By Musa Paul Feika

The Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Abdul Abedel Aziz Bawoh, has affirmed president Bio’s statement that, ‘If you kam wit bullet, you go meet bullet’.

President Bio made the statement in Bo City, Kakua Chiefdom, during a Cabinet retreat.

Minister Bawoh said indirectly president Bio has the mandate to make such a statement, emphasising that if an individual is fighting you with a bullet, you will also use a bullet to fight that individual, not otherwise.

Mr Bawoh affirmed that the president’s statement was a reminder of the rumours making the rounds on social media where a group of people are planning to protest on 19th June, 2024.

Referencing the Sunday, 26th November, 2023, failed coup, he said all those who tried to unseat the president did not dare tell the story.

Meanwhile, Minister Bawoh also condemned the All People’s Congress – APC press release regarding president Bio’s statement because several issues that were discussed at the retreat were, according to him, not captured by the APC leadership.

The Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Tamba Lamina, clarified that the position of a paramount chief is heredity, adding that those who were born in ruling houses have the right to contest the paramount chieftaincy elections.

Chieftaincy, Minister Tamba said, is the highest office in any chiefdom.

He said it entails a lot of processes as enshrined in the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and the Chieftaincy Act of 2009.

According to him, the said Act made it clear that an individual should contest for the position before becoming a Paramount Chief in any chiefdom.

Minister Tamba said after the electioneering process, the 1991 Constitution bestows upon the president the sole responsibility of recognising Paramount Chiefs.

Graciously, he said after the Cabinet retreat in Bo, the president was accorded the opportunity of recognising, crowning or conducting the coronation of twelve (12) Paramount Chiefs who arrived in Bo from across the nation.