Sierra Leoneans from the US, UK, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and other parts of the world will stage a protest against President Julius Maada Bio at the UN headquarters in New York for election rigging, human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings.
The planned protest will coincide with the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) meeting to be held this month. Protests were recently held in the United States, UK,  EU parliament and quite recently the International Criminal Court (ICC) headquarters at the Hague where a letter was delivered in respect of human rights abuses allegedly committed by Sierra Leonean authorities.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Kahn assured Sierra Leoneans that the crimes would be investigated. This protest, this time, will take place in the presence of Presidents from all over the world to render government’s action odious to all minds.
The protesters will also send a loud a clear message to the world that Sierra Leone is not at ease at the moment as the political tension reaches a high peak.
The proposed demonstration will also draw the attention of the international tribunal to human rights crimes allegedly committed in Sierra Leone under Bio’s watch.
It also hoped that the demonstration will reinforce effort   by the International Community to pursue those who allegedly perpetrated crimes against the people of Sierra Leone.
The ICC Chief Prosecutor has earlier requested Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio for a meeting at the UNGA conference although the purpose remains unknown at the moment but will not stray far away from crimes committed in Sierra Leone throughout Bio’s five-year tenure.
The alleged rigging of elections can also ignite conflict in Sierra Leone. President Julius Maada Bio was accused of colluding with the Chief Electoral, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh to rig  2023 elections  at the disgust of many Sierra Leoneans particularly members of the opposition, All People’s Congress (APC).
Konneh is Sierra Leone’s Chief Electoral Commissioner heading ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone), a body charged with the responsibility of conducting and overseeing public elections throughout the country.
Konneh’s fraud was open as it was done in broad daylight. It is also a product of a long-term ploy evidenced by his utterances that he would do whatever pleased him and  should not be questioned.
By his stance, Konneh portrays himself as a man who   completely misconstrues the constitutional provision that in the exercise of his function, the Chief Electoral Commissioner is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority.
He fails to realise that he could be checked if he goes off track. He embarked on rigging from registration, voting, counting and false declaration of Bio as President. Bio was hurriedly  sworn in at a time before the counting of the election results was completed, a move that took many Sierra Leoneans including the international community by surprise.
Credible sources have intimated this press that Konneh took direct orders from State House to announce results that did not reflect the people’s will.
To evade responsibility for what many refer to as a treasonable crime, the elections chief said he was under duress. Konneh was reportedly placed under gunpoint to announce the result in Bio’s favour.
His claim has however been rejected outright by those closer to him saying Konneh is more ‘PAOPA’ than Bio. The ‘PAOPA’ ideology is about the forceful acquisition and exercise  of power without recourse to law and due process.
Under ‘POPAP’ which is about consistency, insistency and persistency, the Bio regime threw to the dustbins all laws deemed inimical to his political existence.
Once at the helm, Bio rebuffed all calls to step aside or allow a team to investigate the outcome of the June election elections.
He also turned down a request by EU to publish election results by polling stations and districts even when they threaten to slam sanctions against Sierra Leone.
Under his watch, several extra-judicial killings were carried out by state security forces for which no one has been held to account giving it the semblance of a new form of state-sponsored violence.
Unlawful killings were carried out in Makeni in Northern Sierra Leone following government’s forceful transfer of a thermal plant to Lungi town which host Sierra Leone’s only international airport. Unofficial sources put the number of fatalities at 20 while government records show six.
Similar killings were also carried out in Tombo, Tonkolili, Lunsar and Freetown in the North-West regions which are prominent opposition heartlands, a move that made Sierra Leoneans raising big eye-brows on government.
Of all killings, Pa Demba Road was the worst as no inmate broke open a cell.
Government also played magic with numbers over Pa Demba Road Massacre as it puts the figure at 31 while unofficial sources indicate a higher one.
A prison officer was fatally hit during the shooting spree allegedly carried out by Presidential guards with accusing fingers pointing at the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and the SLPP Women’s leader, Fatmata Sawaneh.
Media reports show that the two officials witnessed the massacre.  In Bio’s controversial second term, Leema was laid off in the government as well as in the party.
He has lost the post of Deputy Minister as well as Public Relations Officer for SLPP. Similarly, Fatmata Sawaneh has also lost her seat as SLPP Women’s leader.
Although both have lost their posts, the people are still not satisfied until they see the duo humbled in a court of law either within or outside Sierra Leone.
The former Deputy Minister was also said to have masterminded intermittent waves of secret extra-judicial executions during and after the August 10, 2022 demonstrations. Many innocent men allegedly crumbled under Leema’s barrel of the gun for which he was also not held to account.
The absence of justice in the land is the cause of the most of the demonstrations outside Sierra Leone since it is not safe to hold demonstrations here.
The laws of Sierra Leone prohibit protest or procession in any part of the country without obtaining permission from the police. The Public Order Act, 1965 confers powers on the police and paramount chiefs to allow protest in the city and the provinces respectively.
One can be locked up for months if not years for going against such law, and the only safe place to stage a protest is outside Sierra Leone.