http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/world/africa/sierra-leone-defends-jailing-critic-of-ebola-response.html 2014-11-11 01:53:05 Sierra Leone Defends Jailing Critic of Ebola Response The attorney general in Sierra Leone said a prominent radio journalist had undermined the government’s effort to stop the disease’s spread. === Sierra Leone’s attorney general defended Franklyn B. Kargbo, Sierra Leone’s senior law enforcement official, accused the radio host David Tam-Baryoh of undermining the effort to stop the disease’s spread by making “disparaging and inflammatory statements” about the government’s work “that in no way would aid the collective efforts we are making as a nation in the fight against the Ebola virus.” According to Mr. Kargbo, Mr. Tam-Baryoh’s statements were likely “to incite public hatred, disaffection and instability by inferring and making innuendos of the government using the ongoing constitutional review process to perpetuate itself in governance rather than fighting the Ebola virus disease.” Jarrah Kawusu-Konte, a spokesman for the president, shared Mr. Tam-Baryoh was detained last week after the broadcast of his weekly program, “Monologue,” was halted. It had contained a discussion in which questions were asked about the possible abuse of quarantine powers in one area of the country and whether President Ernest Bai Koroma would seek to extend his term in office. The journalist apparently referred as well to the possibility of an uprising against Mr. Koroma like the recent one in nearby Burkina Faso if the president tried to stay on. “His insinuation of recent events in Burkina Faso to be replicated in Sierra Leone, a country still reeling from a very devastating conflict and presently dealing with an Ebola epidemic of unparalleled magnitude,” Mr. Kargbo argued, was “not only distasteful, but an attempt to provoke unrest.” The president used his One of Mr. Tam-Baryoh’s friends The presidential spokesman, Mr. Kawusu-Konte, Mr. Koroma, during a visit to a northern district, said Friday, “We do not want people to preach tribalism, hatred and division in the country, pretending to be criticizing government on the handling of Ebola.” The crackdown on dissent comes amid concern that the nation’s health ministry has been underreporting the number infected with Ebola. More than 200 new cases were registered by officials in the past two days, according to On Monday, the Irish musician Bob Geldof Artists in Sierra Leone, led by the producer Jimmy B, released a song about the disease, “