FREETOWN, Sep. 13 (232News) – Following an interference into Sierra Leone Parliament Press Gallery by the Clerk of Parliament, Umar Paran Tarawally, West African Parliamentary Press Corps (WAPPC) has in a letter to the Clerk expressed its dissatisfaction over the interference of Parliament into the affairs of the Press Gallery.

The letter dated 9th September stated that WAPPC as a responsible sub-regional  body of parliamentary  reporters believed that the involvement of parliament in the reconstitution of the Press Gallery executive in the absence of any election  is a gross violation of article 32 of the ECOWAS Protocol On Democracy and Good Governance entered into by member states.

That for the purpose of clarity, article 32 under section V11 on page 18 of the document seeks to uphold the rule of law, human right and good governance with member states agreeing, “ that good governance and press freedom are essential for preserving, social justice, preventing conflict, guaranteeing political stability and peace and for strengthening democracy.”

They stated that their position is that the reconstitution of the Sierra Leone Press Gallery by parliament not only interferes with the independence of the media and undermines press freedom, but also speak poorly of the integrity of parliament to entrench democratic ideal in it day to day dealing with the media and the public.

“Accordingly, in keeping with our responsibility as a professional body, charged with regulating the professional conduct of parliamentary journalists in the West-African Subregion, we express our interest to set in motion, all necessary machineries that will lead to a final resolutions of all pending issues between Parliament and the Press Gallery and immediately see to the conduct of a transparent election to produce a new executive for the latter three months from now,” the letter revealed.

Meanwhile upon receiving the Reformation Committee Report of Sierra Leone Parliamentary Press Gallery (SLPPG),  Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) in collaboration with Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) and Guild of Newspaper Editors (GoNE-SL) has set up two separate committees- Finance and Constitution