FROM LAST FRIDAY 31ST JULY 2026
Another 100 were also laid off at Parliament in a redundancy scheme pursued by the law-making institution, but the Speaker of parliament distanced himself from the dismissals.
Similar calamity also befell on workers at the Office of Diaspora Affairs, a unit under the Office of the President. Workers were also dismissed at the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration (SLMA) and the ugly situation reared its head at the Human Rights Commission as tenured commissioners were kicked out of offices for allegedly supporting APC.
Ministry of Youth Affairs is also not different from the uncontrollable spate of dismissals.
Francis Koroma, a former worker at the Youth Ministry told this press that it was one morning that the office served him with a termination-of-employment letter after reporting for duty.
“I felt lifeless and even doubted the road to my home,” Koroma lamented. Premature and illegal termination of employment is almost equal to murder especially where the person has nothing to live on and nowhere to lean on.
Reinvention of Politics of Thuggery:
Thuggery was one of the hallmarks of politics of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but was later trampled in the dust of history following the introduction of real democracy in late 1990s and 2000s. Although there were ex-combatants who were seen as remnants, vestiges or relics of Sierra Leone’s civil war, they were kept under Control by the government of then President Ernest Koroma. A good number of the former fighters formed the ranks of the police and the army after undergoing re-training in foreign countries.
They served as close protection guards to President, vice president, ministers and other important personalities while others served in normal police duties just to continue the post-war healing and reconciliation process. Immediately after 2018 elections, Sierra Leone witnessed a resurgence of thuggery played by new names such as ‘BIG FISH’ and ‘ARATA’ whose real name is Aloish Deen Tarawally
‘ARATA’ was reported to have caused mayhem in the capital city by carrying out secret killings. He publicly showcased thuggish politics when he and other ‘PAOPA’ boys openly destroyed ballot boxes and other election materials during a re-run election in August, 2019 in Constituency 110 in Freetown. ‘Big Fish’ also allegedly played similar roles, but gone to the gravesite following a gun encounter with a military guard attached to Vice President’s office.
The tragic incident occurred when he disarmed an armed police officer on Rawdon Street in Freetown and went on the rampage, putting the public into fear. Like ‘Big FISH,’ ‘ARATA’ is also no more, but some signs of thuggery still remain in the provinces from where ex-Kamajor fighters still threaten to attack as in video footages if SLPP loses the elections. It is a move from ‘PAOPA’ to ‘GBAGBATI’ pattern. Abuse of Human Rights: human rights abuses documented in international reports under the SLPP/PAOPA regime is somewhat worrisome when compared to the past APC regime.
Clamp down on free speech, restriction of the right to movement, assembly and association through the imposition of dusk-to-dawn curfews and pandemic era lockdowns, arbitrary arrest and detention, human trafficking and ritual murders among others are some of the human rights abuses hunting the Bio regime. One of the rights that were kept in check immediately SLPP took over power was the right to free speech which is a cornerstone for a healthy democracy.
In October, 2020 President Bio decriminalized media offences such as defamation, sedition and publication of false news among others contained in part-v of the Public Order Act No. 46 of 1965. The decriminalization boosts media freedom in Sierra Leone as journalists could no longer be arrested by police officers for going against media laws, but they are matters for the Independent Media Commission and the civil courts. The joy and hope for freedom of the press was cut short when it was replaced by the Cyber Crime Control Act, 2025, a law that is widely seen as more draconian than the Public Order Act.
Countless number of social media users including mainstream journalists have fallen foul of the cyber law and spent months if not years behind bars. The draconian nature of the cyber law has left many people questioning the rationale behind the decriminalization of media offences as it resembles robbing Peter to pay Paul. Several senior journalists have called for the repeal or amendment of the cyber law to allow freedom of speech to flourish.
A former APC minister and newspaper publisher, Sylvia Blyden was arrested and detained for over two weeks in a police cell when she published a news story about the insanitary condition of a prison cell in which a former colleague minister, Paolo Conteh was detained. Conteh was charged with treason and other offences after taking a loaded pistol to State House on the peak of the fight to roll back Corona Virus.
Apart from journalists, those who criticize government policies have been hounded by the police as they are arrested and kept incommunicado for a period other than that permitted by law. Section 17 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No. 6 of 1991 prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and prescribes 10 days and 72 hours (3 days) as the maximum detention periods for capital and minor offences.
These provisions have been repeatedly trampled on by state agents as confirmed by various human rights reports from international organizations and agencies including the US State Department. The right to freedom of movement was also constrained when Covid-19 struck Sierra Leone.
Covid-19, by all standards, was not as deadly in Sierra Leone as Ebola virus, but government rushed to proclaim a state of public emergency in line with section 29 of the Constitution. Intermittent waves of Lockdowns and sometimes at district levels were used to restrict movement, assembly association. For days, people would stay in their homes without food and drink. Reports state that women and girls who ventured out in the streets to fend for a living during lockdowns were maltreated by the security forces.
Human trafficking and ritual murders also hit a record high under the PAOPA regime. Many Sierra Leoneans have been trafficked to Middle East countries and other Arab states out of deception and get-rich-quick schemes. Promises of good jobs and decent living made Sierra Leonean men and women to fall prey to the trafficking scheme which is closely connected to ritual murders for organ harvesting. As human trafficking continued, international reports placed Sierra Leone at Tier-2 Watchlist, a state which indicated government’s failure to prosecute human trafficking offences.
The human trafficking was curtailed and the country’s image saved through the concerted effort of UN IOM (International Office for Migration), AMNet (Advocacy Movement Network), MATIPS (Media Against Trafficking In Persons), TIP (Trafficking In Persons) Task Force Secretariat at the Ministry of Social Welfare, and the Law Officers Department in the Attorney-General’s office. The aim was to ensure that Sierra Leone does not relapse into Tier-3 which would have cost the country all forms of foreign aid and investment opportunity.
Enactment Of Unpopular and Oppressive laws:
It was during SLPP’s eight-year rule that a great number of oppressive laws were enacted to suit the effort of government. From 2018 to date, Sierra Leone has some of the most draconian legislations than most countries in Africa according to legal experts. The Sexual Offences Amendment Act, 2019 which provides for up to life imprisonment for the offence of sexual penetration, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2024 which does not only criminalize the marriage of a minor but also attendees and officiating imams and pastors.
The Public Elections Act, 2022, the Local Government Act, 2022 and the Political Parties Regulation Act, 2022 among several others were all enacted in the same year in favour of the Bio/PAOPA regime.
‘Kangaroo-styled’ Commissions of Inquiry:
Commissions of Inquiry have come and gone, but the Biobele Georgewill Commissions was dubbed “Kangaroo-styled” in the words of former APC Spokesman, Cornelius Deveaux. The Commissions of Inquiry were also an all-out investigative body paying attention to every aspect of governance.
Apart from unearthing corruption-related crimes, the commissions also looked at how government officials behaved themselves while they were in positions of trust and responsibility. Former Minister of Social Welfare, for instance, was roped in for a scuffle with kids at the ministry building.
Tough action was also taken against whom the commissions made adverse findings without sparing even deceased officials. Posthumous actions were taken against the relatives of former Minister of Education, Minkailu Bah as well as those of the erstwhile Chairman, National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) now National Telecommunication Authority (NATCA). Their relatives including mothers were driven out of their homes by armed police and military personnel since the Commissions found them wanting of embezzling public funds. But, their rights to appeal were never upheld as they were dead.
Several other ministers and heads of government agencies such as Bai Mahmoud Bangura, former Minister of Youth Affairs, Haja Kallah Kamara, Commissioner-General for National Revenue Authority, Diana Konomani, former Minister of Local Government, and lately Kemo Sesay, Minister of Works, Minkailu Mansaray, former Minister of Mines and APC Chairman, Samura Kamara, former Minister of Finance and APC’s presidential candidate for 2018 and 2023 general elections were found bearing a hand in the loot.
Even Victor Bocakarie Foh, former Vice President and his boss, Ernest Koroma, ex-head of state were charged with corruption offences. Most of those who get bad recommendations lost their appeals at the Court of Appeal and forfeited their property to the state. Others were also referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission for criminal investigation with the aim of sending them behind bars to rot there.
Those who feared such public humiliation and ridicule played second fiddle to President Bio and decided to entrust APC’s future in the hands of SLPP. No APC politician dares condemn or criticize the bad laws and policies passed by the Bio regime as they become yes-men and daylight prisoners.
Then APC Chairman, Minkailu Mansaray was a daylight prisoner since 2018 until his passing away few months ago. A good number of timid and traumatic APC politicians followed suit owing to the fear of the PAOPA wrath. The question is who among APC stalwarts that would strongly and fiercely stand against Bio apart from Samura Kamara, although people see him as too cool for the party’s comfort. Fear still remains rife about how would the APC party rise from its current quagmire as Bio has a corruption case for any politician who attempt to redeem the party from its current state.
Abuse of Investor Confidence:
Sierra Leone is endowed with abundant mineral resources (Diamonds, Gold, Rutile, Cromite, Bauxite, and Iron Ore) but still remains one of the poorest countries in the world. This notion of the resource curse was re-echoed by former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Peter Penford in one of his enlightened moments. The British diplomat observed that other countries suffer because they lack the resources to grow their economy.
But, Sierra Leone has almost all the minerals one can think about in the world, but the majority is held to ransom by the few in governance positions and that is the greatest tragedy for Sierra Leone. One of the main reasons for the non-productivity of Sierra Leone’s huge mineral wealth is the abuse of investor confidence which comes in the form of disrespect for investment contracts and agreements.
It happened in August, 2019 when the PAOPA government nullified a 25-year agreement entered into by the Iron Ore miner, SL Mining now Marampa Mines Limited (MML) with the past APC government to mine and export Marampa Blue, the popular name for the Iron Ore in Lunsar town. Cancelling the agreement, the SLPP government told the people of Sierra Leone that IT was “erroneous” and halted mining in Lunsar for close to a year.