Journalists across the country on Tuesday celebrated the launch of the SLAJ Golden Jubilee Journalism Welfare Fund (JWF) in Freetown.
Studies have shown that 9 out of 10 journalists are considered to be poor.
The aim of the welfare fund is to provide financial assistance for journalists that are members of SLAJ basically those who are constrained to pay hospital bills, becoming destitute, locked up for factual challenges and struggling to provide burial rites.
The president of Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) , Ahmed SahidNasralla said that over the years conscious and genuine efforts had been made to ensure that the welfare of journalists iscatered for, adding that the welfare fund would also support professional and independent journalism.
He added the fund would provide remedial relief for journalists during emergency, noting that with its journalist would be able to expose corruption in governance, which would help democracy to survive.
Keynote speaker, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone, Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi said that the fund is essential for journalistsbecause it would play critical role in the protections of journalists.
He mentioned that with the fund journalists would be able to effectively monitored the government, adding that it would enhance vibrant society and financial viability.
The chairman of the occasion, Dr. Victor Massaquoi said that a thesis surveyed shows that 9 out of 10 journalists are considered to be poor, adding that they are faced with financial stress and are battling with social economic status.
He added that the venture of SLAJ would purge the challenges of journalists that society expected them to be. He said that poverty had caused some journalists to become unprofessional.
By George M.O. Williams