By Foday Moriba Conteh
The Sierra Leone Scouts Association (SLSA) has on Friday 20th November, 2020, during a Press Conference held at its National Headquarters in New England Ville, Freetown, unequivocally condemn the recording and broadcast of the Sierra Leone Scouts Association Headquarters on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation Television on Wednesday 18th November 2020, without the due permission of the Association.
This reaction came after the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation stated that the Association is using the said building as a religious place rather than using it as an office of which the Sierra Leone Scouts Association, a description referred to as malicious with the intent of bringing the Association to ridicule.
In his address, the National President of the Sierra Leone Scouts Association (SLSA) expressed dissatisfaction over the recording and display of the Sierra Leone Scouts Association Headquarters on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation Television without the due permission of the Association.
He disclosed how the Association has an active membership of 20,765 scouts, with effective administrative and governance structures in every district across the geographical boundaries of Sierra Leone.
The national President stated that by the statutory provision of SLSA, the sitting President of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the Chief Patron of the Association and from inception to date, the Ministry of Social Welfare has and is still the supervisory Ministry of the Association.
He revealed that the building in question was initially allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture but after few years it was allocated to the SLBC as Regional office. During the construction of the new Police Station at New England Ville the same building was allocated to the Sierra Leone Police. The Police later left the building and transferred to the new Police Station and since then they have been occupying the building in question.
Dr. Duramani Lakkoh stated how he noted the unfriendly publicity given to the image of the SLSA headquarters at New England Ville, Freetown, on SLBC Television and on Social media and in that regard said the leadership of the Association wishes to inform the general public that the property in question was legitimately allocated to the Sierra Leone Scouts Association by the Accommodation Committee, Office of the President in 2016 as replacement for the Sierra Leone Scouts Association’s Headquarters with land space of Plan L.O.A. 3684, Surveys No. SLS 3/98 and correspondence file No SLS 112/61 dated 2nd June 1968 that was allocated by the Government to the National Electoral Commission.
Furthermore, he said in February 2009, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) wrote to the former President of the Republic of Sierra Leone for relocation of the SL Scouts Association as the construction of the new NEC building will affect the SLSA headquarters and their land space and on 7th June 2014, the leadership of SLSA received an official letter (Ref: OP/BF/59/266/01) from the Office of the President for a relocation to the old SLBC Regional building at New England Ville with effect from the 20th June 2014, and the Scout leadership responded accordingly.
He noted that it was against that background that the leadership and entire membership of the Sierra Leone Scouts Association expressed unreserved disappointment in the Management of the SLBC for recording and broadcasting the SLSA headquarters on both the national broadcaster television and on social media without the consent of the Scout Association as legal occupants of a Government structure with authentic documents.
He also pointed out that the Sierra Leone Scouts Association is one of the oldest and undoubtedly the largest youth organisations in Sierra Leone, founded in 1909 and that the Association is a legitimate corporate body of the Republic of Sierra Leone, established by Parliamentary Act 47, 1963 as a voluntary youth association furthering that the Association was established from the desire of the founder of the Scouting Movement, Lord Baden-Powell to improve society through the development of the characters and skills of young people to become good citizens in society.
“As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, the membership of SLSA voluntarily contributed towards the fight against the Ebola scourge through social mobilization and Psycho Social Support. The SLSA also provided 2,576 scouts across the country to support the Government and the people of Sierra Leone to fight COVID-19 through social mobilization,” he underscored.
He added that on the 7th November 2020, three hundred and seventy (370) scouts voluntarily undertook a cleaning exercise on a 5 kilometers piece of land at the Lumley beach.
He said that the Association therefore demand public apology from the Management of SLBC for the unhealthy media exposure of their image and their hard-earned reputation.
