Event Summary
The Independent Media Commission has ruled that the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) unlawfully terminated journalist Umu Thoronka: a decision media advocates say represents an important step toward fairness and accountability in the country’s media sector. She was terminated because she posted a video to her TikTok account. The video documented an incident at a Presidential Town Hall Meeting in which a woman was publicly humiliated for questioning President Julius Maada Bio about the rising cost of living and food prices in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) management deemed the video critical of the President, and it led to Ms. Thoronka’s dismissal.
Following three hearings that began in November 2024, the Commission concluded that SLBC “failed to exercise due diligence in handling the termination process.” The IMC subsequently ordered the broadcaster to compensate Thoronka. The IMC reached this conclusion during its meeting on 25 February 2026, but this was made public few weeks after. The media advocacy group Women in the Media Sierra Leone (WIMSAL) has called on SLBC to comply promptly with the ruling. This is a positive stride within the media landscape and encourage the need of protection of women in the media, freedom of expression and press freedom.
Reacting to the ruling, WIMSAL President Eastina Taylor said the decision reinforces the need for fairness and respect for women journalists in the workplace. “This ruling affirms that women journalists deserve fairness, dignity and respect in the workplace,” Taylor said, urging SLBC to comply with the commission’s directive and demonstrate accountability within the sector. Thoronka’s lawyer, Paul Kamara, described the decision as a restoration of his client’s dignity and confirmed that the matter will also proceed before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice. The case filed by the Kennedy Human Rights Center and WIMSAL alleges that Thoronka’s rights to dignity, freedom of expression and fair working conditions were violated. Advocates say that while the IMC ruling represents a significant victory, further steps are needed to address sexual harassment and strengthen protections for journalists in Sierra Leone’s media sector.
This decision depicts a positive outcome by the Independent Media Commission to rule against the SLBC, two government institution, and shows the rule of law can be upheld and respected when common sense is considered.
However, this event is related to several developments concerning freedom of expression, media freedom and civil society activities. Similar incidents happened in the past with the detention by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Thomas Dixon, Chairman of the Guild of Newspaper Editors and publisher of the New Age Newspaper, for reporting on a suit by NASSIT against Leone Rock Metal Group, recent manhandling of an African Young Voice Television (AYV TV) reporter by Police officers in Freetown, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) staff brutally assaulting the Editor for the Open Space Newspaper, Speaker of Parliament’s ban on Melvin Tejan Mansaray, Thomas Dixon going into hiding after calling out the Inspector General of police’s overreach on his Facebook page, and Dutch journalist Sophie Van Leeuwen arrested and detained by the Sierra Leone Police after she was in the country investigating Jos Leijdekkers story that as a fugitive drug lord, he is hiding in Sierra Leone. Related events in the past year also include the arbitrary arrest and detention of civil society activist Thomas Babadi, together with Wadi Williams, a politician, in December 2024 for a planned protest. Many believe this pattern of silencing dissent and targeting its critics is part of this broader trend of democratic backsliding.