By Sulaiman Jalloh
In exercising its oversight responsibility, the Committee on Information and Civic Education chaired by Hon. Unpha Sorie Koroma held a familiarization meeting with the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MOICE) on Friday, 1st March, 2024, to know the successes, challenges and plans of the ministry for better, timely and accurate information sharing.
Opening the familiarization meeting, the chairman of the committee said, in the information space, it is important to give the right information to the right people at the right time and it is the responsibility of the government to provide the right information, adding if the right information is not given, citizens will use the information that is available to them.
“Giving the wrong information to the people we serve undermines our missions and objectives,” Hon. Koroma stated, noting it is incumbent upon authorities to provide the necessary information that is needed by the public.
He applauded the Minister of Information of and Civic Education for what he called ‘changeling the narrative’, especially the government weekly press briefing.
On his part, the Minister of Information and Civic Education (MOICE) Chernor Bah shared summary of his ministry’s vision and mandate which is to provide strategic engagement with citizens in making sure they have access to credible, timely information required by the citizenry, and provide effective service delivery to the people of Sierra Leone and ensure inclusive governance, adding their core value is to be accountable and transparent to the public.
“Our core values are to be accountable and transparent and to always provide the information required by the citizenry at all times,” Minister said, noting they have open up the governance system as their mission is to breach information gap and provide the enabling environment that fosters citizen engagement to enhance a participatory and inclusive society through civic engagement.
According to the minister, government information should be available because it belongs to the state.
“There is no secret to government information; if I stop being Minister of Information today the next person that will take over tomorrow should have access to the information for the ministry,” Chernor Bah says, adding his ministry has reviewed its policies while disclosing that there are already drafted policies which will be taken to Parliament.
In their various submissions, the opposition All People’s Congress party chief whip Hon. Catherine Zainab Tarawally affirmed their continued support to the ministry, saying they need to look beyond their political parties and look Sierra Leone, adding Parliament is open to everyone as a life-time partner.
“We want to assure you of our continued support and commitment,” Hon. Catherine stated, adding if Sierra Leone benefits all of them benefit and if the country suffers people suffer.
Also, the deputy leader of the opposition Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara said the minister and his staff need to support community radio stations by providing a policy to keep them running as they play important role in information dissemination, noting most the community radio stations are constrained with electricity, adding people in the interior get information from community radio stations due to lack of access to internet.
Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
