Smearing Campaign Against Umaru Fofana Faces a Brick Wall 

By Amin Kef Sesay

One of Sierra Leone’s seasoned and renowned media practitioners, Umaru Fofana, who reports for the British Broadcasting Corporation, (BBC), has once again become the target of vilification and malicious propaganda by certain individuals who do consider his reports on happenings in the country as bias and devoid of the truth.

As far as they are concerned Umaru Fofana has failed to be an independent BBC journalist bordering their assertion on him being sympathetic to the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). This group of individuals, holding such views, are allegedly said to be desperate supporters of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Party and include a small entity that recently staged a protest in front of the BBC Bush House against the BBC reporter.

This latest move has ignited a lot of reactions in various quarters and is awash on social media platforms with the majority condemning the action of the protesters and hailing Umaru Fofana as a professional journalist.

One of the institutions that have reacted to what they termed “an untoward and cowardly move” is the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), of whom Umaru Fofana was an erstwhile President.

SLAJ says it is seriously concerned about the persistent online verbal attacks against its former President. Mr. Umaru Fofana, and is calling on those behind such calculated smear campaigns to desist forthwith. It furthered that Mr. Fofana has come under serious verbal attacks for doing his work as a BBC reporter, putting his personality and safety at risk. The Association pointed out that a small group of Sierra Leoneans living in London reportedly demonstrated against Mr. Fofana in front of the BBC office at Bush House.

It continued that quite recently a group of people who claimed to be members of the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) Party posted online that they had filed a formal complaint against Mr. Fofana to the BBC and to the International Criminal Court for what they described as “biased reporting of political events in Sierra Leone”.

SLAJ stated that these individuals further accused Mr. Fofana of being a card-carrying member of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and threatened the BBC reporter that he’s going to “pay severely for all that he has caused on the Sierra Leonean people”.

The Association furthered that it could be also recalled that in 2018, audios with invectives and threats against Mr. Fofana’s life were posted on social media by authors who claimed they were supporters/members of the APC party. SLAJ says as far as it is concerned, Umaru Fofana, is one of the finest and upright journalists of our time, one of the best Sierra Leone has ever produced.

According to members, he has over the years exhibited himself as a true professional and has earned the admiration of both local and international journalists.

SLAJ maintains that such attacks on Fofana’s personality and threat to his safety are very worrying and urged the Sierra Leone Police to investigate the matter and ensure their colleague is assured of his freedom and safety to practice his profession.

Equally, SLAJ also called on the Executive of the APC party to publicly condemn and distance itself from those group of people claiming to be members of their party.

“This is a baseless and calculated smear campaign against Fofana, and those behind this should be ashamed of themselves. Rather than being victimised Fofana should be widely commended for the wonderful work he is doing as a professional journalist held in high esteem by his colleagues locally and internationally, “said SLAJ President, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla.

On his part, Umaru Fofana, stated that one of the commentaries he heard from a video from the stage-managed BBC protest was that he did not report the violent protests in Makeni that led to killings or the central prison riots and the ensuing shooting dead of some inmates. Or even the Lunsar and Tombo incidents that also led to loss of life.

Reacting he said anyone who cares to know knows that’s false as he reported on the first two incidents as they happened adding that with the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on his movement, he set up the Government Spokesman and the APC Secretary General for a presenter-led interview from London.

He highlighted that what he did not do was to report the lies which certain interests wanted him to report.

“As journalists it behooves us to show the difference between lies or propaganda on the one hand and facts or truth on the other. In other words we report what is verifiable and not the figment of someone’s imagination,” Umaru Fofana maintained.

With regards to what he referred to as “the other lie – that I’m a card-carrying member of the SLPP” he won’t dignify with a response saying it is so preposterous that even the liars know it to be false.

Like dropping a bomb Umaru said : “I understand why my journalism has obsessed some people. I am the most trusted source of information in the country – and I say this with all humility. I can’t recall when last a journalist dominated the profession this much for this long in our country. And this goes way beyond my reporting for the BBC. My social media posts are gospel truths even to the critics. So both – or all – sides want me to paint things as they desire. The truth is I am trusted for a reason and I won’t betray that hence won’t allow anyone to control my reporting. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow”.

He affirmed that while he believes and defends people’s right to protest and to subject him to unprecedented scrutiny he cannot sit back and allow the actions or utterances of certain individuals, however insignificant in number, to put him and his family in danger adding that such actions do not diminish his standing, which he considers impenetrable but said they open his family up to physical harm which obviously concerns and even worries him.

“I have said before and I say again, I will NEVER flee Sierra Leone. Not under any circumstance,” Umaru Fofana stated with determination.