by Chrispus C. Macauley
The Media Reform Coordinating Group Sierra Leone (MRCG-SL), with support from the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), has concluded a one-day training for journalists on Transitional Justice.
The training was held at the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Headquarters with the Theme: “Changing the Narrative on Transitional Justice in Sierra Leone.
While expanding on the training, the National Coordinator of the Media Reform Coordinating Group Sierra Leone, Dr. Francis Sowa, dilated on the importance of the training as it is geared towards engaging the media and communities to change the narrative on Transitional Justice issues in Sierra Leone, with a focus on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recommendations.
He noted that a similar training has also been done in Makeni and Bo for media practitioners.
Dr. Francis Sowa furthered that the purpose they undertook such a project was that some of the issues that led to the civil war in the country have started reoccurring, and, according to him, media practitioners have not been adequately reporting issues related to transitional justice.
The MRCG Coordinator pointed out that the project aims to change the narrative on transitional justice issues by using two mechanisms working with the media on reporting transitional justice issues, and community engagements.
He stressed that the project was a success at Mile 91 community, where they had engaged with Radio Baft on reporting monthly radio programs on transitional justice.
“We had this training in the South and Eastern regions for journalists in the North and Northwest regions, and today we are having it in the Western area, and after this, the next part of engagement in this transitional justice discourse is to develop or put together a team of mentees that will be working with mentors producing stories on transitional justice,” Dr. Sowa revealed.
Dr. Sowa expresses that the beneficiaries were trained and equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively show how transitional justice works.
President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, applauded the MRCG for rolling out such training and encouraged journalists to take the training seriously, as reporting on transitional justice issues is very key for the peace of the nation.
He advised journalists to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report and how they should be making references to the Report while reporting issues about transitional justice, maintaining that after the training, they should be reporting TJ issues to raise awareness among citizens.
Dr. Tonya Musa, Lecturer of the FBC Mass Communication Department, who was one of the trainers, taught Transitional Justice Mechanisms, Media, and Transitional Justice, defining transitional justice as ‘how society responds to legacies of massive and serious human rights violations’
He noted that after the ten years of the senseless Civil War, there was a need for peacebuilding, and moving from the period of crime to the period of building and consolidating the peace, and that period is called transition. He maintained that different countries have their transitional justice.
He revealed that after the war, there was a Commission that was set, called the Truth-telling, stating how that truth-telling healed the past of victims and also gave them the confidence to face life again.
Dr. Musa told participants that transitional justice encourages people to tell the truth as a way of healing their wounds. He said that during the Truth and Reconciliation, the popular slogan was “Kam blow you mind, kam clear your chest”
The training was climaxed by group work and group presentations on identifying transitional justice issues in Sierra Leone. Many issues were identified and recommendations on how to solve them were proffered by participants.
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