Lofa — The Management of the Alternative Youth Radio (AYR) in Lofa County has rejected a branded motorcycle donated to the institution by the county's Senator, Momo Cyrus.
Out of the 12 community radio stations in Lofa earmarked to receive one TVS motorcycle each from Senator Cyrus, the AYR was the only station that rejected the donation.
According to the station's manager James Kwabo, the gesture from the lawmaker was rejected due to his decision to tag his name on the motorcycle.
The TVS motorbike was branded: AYR 98.9FM DONATED BY: SENATOR CYRUS.
But speaking in an interview with FrontPage Africa via telephone on Monday, January 20, Kwabo pointed out that the acceptance of tagged or branded donations from politicians runs contrary to the policy of the station.
He noted that though the community radio station remains faced with logistical challenges and needs motorcycles to enable reporters to gather news and other information from hard-to-reach villages and towns, it would not accept a coded motorcycle from Senator Cyrus and any other politician.
He disclosed that his institution respectfully notified Senator Cyrus and his Chief of Staff (COS) Arthur Kowah on reasons why they didn't send a representative to receive the motorcycle at a turning over event held in Voinjama, but the office of Senator Cyrus has not seen the need to remove the tag.
"We respectfully declined to receive the motorcycle because after several negotiations with the Senator to understand our position, his team was not prepared to listen to us at the moment. We also reached out to him (Senator Cyrus) but there was no positive response from him concerning our decision and so, we came out publicly."
Policy
In the station's policy obtained by FrontPage Africa, the management sets clear conditions for donations.
It calls for AYR to only accept donations which align with its vision, mission and values and the donor does not seek to influence its editorial independence, decision-making, or policies.
It further calls for all donations to comply with applicable laws and ethical standards.
"AYR will not accept donations that come with conditions that compromise AYR's integrity or operations, originate from sources involved in illegal, unethical, or exploitative activities; are offered in exchange for advertising, undue influence, or editorial bias," the policy states.
It prohibits individual donors from branding their names on donated items to the station.
According to the policy, this is intended to ensure fairness, prevent favoritism and to avoid the perception of undue influence.
It allows corporate, organizations or institutions to brand items donated to the station in consultation with the management and void promotional and advertising languages.
The station also appreciates donors through its newsletters, reports, website, amongst others. Kwabo noted that the station has upheld this since its establishment in 2016.
He stated that the institution's policy on donations is intended to avoid being conflicted with its listeners and partners.
"Once it doesn't have any conflict with our policy, we don't reject donations. But what we do as a strict jacket procedure is that, we don't have you as an individual, especially those who are in clear political activities, donating to us and writing your names on a motorcycle or whatever item you are donating to us. That was the case with Senator Cyrus."
Kwabo emphasized that his institution appreciates the gesture from Senator Cyrus, but management cannot receive it in such a form.
Not honoring the policy
He said Senator Cyrus' COS Kowah reached out to him for the frequency of his radio station following the procuring of the motorcycles by his boss.
He added that though he made an inquiry and appealed against the coding of the motorcycle with the name of the lawmaker as the move runs contrary to his institution's policy, Senator Cyrus still went ahead and tagged the donation.
Kwabo stated that the decision taken by his institution to decline from accepting Senator Cyrus' motorcycle was intended to prevent the locals from questioning the station's credibility and reportage.
"If he (Cyrus) truly wants to give us this motorcycle with no string attached, he can give it to us without branding it. But they insisted that they couldn't do it. So, we respectfully decline."
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He noted that his station would have wholeheartedly received the donated motorcycle had it been donated through Senator Cyrus' security firm, SEGAL, and branded with the name of the radio station instead of the name of Senator Cyrus.
"When SEGAL as a corporate company was going to donate to us, we will have no issue accepting the SEGAL logo. We have given them two options but they still insist."
Kwabo emphasized that though his action has been greeted with mixed reactions amongst his fellow colleagues and the public, he has no regret for standing by the policy of his institution to refuse the branded motorcycle from Senator Cyrus.
"What I told my colleagues is that, we have no issue of you accepting your motorcycles; maybe your policy is different from ours-we can't chastise you for that. We respect your decision but our policy is saying that and I want you to respect our decision as well. This is not about us versus others. This is about policy differences. Let us respect each other."
