A radio interview with Washington’s ambassador to Sierra Leone, whose scheduled broadcast was disrupted Wednesday, aired Thursday, 17 August 2023, after the station apologised to the data minister for not having him on air to react to the factors raised.
The interview, during which Ambassador David Reimer mentioned america’s issues concerning the disputed June 24 elections, was recorded on Tuesday and is because of be broadcast on Radio Democracy 98.1 on Wednesday morning.
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The station went off air after the interview
However simply earlier than, the station quickly went off the air. A journalist from the station who was current on Wednesday morning advised AFP that Data Minister Chernor Bah had arrived there and demanded the suitable to react to the interview on air.
The journalist mentioned that, after a verbal altercation, energy was then lower to the station. Bah, who was a visitor within the studio for Thursday’s complete morning present, denied interfering with the published and mentioned he didn’t have the remit to show off the station’s electrical energy.
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“Yesterday certainly we had the minister… (right here) to speak concerning the authorities’s place on the interview with the US ambassador, however one or two issues prevented him from approaching,” station supervisor Michael Kakpindi Jamiru — who can also be the brother of the president’s spokesperson — mentioned initially of Thursday’s present.
“We need to apologise to you profusely on behalf of the station and promise you’re going ahead; we’ll take the proper measures.” He additionally apologised to the general public for the station going off the air Wednesday, saying it “was out of our management”.
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Apology to the general public
Within the interview, Reimer mentioned the US authorities has raised “questions concerning the integrity and the credibility of the outcomes” introduced by the Electoral Fee of Sierra Leone (ECSL) in June, which noticed President Julius Maada Bio re-elected.
“The USA is worried about irregularities within the outcomes that have been introduced by the ECSL,” he mentioned. Worldwide observers had famous “statistical inconsistencies” and condemned a “lack of transparency” within the poll rely.
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A nationwide remark group additionally discovered important discrepancies between voter outcomes for presidential, parliamentary and native council elections. Reimer referred to as for an “outdoors, impartial” investigation into the election.
The US would assessment its programmes
He mentioned the US would assessment its government-to-government programmes in Sierra Leone, together with a Millennium Problem Company (MCC) compact grant price a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
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Bio, in early August, introduced {that a} committee comprising members of civil society and growth companions can be set as much as assessment the vote below the management of his vp. However within the interview, Reimer mentioned, “It’s simply not attainable for somebody who was a candidate within the election to then have a look at the method and be not biased.”
Responding on Thursday, the data minister mentioned the MCC programme was “based mostly on a partnership and shared values… not based mostly on the ambassador’s place; it isn’t colonisation or weaponisation of assist”.
“I take a really dim view of the concept Sierra Leoneans should not have integrity and that anybody belonging to a tribe or political occasion just isn’t able to performing with independence and objectivity,” he mentioned.
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© Agence France-Presse
