but to no avail.
The move by the President ahead of the United Nations General Assembly is expected to boost the country’s human rights profile, especially so when other countries in the region have expunged the law.
Many say President Bio has again made history by doing what others cannot do for fear of the fact that the media would go let loose.
Tok N Do: President Bio Delivers on the Criminal Libel Law
