Vice-President Ahmed Afif and Designated Minister Jean-Francois Ferrari met this morning with the CEO and Deputy CEO of SBC as well as two members of the Board of Directors to express concerns at the accusations levelled against Minister Antony Derjacques in the program ‘Lopinyon’ aired on Monday this week.

 
This program levelled a number of unjustified accusations against Minister Derjacques, following a traffic accident in which the minister was involved two weeks ago where a Police Officer was injured.

VP Afif impressed upon the SBC management that it had a duty to treat all citizens with fairness even if the citizen was a Minister in the Government. He reminded them that each and every person deserved to be considered innocent until and if the Courts of law decided otherwise.  The VP insisted that this administration was functioning under the rule of law and as such every citizen was to be considered equal and given the same treatment which, in this case, the Police did.

“The Government wishes to reiterate its total commitment to the freedom of the press and the freedom for all journalists to operate without restrictions. However, it is the wish of Government to see fair and balanced reporting at all times especially by the official media that bears a heavy responsibility to educate and inform our population.

 
The SBC management recognized the issues raised by the Government. It has committed to discuss the matter with the Board of Directors.