By Fayia J. Moseray
Claim
A viral press notice circulated widely on numerous Sierra Leonean-owned social media accounts, including — Facebook and WhatsApp pages – purportedly coming from the country’s Local Government Ministry, indicated thus: “Below are villages qualified to stand alone.”
Background
A viral press release which has been widely circulated on social media, especially by numerous Facebook users/accounts, as seen below, claims that the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA), was proposing the “separation of a number of submerged villages or communities in the Freetown Municipality, including — villages located in Western Area Urban and Rural zones”.
The notice has received widespread circulation on numerous Facebook pages, as evidenced here and here.
The press notice has equally attracted mixed reactions from numerous Facebook users, referencing largely the essence and authenticity of the notice’s subject matter.
Some villages captured in the viral press notice, spanning across both Western Area urban and rural communities within the Freetown Municipality, included but not limited to the undermentioned villages:
i. Tree Planting to be separated from Leicester Community
ii. Black Johnson to be separated from John Obey
iii. During Town to be separated from Kerry Town
And the list goes on…as evidenced in the viral notice.
Away from the above-referenced Facebook news outlets who’d shared the notice with their numerous followers, ManoReporters’ Verification Team also cited the notice on the official Facebook page of a local Community Development expert with the user name: Issa Kargbo.
Probed whether he verified the notice before posting on his Facebook page, he responded that he’d not confirmed the viral notice yet, but however indicated ‘hope’ that the notice eventually turns out to be ‘true’.
“I’m yet to confirm as stated but if it happens to be true then it is a win for us,” Issa noted.
But, does that make the said notice to be authentic?
ManoReporters Verification Team’s Findings. . .
In the bid to ascertain the above question, including many other concerns the viral press notice has sparked, ManoReporters’ Verification Team decided to verify the authenticity of the notice — in order to set the records straight in the best interest of the public.
MR’s Verification Team contacted a staff at the Local Government Ministry.
The Information Officer for the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA) — Frederick Kanneh — debunked the viral press notice, strongly describing the notice as “fake” — via WhatsApp correspondence with Mano Reporters’ Verification Team.
Probed of a possible separation plan of the proposed villages from the existing ones, Kanneh strongly indicated that — if the need arises for such development initiative, the general public would be duly informed on the same.
“If that happens, we will get back to the general public, but as it stands, the viral notice is false,” Information Officer Kanneh told ManoReporters.
Yet, in the quest to further ascertain the authenticity of the viral press notice, the Verification Team also made a smart check through the official Facebook accounts of the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE), and the Ministry Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA) — (MoICE – responsible to communicate all government’s updates, while MLGCA – is in charge of government’s development trajectories locally).
The Verification Team couldn’t locate any information to corroborate the viral press notice — making rounds on social media, including — Facebook and WhatsApp pages.
Thus, if the said notice was authentic, either of the Ministries’ official Facebook accounts would have since updated the general public.
Conclusion
ManoReporters’ investigation results, by every indication, strongly revealed that the viral press notice, proposing the separation of the referenced villages or communities within the Freetown Municipality — to be considered as — ‘stand alone’ villages, purportedly from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, is false!
