I.B Kargbo purges Spencer from SLBC Board
Reports privileged to Sierra Express Media disclose that parliament’s rejection of the nominee of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Dr. Julius Spencer to serve on the Board of the newly formed Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) was machinated by APC ace, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo who also is Minister of Information and Communication.Â
Reasons advanced by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment with respect to the rejection of the SLAJ nominee was based on the issue of conflict of interest, claiming that Dr. Spencer is the Managing Director of the Premier Media Consultancy and as such could not serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation as his institution carries similar functions as the SLBC.
But facts emerging following the parliamentary decision on the SLAJ nominee tell a different story altogether.
According to sources close to the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment, it started from the opposition SLPP who had long registered their dissatisfaction over the issue which in view smacked of political victimization machinated by the likes of IB Kargbo who they say bear a lot of grudge for the SLAJ appointee allegedly due to encounters he, IB Kargbo had with Spencer during the first half of SLPP reign while Spencer was Minister of Information.
Although Minister IB Kargbo and Honourable Ibrahim Bundu, who is member of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment have made it abundantly clear that the Minister had no hand in Dr. Spencer’s rejection, our sources say that “IB Karbo is simply after Spencer’s appointment because IB is of the view that Spencer had hands in his incarceration at Pademba Road prison during the SLPP reign” under President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
“Other reasons of irrelevant issues brought up in the parliamentary interview such as the tax returns of Dr. Spencer and the Premier Media Consultancy, his role as Information Minister during the SLPP government were all geared at purging the media activist from taking a seat on the SLBC Board,” Sierra Express was reliably informed.
Analysts on the matter have also raised eyebrows, wondering how other ministers, politicians and government appointees could have clean tax records when as a matter of fact tax records have never been a factor on appointment in the country. The issue of conflict of interest has also been widely dismissed as a clever ploy, as other government appointees who own media institutions continue to serve the state unhindered whilst claims made by the parliamentary committee of people resigning their positions and disinvesting from their various holdings before taking up appointment do not exist at the office of the Administrator General, but yet this forms the basis for the rejection of Dr. Spencer as civil society activist, opined on the matter.
In the meantime, Sierra Express Media has been informed that Dr. Spencer would not keep quiet about the matter as there are a lot of loopholes in the decision of the appointment committee which Spencer has vowed to make public.   Â
Meanwhile, SLAJ has expressed utter dismay over the rejection of their nominee to serve in the SLBC Board. Secretary General of SLAJ, Mustapha Sesay, has said SLAJ would take up the issue with parliament to know why Dr. Spencer was rejected, stating that the issue of conflict of interest is unacceptable.
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