Sierra Leone is scheduled to go to elections tomorrow Saturday 24th June 2023. All over the country, the once peaceful and neighbourly people of this land blessed with milk and honey have taken sides, going as far as employing the use of violence to promote their party’s or candidate’s interests. The violence is so blatant that the public space is dominated by day and night scenes of truckloads of police officers and soldiers armed to the teeth heading somewhere, especially east of Freetown.
The president has finally taken notice of how violent the electioneering period has turned out to be. Sadly, the people have said that they have no confidence in the President’s call for nonviolent elections.
Embattled President Julius Maada Bio, who is facing re-election in a process that has been defined by myriad of issues bordering on the lack of willingness by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone – ECSL releasing the disaggregated data and the competency, training and loyalty of the Chief Commissioner, has been recently vocal speaking against violence.
However, Bio’s call has not received the kind of response he was hoping to garner as the people he is trying to reach and convince doubt his sincerity and lack confidence in his word that they will not be harmed by the police and or ruling party operatives or gangsters.
Meanwhile, the people say they are happy that the caretaker president of Sierra Leone is finally speaking out against violence although people think it is a little bit too late for him to be taken seriously. They said if President Bio was serious about wiping violence from the public space he should have started doing so from the very start of his regime.
Mr President was reminded by the people that one of his key 2018 campaign manifesto promises was to get rid of the lawlessness that results into violence from the public space. The then opposition flagbearer, Julius Maada Bio blamed our public penchant for violence and violent behaviour on indiscipline; Bio said the people lacked discipline. As a former military head and junta head of state it was widely believed and hoped that as president Bio was going to whip the nation into shape in terms of discipline.
However, President Bio’s campaign promise to muscle violence and lawlessness and indiscipline from the public domain was put to the test at Lunsar, Tombo, Mile 91, Makeni, Koidu, Pademba Road Prison, on 10th August 2022, and presently with the spate of reported campaign related violence in APC party strongholds. The nation and the world know the deadly outcome of all these scenes of people wanting to protest their grievance with their elected government’s action and or plans.
Despite the reverberations that such killings produced here at home and abroad, President Bio has not once come out publically to condemn such killings and the nation is still at a loss for words for not knowing who gave the orders to shoot and who did the actual killing of the civilians that lost their lives at these scenes of a government killing her unarmed civilians.
The family, friends and loved ones of those that were killed are still seeking closure for their loved ones. Many of them are still held in prison awaiting trial. Up to present we still do not know how many people lost their lives at all these scenes of police brutality against the people they are sworn to serve and protect.
The people say the use of violence to gain elective office is so common in Sierra Leone that they are used to certain officers belonging to certain tribes being moved to locations where they are not from and don’t speak the local dialect just so people would not be able to identify them if they were used to violate the people’s rights.
The people blame President Bio for all the violence that we have experienced since 2018. Although he came to the scene of the mayhem at Belgium, King Jimmy Market weeks after the incident, and despite having made some cash and material donations to the injured and those whose places of business were destroyed, the people say he never denounced the SLPP party gangsters that marched from the party’s Wallace Johnson Street headquarters down to Belgium with police officers allegedly providing security for them.
With all the reported scenes of elections related violence coming in from areas associated with the ruling SLPP it is an insult to the people that continue to face being subjected to such unnecessary violence for President Bio to now be calling on the APC even going as far as trying to draw President Bai Koroma into the fray by calling on him to publically denounce President Bio’s regime’s chief nemesis, Adebayor.
The president is reminded that his regime failed to bring Adebayor’s relevance to the political and social order under control by failing to work in the interest of the people. Adebayor became popular when the Bio regime started planning and doing things against the people and state. Adebayor became important and the people listen to him because he shows the kind of care and concern they expect their president to show for them. They said Adebayor became the people’s shepherd after the people’s elected representatives in Parliament were working with the ruling party against the interest of the nation.
They blame the police they call “immature, trigger happy, poorly trained and corrupt” for allowing the people’s protectors to be used by politicians and political parties in power against the people they should be protecting. The police they said have added to all the divisions including but not limited to tribal, partisan and regional that this regime has created since 2018 across the country. Because the police lack training on how to treat a protesting crowd they are blamed for actually starting all the violence that resulted from such scenes.
Sierra Leoneans have also blamed President Bio for all the violence that has been perpetrated against civilians since he took over state power. By publically calling out to citizens on 27th April – the nation’s Independence Day, to come out and celebrate the day, promising them that his government will no longer kill protesters the people say the president has publically acknowledged and taken responsibility for all the killings that his police officers have committed all across this country since 2018.
It is interesting to note that while there were people out protesting in SLPP strongholds, there were no reports of deaths or police trying to stop the people from protesting by the barrel of a gun in such areas.
Responsible citizens are saying if President Bio is serious about denouncing public violence he should first start with denouncing the way the 10 duly elected Members of Parliament belonging to the APC were removed from office, for having police officers in the Well of Parliament arresting and assaulting lawmakers, for all the bye elections violence, for Belgium, Lunsar, Makeni, Mile 91, Pademba Road Prison, Koidu, Tombo, August 10 and for members of the SLPP violently refusing members of the opposition parties from campaigning in what they consider their strongholds for tomorrow’s elections.
Unless the president is willing to publically denounce all forms of violence and name and shame those responsible for such huge loss of lives just for people wanting to protest and vote, then the people will have no confidence in this his very late denouncement of violence as it is being seen as insincere and a mockery for all the lives lost, properties destroyed and livelihoods denied.
Mr Bio’s late call to end all violence and wanting to blame Adebayor instead of the killer police officers for all the violence that resulted from scenes of people wanting to protest government action is being seen as political campaign grandstanding or posturing hence lacking anything of substance.
‘What is illegal about people wanting to protest or calling for protest action? There is absolutely nothing wrong or illegal with wanting to protest. Our police force is not being honest that they don’t know how to handle protesters. The police officers lack the training and they definitely don’t know their role in a properly constituted democratic order as the people’s protector against government.’
‘The police force should not be working with the elected government against the legitimate government of Sierra Leone, who are the people of Sierra Leone. So far we have a regime that is unwilling to let the people freely choose who they want as elected officials and a police force that is ready to violate the people’s rights just to please the sitting regime. Unless the president and the police force act, violence against the public at the hands of the state will be a recurring nightmare for us,’ said a member of the Sierra Leone Police force’s dreaded Delta Force, or Operation Support Division (OSD).
The officer said he is not willing to take orders to shoot protesting civilians. He said the only time in Sierra Leone we hear of public violence is during our political process. This, he added, has to stop if the country is to develop.
‘All the violence we ever complain about in Sierra Leone can be tied to our politics. This is the only time we hear of divisions in this country. Other than our politics we are a very peaceful and laid back people that are quick to forgive. This is the Sierra Leone we want, not one that is divided by our violent election and political process,’ the OSD officer concluded.