To be a journalist today in Sierra Leone, especially in the last five years of Bio’s presidency is very challenging for the few genuine journalists. This is due to the incompetence of the body responsible for ethics and professionalism. What a shameless display of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists SLAJ regarding the authentic letter from the International Criminal Court ICC that invited the illegitimate Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio! “Pathetic for SLAJ to lie again,” patriotic Sierra Leoneans fumed with rage. SLAJ’s recent show of blind support for the illegal SLPP regime of Julius Maada Bio was not only incorrect but the journalist association has also clearly shown its nakedness and unprofessional conduct, a far cry from a media association that used to be neutral and seeker of national interests, rather than a public relations tool to trumpet the failed SLPP government. (Photo: Inept SLAJ President Nasralla is in the pocket of Maada Bio).

The majority of journalists and media houses in Sierra Leone nowadays are corrupt to the core. Sadly, the disgraced SLAJ has become the mouthpiece and vuvuzela of the Bio presidency. Otherwise, SLAJ would not have hurriedly denounced the invitation letter from the International Criminal Court ICC by describing it as a fake. Like other vuvuzelas that quickly dubbed the ICC invitation letter of Maada Bio as fake, SLAJ has further discredited what it stood for i.e. undermining the handful of genuine journalists and media houses in Sierra Leone today. Ultimately, the ICC letter to Bio turned out to be as accurate as the rain in the rainy season. The ICC letter was publicly accepted, reluctantly though, by the State House, the seat of power. The fakers and crackers who claim to be journalists shamefully jumped on the bandwagon to discredit the ICC letter that invited Maada Bio to meet the ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim AA Khan KC next month in New York. (Photo: Fakers tried to deceive the people).

It was no surprise that SLAJ was among the leading doubting Thomas’s that supported the Bio presidency after arrogantly blasting the authenticity of the ICC invitation letter, thus further denting its already tattered image inside and outside the country. SLAJ blatantly denied on their Twitter page that the press release came from the ICC for the invitation of illegitimate president RANKA Bio….@The Brain At Work. Later, after the doubters had made a U-turn to confirm the genuinity of the letter, the SLPP Vuvuzelas said it was an opportunity for ICC to meet Maada Bio. This is not an opportunity but a prosecution in the air. This has never happened before for a sitting President to be invited by the ICC. This is because of the immunity surrounding the presidency. Bio received the letter on August 19, but they hid it from the nation. Just four days after the CSLW petitioned Bio, the ICC wrote Bio. Today, all the Bio Vuvuzelas are sick, desperate, and confused as a result.

After strenuously denying the inevitable fact that the ICC has invited the illegal Bio to a meeting, the disgraced SLPP regime has finally confirmed receiving the invitation letter from the International Criminal Court. The SLPP regime’s delay in accepting the fact was because of the shock that the State House has experienced in the last couple of days since Maada Bio received the ICC letter dated 18 August 2023. This is the first time a sitting President has been invited by the ICC to discuss complaints of human rights abuses by his own people. As published recently in this newspaper, there was no doubt about the veracity of the letter even though SLPP supporters and even SLPP government officials were all over the place denying the reports on social media.  Last night, however, the Bio presidency let the cat out of the bag by agreeing finally that Maada Bio has indeed received the ICC invitation letter to meet with the ICC Chief Prosecutor Mr Karim AA Khan KC next month in New York. (Photo: The true ICC letter that SLAJ discredited).

The SLPP Information Minister Chernor Bah aka Ceebah belated confirmed the reports on his Twitter page. It reads thus: “The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has requested an opportunity to meet with President Bio to discuss Sierra Leone’s leadership with regard to matters related to the ICC and the country’s tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.” Sierra Leoneans are aware of the shock State House has experienced since Maada received the ICC letter. But it is also interesting to note how Chernor Bah is downplaying the seriousness of the ICC letter. This letter comes four days after Concerned Sierra Leoneans Worldwide presented a petition letter of complaint to the ICC in The Hague on August 14, 2023. The SLAJ President Sahid Ahmed Nasralla is now the worst SLAJ boss ever.