Executive Director of the Society for Democratic Initiatives, Dr. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai has urged the Government of Sierra Leone to review the Cybersecurity and Crime Act.
He made the call for a review of the Cybersecurity and Crime Act, which was enacted in the House of Parliament in 2021, two years ago, when he served as one of the panelists of the latest edition of the AYV on Sunday program.
Lawyer Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai’s Society for Democratic Initiatives is one of the few consistent organisations in Sierra Leone, which produces an annual State of Media Report capturing the steady progress and issues affecting the media landscape in the country and played a vital role towards the repeal of the 55-year-old criminal seditious law, which is Part V of the 1965 Public Order Act in 2020, during the first term of President Bio.
Dr Abdulai noted that the Cybersecurity and Crime Act 2021, is also a threat to freedom of expression in Sierra Leone, therefore, the government should see the need for a review, adding “There was a time I read a story on social media that a man had been sent to Pademba Road because he criticised or abused the President, we should move away from that and as a country, we are far beyond that level,” he admitted.
He further went on to encourage politicians to accept criticisms “As a politician, in as much as you have get into politics your skin should be thick. We should not use state institutions to punish people because they are critical. This is why the Cybersecurity and Crime Act has to be reviewed to open our democratic space. It is not only for media practitioners, it affects every citizen using social media, either by posting or sharing,” he accentuated.
Dr. Abdulai is also an author, within the last two years, two of his books have been published by the world-class publishing company – Palgrave Macmillan, Freedom of Information Law and Good Governance – The Curse of Corruption in Sierra Leone published in 2021, and his latest book – Electoral Politics, Laws and Ethnicity in Africa published this 2023.
