As Parliament scrutinizes IMC presidential nominees, Salone Youths Mob Youngest Commissioner in Parliament By Aruna Turay Dozens of young people from all across the country yesterday 3rd November 2014 stormed the Sierra Leone House of Parliament in solidarity with the youngest of all the newly appointed presidential nominees for the position of Commissioner of the Independent Media Commission (IMC), Alhaji Dauda Musa Bangura. The latter was joyfully ushered into the Parliamentary Committee Room No.1 of the House of Parliament, where very seasoned Members of Parliament (MPs) representing the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment and Public Service were all set to thoroughly scrutinize nominees on their educational background, working experience, track records and asset declaration among other things. It can be recalled that the nominees were appointed on Tuesday 21st October 2014 by His Excellency President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, with the mandate of regulating and monitoring the country’s media as established by an Act of Parliament. A section of the letter of appointment from the president to the nominees reads: “I have the honour to inform you that in accordance with Section 4(2) of the Independent Media Commission Act 2008 as amended, it has pleased His Excellency the President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma to appoint you as Member, Independent Media Commission (IMC) subject to the approval of Parliament. Your appointment which is for a three (3) year period, will take effect from the date you report for duty.” Sitting confidently before the respectable panel of MPs yesterday, Alhaji Bangura eloquently responded to questions fired at him from all the MPs in the panel. This raised a situation that led to murmuring as the youthful audience cheers the young man for being very eloquent and could not stop the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Chernoh Maju Bah, who was also a member of the Committee, from hitting his desk calling for celebrating young people to exercise some amount of decorum and allow the young nominee to answer the questions as asked. The audience in another instance caught in joy when Alhaji Bangura carefully narrated to the panel methods he wish to put in place to ensure that the Commission’s mandates are effectively implemented in regulating and monitoring the media landscape should he be approved by the Committee. With wealth of maturity and experience, Alhaji Dauda Musa Bangura is a graduate from Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone and still remains Sierra Leone’s youngest Newspaper Publisher if not the sub-region. He has worked in various media houses both electronic and print, including Galaxy Radio in Lungi, where he served as Program Manager. He worked at the Torchlight Newspaper as Staff Writer and at the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources as Public Relations Officer. Alhaji Bangura is also a very senior member of the Prince of Wales School Old Boys Association. He was one time Director of Communications at the Ministry of Public and Political Affairs. He was also Public Relations Officer of the Sierra Leone Reporters Union and Sole Proprietor of Owl Newspaper (published daily on print and online). In a snap interview with this reporter after the session, Alhaji Bangura commended President Ernest Bai Koroma for appointing him in such a responsible Commission. He used the forum as an opportunity to call on his colleague journalists especially the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) to work with the IMC to enhance the development of the media in Sierra Leone, whilst assuring the best of his capability to serve in the new office.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 18:26:56 +0000
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