By Donstance Koroma
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Lahai Lawrence Leema is worried over the country’s “porous” borders.
Sierra Leone borders with Guinea in the North-West and Liberia in the South-east.
The Deputy Minister’s worries over Sierra Leone’s “porous” borders are not unconnected to an assessment tour he conducted in the border districts in 2018.
The purpose of the assessment, according to the Deputy Minister, was to “adequately” advise government to develop a Standard Operating Procedure on border security.
Mr Leema also spoke about a situation constraining the country in manning its borders.
“Sierra Leone is seriously challenged in effectively securing its borders which was largely responsible for the eleven years rebel war that destroyed lives and properties,” the Deputy Minister said.
Mr Leema also told this medium that he had experience about the “porous nature” of the country’s borders while serving as a Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces platoon commander in the border town of Kono, east of Sierra Leone.
“It is out of this conviction that I undertook an assessment tour to bring out firsthand information about security challenges in the borders,” the Deputy Minister said.
The findings from the Deputy Minister’s assessment indicate that Koinadugu district comprises 10 chiefdoms with three crossing points to Guinea.
These crossing points, the Deputy Minister said, were unmanned. “They are distantly located away from the district headquarters of Kabala,” he pointed out.
The Deputy Minister also seemed disappointed about the police-civilian ratio in Koinadugu district, Northern Sierra Leone.
“Kabala town, the district headquarters has 111 police personnel in relation to a population of 409, 372,” the Deputy Minister pointed out.
Mr Leema’s report also states that Kambia and Karene districts, also north of the country, have numerous sea and land crossing points to Guinea.
“The report has clearly exposed the huge security challenges the country is faced with in terms of policing its borders with Guinea,” he said.
Securing Sierra Leone’s wide and geographically extensive borders, the Deputy Minister said, required “huge” human and material resources.
“The threat posed by the porous borders has also had a toll on the country’s economy especially from the taxation front,” The Deputy Minister stressed.
On the eastern side with the Republic of Guinea and Liberia, Mr Leema went on; most crossing points in border communities including Kailahun, Kenema, and Kono and Pujehun district in the south had more security presence compared to the north of the country.
The report also indicates that security situation is deplorable in Bonthe and Moyamba districts situated along the Atlantic Ocean, south of Sierra Leone.
“Little or no security presence exists in those communities,” the report reads in part.
The report further shows that the distant deployment of military personnel without the required equipment to enhance their operations poses security problems at the borders.
The security challenges, the Deputy Minister said, fueled crimes including smuggling, proliferation of small arms and ammunition among others.
Consequently, The Deputy Minister recommends that the police and the army should deploy adequate security personnel to beef up security personnel to “effectively” secure the borders with Guinea and Liberia.
Part of the Deputy Minister’s recommendations did not rule out community policing. “The energetic youths should be utilized in the policing of the borders,” the Deputy Minister stressed.
The youths, the Deputy Minister said, should be provided with better accommodation, communication gadgets and other logistics to boost their morale and timely sharing of information.
However, Mr Leema does not lose sight of the overall internal security programmes he has embarked upon since his appointment.
The development of a proposal for the relocation of Pa Demba Road Correctional Centre from Freetown to Waterloo in the Western Rural district to improve the human rights situation of inmates is one of the programmes.
Another programme is the maintenance of direct contact with private entities to design a Safe City Project to enhance accountability in the security functions such as crime prevention, traffic regulation, city security, and revenue generation.
“Freetown City Council, National Revenue Authority and other security entities will jointly implement the project,” the Deputy Minister assured.