Media practitioners in Kenema city are accusing the eastern region president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Paul Kenei Joseph, of allegedly embezzling two million Leones received from SLAJ secretariat in Freetown.
But Mr Joseph said, “I know nothing about that money,” adding that he got similar information from Mr Jonathan Vandi who is the SLENA boss in Kenema.
He disclosed that SLAJ had a plan to recruit ten journalists in each of the regions to monitor the elections but did not get official confirmation from Freetown.
The media in Kenema were informed by SLAJ’s National Public Relations Officer, Edward Marrah in an interview with Eastern Radio in Kenema before the elections, “that (SLAJ) has trained 40 journalists to monitor the elections nationwide.”
Also the chairman of SLAJ’s monitoring group, Unisa Sesay, in a meeting held at SLENA conference hall in Kenema before the elections said plans were afoot to recruit ten journalists from each of the regions to monitor the past elections, he revealed.
When contacted SLAJ’s vice chairman eastern region, Mohamed Vandi, said he also got that information from some colleagues that ten journalists were to be recruited in the region to monitor the elections.
He said upon hearing this information he informed the chairman Paul Joseph who immediately made contacts to get confirmation from the national secretariat in Freetown but did not get any positive feedback up to the time for the elections.
He accused the head office of always putting them in funny positions, as the provinces are least considered in many issues.
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