๐ธ๐ฑ๐คจ๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐.๐. ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: “๐๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ”.
AWARENESS TIMES EDITOR’S NOTE: At the end of this Note, is a news report from the Office of the President. The last paragraph of that Presidential News is completely false and untrue.
The TRUTH is that the Editor of this newspaper was doing her legitimate duties as a journalist and using very democratic tools to do her duties when she was maliciously and egregiously victimized right under the very Leadership of President.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐, ๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ.
Our President should reduce his penchant for re-writing History. It’s not an admirable penchant.
He already has a great Resume to burnish for himself in the area of Press Freedom and in the area of Empowerment of Women. Let him cite those and stop re-writing his very bad legacies.
He is human and he makes mistakes. He does not need to sweep his mistakes under the carpet and PRETEND they never happened.
We respect the President but we cannot allow the untruth to stand. So in a subsequent edition in the future, we intend to run a special commentary to diligently remind President Bio of what he seems to be forgetting actually happened under his Leadership. More Anon.
NEWS FROM OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT:
On Thursday 26 October, 2023, His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio met with the leadership of the Independent Media Commission, IMC at the State House in Freetown.
During the meeting, the Chairman, Dr Victor Massaquoi thanked the President for repealing Part 5 of the Criminal Libel Law.
The IMC updated His Excellency on the progress made so far in the media landscape since the repeal. They also shared the Commissionโs efforts towards promoting professionalism and ethical practice in the countryโs media landscape.
The President on his part thanked the leadership of the IMC for their continued efforts to sustain the legacy of free and ethical press in Sierra Leone.
As a thorough democrat, His Excellency averred that freedom of the press is an important and essential ingredient for the promotion and sustenance of democracy and good governance, hence the need to prioritise press freedom in the country.
The President maintained that under his leadership, no journalist has been victimised for undertaking their legitimate duties as a journalist and promised to continue to promote a free press in Sierra Leone.
END OF NEWS REPORT.