The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) still remains one of the least funded agency while drugs continue to pose a threat to society says former head of the agency.
Late Colonel Sim Turay who led the institution for years predicted that drugs would one day overrun the youth in Sierra Leone if financial resources is not put in the agency in terms of staffing, intelligence and robust surveillance and prosecution.
Turay’s prediction which he made in 2014 has become true as Kush takes a heavy death toll among young men and women of Sierra Leone.
Despite the ravaging nature of the drug, the low funding still continues making it difficult for the agency to nip the drug menace in the bud especially ‘Kush’ which has been wreaking one of the greatest havocs in a country known for deep-rooted poverty, thuggery and economic hardship.
The burual.. of 32 kush corpses here in Freetown is a strong evidence that all is not well in Sierra Leone although authorities bury their heads in the sand and pretend that all is well.
Other law enforcement agencies also are deprived of the much-needed funds and logistics to hit hard on the drugs gang not even the Trans-National Organised Crime Unit (TOCU).
TOCU is a unit within Sierra Leone specialised in the detection, prevention and investigation of organised crimes committed across national borders.
Weak budgetary allocation to the anti-drug institutions account for the little result while drug traffickers enjoy a field day although sometimes they run out of luck.
The arrest, in 2008, of an aircraft loaded with Cocaine at the Lungi International airport exposed a high drug syndicate going on in Sierra Leone.
However, the situation was better off as the drug traffickers, despite their cash and cache, were not allowed a field day.
They were arrested, prosecuted and convicted thanks to then police chief, Brima Acha Kamara and his operations man, Francis Allieu Munu who also subsequently led the police force.
In the investigation which last a little over a month, no one was left unturned and no avenue unexplored to nab and nail the criminals.
A man deeply connected to government was made to face the music and the two foreign nationals sent back home to spend their jail terms.
The old and seemingly out-dated Pharmacy and Drugs Act, 1988 was too lenient in terms of punishment, a situation that created room for a speedy enactment of a strong anti-drugs law in 2008.
Government’s intention was to ensure that the Cocaine convicts spend many years behind bars.
Although the old law still remained in force, police detectives relied mainly on the 2008 law to arraign the drug suspects.
But, the successful prosecution later came to be unsuccessful as other would-be drug peddlers were not deterred.
‘Ghettoes’ and cartels which have been in existence in Sierra Leone since the 1970s and 80s were increasing as the youth developed an insatiable taste for drugs, but at their own peril.
At that time in history, Canabis commonly known as ‘Jamba’ in the local parlance was the most frequently used drug with Cocaine next in rank.
Politics also played a part in entrenching the drug culture among Sierra Leonean youth who are employed for ephemeral intervention into politics as thugs. Misuse of the youth, according to the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Report), 2004 was a factor that constituted element of disorder in the evolution of post-independence Sierra Leone.
For decades gone by, the youth would easily fell prey to political exploitation owing to unemployment and abject poverty that was the order of the day in Sierra Leone.
As the drug threat was kept unchecked, it grew to disproportionate level making it difficult for successive governments to handle.
Mental disorders, violence and crime are closely related to the drugs intake and little wonder that the Sierra Leonean society hardly saw peace on to the time the war broke out in March, 1991 and the trend still continues. 2023 Crime report show a total of 30, 491 crimes and most are drugs-related.
Various studies showed that drug addicts had an unquenchable thirst for sex and it was clearly manifested during the war as all warring factions used sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Anti-drug campaigns led by local voluntary organisations reveal that top politicians reportedly supported the illegal trade, and the complicity developed in a tide of evil that is today affecting communities in Sierra Leone.
The country’s drug phenomenon is no more about Cocaine and Cannabis but a new and deadly drug known as ‘kush’ which is threatening the country‘s future. ‘Kush’ is a mixture of Canabis, Fentanyl, Tramadol, formaldehyde and human bones with the youth at high risk.
Magistrate and high courts in Sierra Leone are currently overwhelmed with Kush-related matters and hardly a week passes by without a trafficker convicted.
The widespread and uncontrollable use of the new drug has raised questions about its origin as well as government’s response.
At the moment, security agencies seem to be chasing those who sell and smoke in isolated places and criminal underworld of the city as well as other urban towns but paying small attention to the many illegal routes traffickers use to enter the country. Sierra Leone, according to a report compiled by former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, has 186 illegal crossing points rendering the country vulnerable to the drug threat.
To date, the said and exit and entry points are still unmanned opening a big floodgate for the smuggling of ‘Kush’ into the country.
The war on drugs is also being lost as those entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the country safe are each other’s throat about who should take responsibility.
The police chief, few days ago, hit out at the judiciary and state prosecutors for fumbling with ‘Kush’ matters.
Mr William Fayia Sellu accused the law office and the courts of assigning Kush matters to weak state counsels for prosecution resulting into lenient sentences by the courts.
Such a situation creates a big room for the traffickers and addicts to continue to repeatedly commit the crime.
The allegations pose a great reputational harm to the law officers and the courts as they connote complicity with the traffickers, but the officials are yet to fight back. It is a dangerous situation for the bad guys to go to bed with the god guys.
Such allegations also go a long way in derailing the anti-Kush campaign as the police on whose shoulders state security rest appears to be shifting the blame to the courts.
Instead of working together to eliminate the ‘Kush’ Menace, the officials dabble in the blame game and cannot see eye-to-eye on measures to be employed to eliminate drugs from the country.
Even if they speak with one voice, it will be difficult to achieve any result as the police who are in the frontline of state security and criminal justice system no longer enjoys good relationship with the public especially in the North-West regions, strongholds of the main opposition.
The strained relationship emanated from the recent bad blood between police crowd control units and protesters over cost-of-living crisis and election rigging.
The police would swiftly pull the trigger any time the people took to the streets against state tyranny. They constantly cite the Public Order Act, 1965, a law that prescribes the steps civilians should take before protesting.
In August, 2022, 26 protesters succumbed to the barrel of the gun while six lost their lives in a protest against ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone) for stealing of votes in favour of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party.
The killers still have a field day while victims and their families groan in agony.
As the grudge deepens, the police high command has not sought new ways to revive police-civilian relationship, a factor that would make the fight against drugs extremely difficult.
For police measures to work, public cooperation is needed in a local needs policing context if communities are to be sealed off from harmful drugs.
Civilians know hot spots or gray areas and most importantly where to locate the traffickers, and their information is very much useful in policing.
It is hoped that the drug threat will be neutralised if security intelligence is passed on to the police at the right time and by the right people.
However, fear about police connivance with drug cartels and traffickers is becoming real as shown by several court convictions.
Recently, CDIID (Complaints, Discipline and Internal Investigation Department) disciplinary wing of the police, investigated, convicted and dismissed three police officers for unlawful possession of ‘Kush.’
Videos of men in uniform caught with Kush by civilians are going viral on social media platforms. Shaving of police officers caught by civilians appears to be the new order.
An image currently on facebook shows how a police officer surrounded by civilians is shaven off after he was arrested for ‘Kush.’
In other communities, ‘Kush’ addicts are beaten up or sometimes tortured, a move that sends a strong message that society no longer tolerates drugs.
However, the torture schemes are not seen to have worked as ‘Kush’ consumption is going out of proportion.
Despite much effort poured into the drugs fight, death toll continues to rise with statistics hoped to roll in the near future.
Several Sierra Leoneans are calling on the President to declare a public health emergency to rid the country of the ‘Kush’ threat.
It is not clear whether President Julius Maada Bio would heed to such call although he declared a controversial emergency on sexual violence in early 2019.
Suggestions of ‘Kush’ addicts to be taken to the farms and swamps to boost agriculture have also come up and may work well with for the FEED SALONE scheme launched by President Julius Maada Bio late last year.
Putting food on the table and exporting same to other countries is the scheme’s main objective.
If the initiative succeeds, the forces of law will be empowered to arrest and take to the agriculture sites anyone suspected of smoking ‘Kush,’ but there is fear that the move may not bring the expected outcomes owing to complicity and compromise.
Arguments are rife that the law enforcers trade and traffick with ‘Kush’ as a means to supplement low pay.
How can the police succeed in the fight against drugs if they are key participants in narcotics?
As government agencies stumble over the fight against drugs, various communities in Freetown have taken over the anti-drugs fight with awareness raising initiatives on the negative effects of ‘Kush.’
‘NO MORE KUSH’ is the main strapline for anti-Kush campaigners; it is a call for the youth to turn their backs against the deadly drug so that they can contribute to national development.
Women in Sierra Leone have also joined the anti-Kush campaign to save the male population from reducing further owing to the fear that they might not have husbands in the future.
Sierra Leone is known to have poor ratio between male and female with the latter accounting for higher figures. The 2015 National Census put males at 48% out of Sierra Leone’s 8, 000, 000 (eight million population). Women are in the majority with 52%.
In spite of the good objective pursued, the anti-drugs campaign is largely unplanned and uncoordinated casting a dark future for Sierra Leone.