By Davida Spaine-Solomon
Freetown, 8th October, 2026 — The Ministry of Information and Civic Education has held a national conference to develop a sustainable funding model for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), under the theme “Ring-Fencing Funding for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation.” Officials stressed that predictable financing is essential to strengthening the broadcaster’s editorial independence and nationwide public-service mandate.
The conference, held at the Miatta Conference Centre in Freetown on 8th September, 2026, brought together government officials, media stakeholders and other actors to examine how SLBC can secure reliable funding while maintaining public accountability and editorial independence.
Speaking at the conference, the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernoh Bah, said sustainable financing remains one of the biggest challenges facing SLBC, despite ongoing efforts to renovate its facilities, improve staff welfare, strengthen programming and secure external support for new studios and equipment. “We cannot build the national broadcaster Sierra Leone needs without predictable, sufficient and sustainable financing,” Bah emphasized.
He argued that a strong public broadcaster is particularly important in reaching communities that commercial media may struggle to serve, including remote chiefdoms and rural areas.
He said SLBC must provide reliable information, accommodate local languages, promote national cohesion and support civic education while maintaining editorial independence and public accountability.
The Minister said government is considering several options for financing SLBC, including predictable budgetary support, legislative measures and a possible dedicated public broadcasting fund. He said any financing mechanism must be transparent, affordable and capable of protecting SLBC’s public-service mandate.
He also called for clear accountability so citizens could see how much the broadcaster receives, how funds are spent and what services are delivered.
The minister further acknowledged the institutional challenges created by the separation of information and communications responsibilities, given the close links between broadcasting, telecommunications, spectrum and infrastructure. He said future financing arrangements must, therefore, consider the wider information and communications ecosystem.
Bah also pointed to the unfinished SLBC building as another major infrastructure challenge. He said construction of the facility began in the 1970s but was abandoned in the early 1980s. The structure, he said, contains more than 50 rooms and a large auditorium and could potentially accommodate modern studios, production facilities, training spaces, archives and other activities.
However, he said government must first determine the building’s structural viability, rehabilitation cost and the financing model that would protect the public interest. “The perfect cannot be the enemy of the good,” Bah said, calling for practical solutions to longstanding infrastructure challenges.
Bah urged participants at the conference to move beyond identifying SLBC’s problems and produce credible financing options, legislative recommendations and clear implementation timelines.
The Director-General of SLBC, Josephine Kamara, outlined the corporation’s current operational challenges, including ageing transmission and studio equipment, high power and generator costs, inadequate digital infrastructure, maintenance pressures and uneven capacity across regional stations.
She said SLBC continues to provide national radio and television services, regional programming, civic education, public information and coverage of major national events, while its presence on Facebook, YouTube, X, Instagram and TikTok has expanded its reach beyond terrestrial broadcasting.
However, Kamara said infrastructure and resource constraints continue to affect the corporation’s reliability and ability to expand its services.
She also highlighted the growing cost of maintaining obsolete equipment, strengthening regional stations and investing in servers, digital archiving, streaming and integrated newsroom-production systems.
According to the SLBC management, the corporation’s public-service obligations extend beyond what commercial revenues could reasonably support, including rural broadcasting, regional programming, elections, emergency communication, national events and civic education.
Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Bockarie Abdel Aziz Bayoh, said the initiative is part of broader efforts to strengthen public access to information, civic participation and accountability.
He said recommendations from various commissions of inquiry had highlighted gaps in public information and civic awareness, making a stronger public broadcaster critical to ensuring citizens understand government decisions, their rights and responsibilities.
Bayoh said the government’s objective is to reposition SLBC as a genuine public broadcaster that serves citizens rather than being driven primarily by political, commercial or corporate interests.
“We need a democratic public broadcaster that provides citizens with information that serves the public interest,” he said.
He added that while advertising and other commercial revenues could support SLBC, stating that they could not reliably finance universal coverage, infrastructure development and other public-service obligations.
On digital transition, the Minister identified Sierra Leone’s unfinished transition from analogue to digital broadcasting as one of the major challenges requiring significant investment. According to Bah, preliminary studies had been completed and the most conservative estimate for the transition is about US$50 million.
He said digital broadcasting could expand the number of channels, improve sound and picture quality, create opportunities for new content producers and release valuable spectrum for other uses, including mobile broadband.
However, he stressed that the transition would require investment in transmission infrastructure, technical capacity, governance arrangements and public awareness, including ensuring households access the technology needed to receive digital broadcasts.
Bah said that government must now develop a fully funded national plan for the transition.
Minister Bah urged participants to move beyond identifying SLBC’s problems and produce credible financing options, legislative recommendations and clear implementation timelines.
He said the conversation must continue beyond the conference through engagement with Parliament, the private sector, communities and citizens across the country.
“The future of the national broadcaster cannot be the responsibility of a politician or one minister alone. It should be a national commitment,” Bah said.
