{"id":15197,"date":"2023-03-04T17:16:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T17:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio"},"modified":"2023-03-04T17:40:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T17:40:37","slug":"i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace divergent views to allow growth of health societies.<\/p>\n<p>He made the remarks while presenting his keynote at the African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards in Balaclava, Mauritius.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must not be afraid of dissent or debate, but rather recognize that these are the hallmarks of a healthy society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cI am proud that no journalist in our country is jailed for practising journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to his argument, allowing criticism, divergent views would enable establishment of Democracy and rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that the freedom to speak one\u2019s mind, criticize the government and hold leaders accountable is not just a right but a vital part of any democracy,\u201d President Bio added.<\/p>\n<p>He said that Democracy and the rule of law are not foreign concepts to Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese concepts are rooted in the experiences and struggles of our people. Therefore, as Africans, we must embrace these principles not because they are imposed upon us, but because they are part of who we are,\u201d said Dr.Julius Maada Bio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is why, under my leadership, we have worked to create a culture of openness and transparency in Sierra Leone. We have repealed sedition libel laws, removed barriers to freedom of expression, and allowed a free press \u2013 essential for good governance and creating an informed citizenry,\u201d He noted.<\/p>\n<p>He also explained, \u201cWe have removed the shackles of repression and developed a culture of participation where all voices can be heard, and all people can contribute to nation-building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Bio, is primarily regarded as the father of Democracy in Sierra Leone due to his role in restoring party politics and Democracy in the country after years of military incursion in politics.<\/p>\n<p>The 11th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards, was held under the theme Reimagining Opportunities in a turbulent Time.<\/p>\n<p>The event also served as the platform for formally presenting the instruments of honour to Africans who emerged winners in the annual vote-based polls.<\/p>\n<p>The event had in attendance delegates from over 13 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, Liberia, Angola, Kenya, Congo DRC, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Namibia, among others.<\/p>\n<p>The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards is Africa\u2019s premier vote-based endorsement, reserved annually for the leading Africans contributing to promoting the Continent\u2019s progress and positively altering Africa\u2019s perceived negative image.<\/p>\n<p>The annual event has also become a platform for honouring people-centred leadership and Africans pursuing a pan-African agenda in their chosen fields of endeavour.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s event provides a platform to celebrate the Continent\u2019s merchants of hope, ready to lead an army of change agents and reformers, to build an Africa that works for everyone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\">Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace divergent views to allow growth of health societies. He made the remarks while presenting his keynote at the African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards in Balaclava, Mauritius. \u201cWe must not be afraid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":15196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,294],"tags":[291,293,292],"class_list":["post-15197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"860\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"515\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\"},\"wordCount\":487,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\",\"name\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio - Sierra Leone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg\",\"width\":860,\"height\":515,\"caption\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/\",\"name\":\"Sierra Leone\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio - Sierra Leone","description":"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio","og_description":"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","og_site_name":"Sierra Leone","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":860,"height":515,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio","datePublished":"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio"},"wordCount":487,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Sierra-Leone","Sierra-Leone"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio","name":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio - Sierra Leone","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-04T17:16:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-04T17:40:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Dr. Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has challenged his African counterparts to embrace diver ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677937959.61.jpg","width":860,"height":515,"caption":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/i-dont-arrest-journalists-for-criticizing-my-govt-president-bio#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018I Don\u2019t Arrest Journalists For Criticizing My Govt\u2019 \u2013 President Bio"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/","name":"Sierra Leone","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}