Author: Web Desk

South Sudan media rights groups condemned comments by a key parliament member who said that news organizations could have their licenses revoked if they report on parliamentary expenditures — including lawmaker salaries — without prior authorization from the speaker.

Paul Youane Bonju, who is the chairperson-designate of the information committee in South Sudan's reconstituted National Legislative Assembly, said journalists risk being sued if they do not follow what he termed the proper procedure for reporting on lawmakers' financial transactions.

"Some [reporters] are new in the field and I need to bring them on board by trying to tell them the right procedures if they visit the parliament, because the parliament is a body that enacts laws," he said in a news conference last week.

"If you are coming to engage with such a body, you must also be conversant of how to go about it," Bonju said. "In some instances, some of the media, instead of coming to me or going to the office of the clerk, sometimes they contact either the staffs, or they get the information from sources that are not authorized to release some of the information."

Bonju cited media reports five years ago about $40,000 that was allotted to lawmakers by President Salva Kiir for allowances and car loans.

The reports about the allotment caused a widespread backlash in the world's newest country, where the government owes many workers back salaries and the average teacher makes less than $400 per year.

Media groups say Bonju's comments are an attempt to conceal information from the public as South Sudan attempts for forge a shaky democracy.

Micheal Duku, executive director of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan, said parliamentary members cannot stop the media from reporting on their work which is in the public interest.

"The media is regulated by law and when it comes to information that is categorized, there are classified information and unclassified information," Duku told VOA's South Sudan in Focus. "So long as this falls under unclassified information, the public has the right to know."

Bonju's comments come as South Sudan journalists are facing increasing pressures on their reporting.

Three journalists recently were detained, and a radio station was closed as the government clamped down on efforts by activists to stage what they called a peaceful public uprising.

Agents also detained a government broadcaster after he allegedly declined to report news about recent presidential decrees on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation airwaves.

South Sudan ranks 139th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, in which 1 is the freest.

The reconstituted legislature was inaugurated in August this year by Kiir under the leadership of Jemma Nunu Kumba as speaker of the house.

In an interview with South Sudan in Focus, Bonju said his comments were aimed at clarifying parliamentary procedures for press coverage.

"I was telling them, 'Look, I am not warning you, but I am rather cautioning you to be sure that if you want anything to do with emolument of the MPs, please contact the relevant offices, the relevant departments,'" he said.

Source: Voice of America

With two years left in his term, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio told Voice of America that expanding political freedoms, improving education, holding past leaders accountable for corruption, and promoting gender equality are his administration's priorities.

His platform comes amid record-setting government debt, soaring consumer prices and continued high employment. Political critics are questioning the government's borrowing strategy which has indebtedness hovering around $3 billion.

VOA's Peter Clottey spoke with Bio about his agenda and how he plans to move the country forward. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: You've been quite vocal about human capital development. What are you doing about it?

Bio: I started talking about human capital development even before I was elected. I think it was actually on that basis that Sierra Leoneans chose me instead of any other person. I have stated to them that in as much as Sierra Leone can boast of many natural minerals like gold, diamond, bauxite, the most important or the most precious of those for me is the human being. If we can invest appropriately in the human being, it will be the basis for development. And it was on that basis that I actually used it as the flagship program in my campaign. And quite apart from what other people think about human capital development, I have defined it to be good health, good education and food security. I realized that not everybody had access to education because of the level of poverty in our country. So, I decided to do the heavy lifting. The government decided to pay for every child for free primary school to the end of high school.

VOA: How are you funding this project and how sustainable will it be?

Bio: That is a very good question because it is quite expensive. But I have always said that it is not as expensive as ignorance when the population in not educated. For me, in the 21st century and with the fourth industrial revolution looming, education is an existential thing. We must have it or perish as a nation. It is expensive. But what have we done? We have been able to close most of the loopholes, you know, for corruption in the country. And that is how we've been able to first get the seed money. And once we got going, we have been able to attract a lot of allies. The Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank, a lot of institutions are supportive.

VOA: Would you say that your administration has implemented measures to ensure that you meet the standards of good governance that Sierra Leoneans expect from you?

Bio: Talking about good governance definitely reminds me about transparency, accountability and making sure that we free up the political space so that all the political parties can freely partake in elections and the elections are credible. We have done quite a lot in that direction in the past three years. Today, we have removed the death penalty. It has been hanging in the law books and it's been used by several governments to take away the opposition, to threaten them, to silence them. For me, I have decided that that is a thing of the past. And I took that to the parliament of Sierra Leone, and it's off the law books today. The seditious libel law — this is a law that has been used to threaten journalists and a lot of them have been locked up. As I speak to you, that is also the thing of the past. If you check in our prisons today, there is no journalist in prison for practicing journalism.

VOA: What is your government doing about gender equity and empowerment?

Bio: When I took over, women were definitely at the edge. They did not have the necessary space. They did not have the necessary support. What I have done, apart from bringing a lot of women into governance, is to make sure that they feel a part of our development process, they feel a part of being Sierra Leonean. Rape was rampant. I declared a national emergency, and we have amended the Sexual Offenses Act. And now, the punitive measures are stricter. We've set up special courts for that. We have a special, one stop sentence to deal with rape and other issues.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N. Children's Fund reports that Islamist insurgents are recruiting young children to fight in northern Mozambique's volatile, oil-rich province of Cabo Delgado.

UNICEF says it has received numerous reports of children being forcefully recruited by the Mozambican militant group al-Shabab. It says the group — not affiliated with the Somali insurgency of the same name — has reportedly taken boys and girls from their families and villages.

UNICEF notes there is evidence of sexual violence against girls and of young girls being forced into marriage with their abductors.

Human Rights Watch recently said the boys, some as young as 12, are being trained in bases across Cabo Delgado and forced to fight alongside adults against government forces.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder says there is no accurate count of the number of children that have been recruited, but it is believed to be in the thousands. He says some of the children have been rescued, but none have been released by their militant captors.

"The recruitment and use of children by armed groups destroys families and communities," Elder said. "Children are exposed to incomprehensible levels of violence, they lose their families, they lose their safety, they lose their ability to go to school. And, of course, the recruitment and use of children is a grave violation of international law."

Elder says the recruitment of child soldiers has been going on since al-Shabab and other armed groups attacked Cabo Delgado in March. The United Nations reports dozens of people were killed and nearly 40,000 people fled to safer areas in the region.

Two weeks ago, Elder says, UNICEF signed an important Memorandum of Understanding with the Mozambican defense forces which spelled out what government forces should do when they encounter children with armed groups.

"So that training is very, very important so that they know to treat children as children and as victims and then immediately get the support of organizations like UNICEF," Elder said. "And that can be everything from help to psychosocial support. Those early stages of support for a child who is being recruited, whether as a helper, whether as someone armed, are absolutely critical."

International law states any child associated with an armed group is to be considered a child and a survivor of violations. Elder says children who have been associated with armed groups are double victims and must be treated as such.

Source: Voice of America