This was the promise made to the families and loved ones of citizens and others whose lives have been lost under the Julius Maada Bio regime.
Since 2018 many protesting and non-protesting citizens of Sierra Leone have been shot across the country for attempting to access their democratic franchise at polling stations and their rights to freely speak, express, choose, associate, assemble, and march.
The concerned citizens and civil society activists stated that as tomorrow will be the day for the national town hall meeting to discuss peace and cohesion in Sierra Leone, the people of Sierra Leone and indeed the world should know that under president Julius Maada Bio the country has experienced a shrinking of the democratic space, the spilling of innocent blood, the passing of laws that act more as a detriment than a benefit to the society, corruption, and the biased application of the rule of law.
“As long as he has taken an oath on the Holy Bible, president Bio will face justice. If he escapes the human court of justice, he will not escape true Justice, which is one of God’s many names. The Lord is righteous and just. Sadly, when people take oaths on the holy books they don’t have respect for the word of God. They take their oaths lightly and consider the holy books as trash,” said one of the civil society activists dealing with the justice sector.
The activists reminded that after taking their oaths and assuming their positions, our leaders routinely flout the laws and do so with impunity, while all along failing to learn from bad leaders here at home and abroad who had to face justice, legal or from God, before their inglorious passing into the next world.
“Since we are discussing why Sierra Leone is not a stable society, we should start with speaking the truth and speaking the truth to our leaders. The president should remember what happened to Foday Sankoh. During the brutal days of his RUF, Sankoh and his men murdered thousands of innocent people. Despite his illegal rise to state positions as close as the vice president of the nation, Foday Sankoh faced justice. He was killed and died like a pauper,” another civil society activist reposted.
After his overthrow after a military coup in 1997, President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah found refuge like Joseph Saidu Momoh before him, in neighbouring Guinea. But unlike Momoh who was also deposed in a 1992 military coup, Kabbah approved military intervention to restore him back to power, and is alleged to have famously said “even if there are birds and trees left I will rule over them.” Momoh famously refused military intervention to restore him to power; that he wouldn’t stand to see the death of one civilian.
There was an intervention to restore Kabbah back to power that resulted to much bloodletting. After he was returned to power, Kabbah, against advice from local and international leaders not limited to the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, called for the prosecution that resulted to the execution of 24 soldiers in 1998. The soldiers were killed and buried in a mass grave without being granted their right to appeal the verdict.
“Our president must be reminded that although he didn’t face justice in human court, God’s justice against the late president Tejan Kabbah is evident for all to see. Starting with Kabbah’s family the Lord’s justice eventually met the old man himself. Now all of his sweat is being enjoyed by others and not the family he fought, built and saved for,” a female member of the activists stated.
Failing to learn from the bloody experiences of his predecessors and from his days as part of two junta regimes, president Bio continued with the violent narratives of the 1990s that were ushered by him and his cohorts.
“After they overthrew President Joseph Saidu Momoh in 1992, the NPRC regime headed by Captain Valentine Strasser, Julius Maada Bio and others, executed Police Commissioner Bambay Kamara and others in the most brutal and heartless manner. Up to today the families and friends of the executed are calling for justice. After things settled, Bio overthrew Strasser and handed power over to President Kabbah. Bio allegedly left this country with a huge sum of money. After that money finished he came back seeking political power as the Tormentor. After failing several times he finally succeeded, this time as PAOPA, in 2018,” one of the justice advocates narrated.
However, since 2018 many civilians have lost their lives to the barrels of guns from state security officers. The president has never spoken against these state sponsored, directed and approved killings as no one has been charged with these deaths, prompting the justice advocates to surmise that “someone will have to face justice for this.”
“And that person will be president Bio. He is the head of the government body and nothing happens in the body without the head knowing. This is where collective guilt comes in. He didn’t fire the shots at Makeni, at Pademba Road Prison, at Tombo, Koidu, Lunsar, Mile 98, Tonko Limba and on August 10 and September 11, but as the protector of the people and our constitution, he has failed to ensure justice for the dead and still have those that pulled the trigger in the government’s employ thereby approving of their deeds. Under President Bio we have seen more deaths of people he swore on the Bible to protect, we have seen the passing of bad laws that work against constitutionality for a president that swore on oath to God to protect the constitution, we have seen rising theft of the people’s purse by government workers whose spending of our money was not debated by Parliament from 2018 to 2023, and to top it all after he was declared president we still don’t know how and if our votes were counted in 2023 because the electoral commissioner has refused to publish the voting record. President Bio’s time will come for him to face justice,” assured another civil society advocate.
The activists said that no matter what amount of money the Maada Bios are alleged to have kept in foreign banks, “they must be reminded that the long arm of justice will reach them. It reached Foday Sankoh, Kabbah and it will meet Bio.”
“Commenting on tomorrow’s town hall, we hope that it will not be a one day, one city event. If we care about justice this will be a yearlong event with one per district per month. This way people from across the country will be given a chance to tell their stories that have led to our present state of insecurity and lack of peace and national cohesion,” a female activist concluded.