By Allieu Sahid Tunkara-The Watch Pen
Medics at the Emergency Operations Centre have confirmed that Sierra Leone has recorded over 800 cases of Corona Virus Disease, also Known as COVID-19.
Globally, over a million cases have been confirmed and over hundreds of thousands of deaths recorded.
The trend of COVID-19 cases in Sierra Leone indicates that Sierra Leone is still not yet out of the wood.
Freetown, the country’s only capital is now an epicentre owing to the hike in number of cases.
No one can reject the spate of denials and congestions in Freetown as key factors in the spread of the virus.
Owing to persistent denial and disrespect for COVID-19 measures, some key stakeholders are calling for the reactivation of Local Policing Partnership Boards (LPPB’s) in their communities to intensify the campaign against the virus.
Mr Ahmed Sesay, a retired principal and community activist in Freetown is one of those stakeholders calling for the re-strengthening of LPPB’s throughout the country.
He told Nightwatch that LPPB’s were structures set up to partner with the police in solving crime and the fear of crime in communities.
Mr Sesay, however, does not rule out the relevance of LPPB’s in the fight against COVID-19.
“Since LPPB’s have proved well in the fight against crime, they can also prove well in the fight against Corona Virus Disease in the country,” Mr Sesay expressed hope.
LPPB members, Mr Sesay continues, have been assisting the police strongly in the campaign against crime, and will also do so in the campaign against COVID-19 in communities by sharing information.
“The main means to be employed by LPPB’s will public education schemes, sensitisation and awareness-raising about COVID-19,” he explained.
Mr Sesay’s claim of reactivating LPPB’s in the campaign against COVID-19 seems highly relevant considering the erosion of confidence of the people in established structures of governance.
In most communities in Sierra Leone, Police effort in law enforcement is complemented by liaison officers in the spirit of community policing.
They assist the police in their investigations by providing the much-needed information, and play active part in telling communities about the need to avoid and report crime which could also be replicated in the COVID-19 campaign.
Since the pronouncement of COVID-19 measures to successfully tackle the ravaging virus, others have tried to beat the system through unscrupulous means.
The key COVID-19 measures some communities seem less comfortable with are those on inter-district movement and the closure of the country’s borders.
Reports of cross-border movements of people in most border communities of the Mano River Basin are not uncommon.
A resident in the North-western town of Kambia, Rugiatu Conteh told Nightwatch that the town still grapples with the problem of porous borders.
These borders, she said, were most frequently used by unscrupulous businessmen for smuggling essential items out of the country.
Now, these porous borders, she continues, are used to beat down COVId-19 restrictions on cross-border movements.
In the Southern town of Gendema in Pujehun district, Some Liberians were using the porous borders to surreptitiously enter Sierra Leone as Liberia, at that time, faced a stiffer lockdown compared to Sierra Leone’s.
Police officers at the border town of Gendema confirmed to Nightwatch, over a month ago, that five Liberians were arrested and detained for allegedly flouting cross-border restrictions.
However, no further report has indicated that such movements in border communities have stopped completely.
Some residents in such communities claim that the same movements are repeated, but they go unnoticed.
It could be argued that the undetected cross-border movements occur partly owing to the non-existence of LPPB’s or neighbourhood watch scemes.
An official at the Sierra Leone Immigration Department, Alimamy Kamara sees a great good in the existence of LPPB’s in communities especially in border communities.
In a conference on the need to tackle human trafficking on border communities, Kamara urged police leadership to revamp LPPB’s so that they could assist the police in the policing of their communities.
“The police must work side by side with the community youths since the youths know their communities more than the police,” he urged.
Although Kamara’s emphasis on the revitalisation of LPPB’s is for human trafficking, they are also relevant now for COVID-19.
Deputy Head of Police Media, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Samuel Saio Conteh supports the move for the reactivation of LPPB’s in the campaign against COVID-19.
He says LPPB’s is a form of neighbourhood watch to protect communities from all illegal acts.
ASP Conteh appeals to community stakeholders to see the youths as key partners in the fight against COVID-19.
“There is no community that is not blessed with influential people, but they don’t seem to see security as necessary. Those blessed with resources must appreciate the effort of the youths in their neighbourhood and utilise them well,” ASP Conteh appealed.
Mr Conteh makes reference to the cordial partnership he enjoys with the youths in his community with strong emphasis on how he educates them to protect their communities.
“There is no chief in the community where I stay, but I educate the people, through meetings, on the importance information sharing effort to protect communities from illegal acts,” he said.
Mr Conteh also informed Nightwatch that the youths could be properly utilised in the campaign against COVID-19 the same way they are used in the campaign against crime.
“The youths should be encouraged by giving them incentives, purchasing protective gears for them so that they remain on neighbourhood watch programmes and help to sensitise communities against the dangers of COVID-19,” ASP Conteh further appealed.
However, Mr Conteh does not lose sight lack of trust in the youths as factor that inhibit community stakeholders to entrust them neighbourhood watch roles.
He equally urges the youths to refrain from theft and robberies, violence, taking of cannabis and other narcotics so that the community can take pride in them.
ASP Conteh hopes that if the youths adhere to the advice, communities would repose confidence in and entrust them with noble community tasks.
LPPB’s constitute one of the important structures for community policing to combat crime in communities.
It is a post-war pro-active security strategy to reassure communities of peace in the country as it happened in Uganda after the civil war there.
The argument goes: Although LPPB’s were established in Sierra Leone, over ten years ago, for fighting crime; they can also be utilised for combating COVID-19 in social mobilisation, public education schemes and contact tracing.