SLAJ sends letter of complaint against Mr Moijue Kaikai to President Koroma
Dear Sir: Letter of Complaint against Mr Moijue Kaikai, Deputy Minister of Labour, Employment & Industrial Relations
Please find herewith a Compact Disc containing a recording of a threatening remark against a journalist, Mr Melvin Rogers of Radio Wanjei in Pujehun, made by Mr Moijue Kaikai, the Deputy Minister of Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations.
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists and the Independent Radio Network are in utter shock and dismay at the content of the recording in which the Deputy Minister makes a thinly-veiled threat against the journalist. In our view this amounts to a threat against the life of the journalist by the minister.
Additionally, Your Excellency, the journalist’s mother, Madam Jenneh Masaquoi has reportedly received telephone calls from Mr Kaikai threatening to “deal with†her son, which has left the old lady in panic and torment. We consider these incidents as an assault on the journalist and a psychological torture on his mother.
Mr Kaikai told us and the media that he took exception to a report filed by the journalist on Radio Democracy on Thursday 25 February 2010 alleging that he (Mr Kaikai) had visited Lugbu in the run-up to the recent Local Council by-election, contrary to your warning for “all persons who have nothing to do with the conduct of the election as well as non-residents…to avoid the electoral areaâ€.
Mr Kaikai exercised his right to reply on the same programme on the same radio station in which he admitted to visiting Lugbu. He, however, later called both the President of SLAJ and the Coordinator of the IRN taking exception to the journalist’s report. He was advised to report the matter to the Independent Media Commission which he refused to do and chose instead to do what clearly amounts to an attack on the journalist.
Your Excellency Sir, we crave your indulgence in this matter to protect the well-being of the journalist and to prove to Mr Kaikai that he is not above the law. We trust you will give this matter the serious consideration it deserves.
Signed Umaru Fofana, President, SLAJ Ransford Wright, Coordinator, IRNStay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
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