ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE of Sierra Leone, members of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) force and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) are being called upon by the people to for the first time in the elections history of Sierra Leone work earnestly and honestly ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE.
It has been announced that the Office of National Security (ONS) will evoke the military aid to civilian rule on Elections Day thereby allowing the RSLAF to team up with members of the SLP to help maintain the peace and ensure that everyone votes without fear or favour, or threats to their lives and properties.
It is common knowledge that the average Sierra Leonean sees members of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RLAF) as forces of evil instead of the forces of good they are supposed to represent in the minds of THE PEOPLE.
It is also common knowledge that THE PEOPLE are generally scared and afraid of members of the state security forces and see them as the government’s forces against THE PEOPLE as opposed to THE PEOPLE’S protectors against a government that will get larger and larger to control. Members of the police and armed forces are to act as shields or buffers for THE PEOPLE against a large, powerful and overbearing government.
An over-bloated and powerful government needs a strong police force bolstered by a sound army to act as umpires between THE PEOPLE and their elected leaders or government of the day. Never should the government of the day depend on members of the police or armed forces to ensure their grip on power even when that grip is against everything a government is supposed to be in the lives of the citizenry.
Among others, THE PEOPLE of Sierra Leone are expecting the SLP and members of RSLAF to ensure that every registered voter will cast their ballot on 24 June. The point is that since we need the entire population’s complement of votes to determine who our next sets of leaders would be, no one should be disenfranchised or made to suffer the indignity of not being allowed to take part in the election of his or her nation’s leaders.
We would advise that members of the state security detail be allowed to vote in a special way as citizens before going out to ensure that the same act of voting is repeated for every registered Sierra Leonean voter. As citizens you have the right to choose who you want as a leader, although it is not your right to force others to see things through your lenses. It is the right of our other fellow citizens to his or her choices of party or candidate.
You are also to ensure that no violence happens in the areas you are assigned to. You should not allow anyone to be intimidated or cowed into voting as a bloc instead of as individuals – one man one vote – in the wards, districts and constituencies. As THE PEOPLE’S protectors and umpires in the electioneering process, police and soldiers have the right to belong to a party; however, you are supposed to step back and allow the will of the people to always triumph over the will of the government in power.
For too long governments of Sierra Leone have used members of the police and army, to keep the people in line, who complain of not being allowed to freely assemble and protest any government plan and or action without getting permission from the police boss who is appointed by the head of government or President.
Because the President hires the heads of the Sierra Leone Police and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces including the Minister of Internal Affairs and head of the Office of National Security and the Correctional Services among many other appointments, the men under the heads of the police and army see it as their duties to work in the interest of their bosses by working in the interest of his employer, the President or head of the government of Sierra Leone.
But what members of the police and army have failed to realise is that we THE PEOPLE are the legitimate government of Sierra Leone that periodically hire through our votes the people who will run or head our government. The best definition of democracy is by Abe Lincoln who defined it as ‘government of THE PEOPLE, for THE PEOPLE and by THE PEOPLE’.
The government then is of THE PEOPLE who form the government for and by their own good will and pleasure. So everything or part of government is there strictly ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE. This is the mentality we want every member of this nation’s security apparatus to inculcate and start to do from this 24 June elections going forward.
We say we are a democracy then let us start behaving like one. The foundation of every society is the respect for and assurance of the rule of law and order. If the police and army who are supposed to ensure that we enjoy these rights are complicit in us being denied such rights then what are they being paid with our taxpayers’ money for if not to protect the regimes in power at the expense of THE PEOPLE that pays the government, the SLP and RSLAF?
If the SL Police that is responsible for arresting and bringing defaulters of the law to the courts ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE cannot do all that as fair, right and just servants of the people who can the people then turn to for help?
We want members of the army to know that the people of Sierra Leone see YOU as their protector against an oppressive regime bolstered by a larger than life police force acting out of line of their actual mandate. You are defenders of the constituted order and should be part of the electioneering process from start to finish. The army, more than any institution in the country, is the people’s government in waiting for the reinstating of the democratic order. The army’s job is to protect the country or people’s government, not to overthrown it. Without our votes we would not have a legitimate government of Sierra Leone to protect which would make the soldiers’ work useless to say the least.
It is your duty to ensure that every citizen casts a vote to form the government of Salone whose territorial integrity you are responsible to uphold. Without a government and nation, what would be your relevance then to us as a nation?
THE PEOPLE of Sierra Leone need assurance from members of all the state’s security apparatus that they will act as umpires to ensure fair play during every election process. Never should they become pawns in the hands of THE PEOPLE’S elected leaders to be especially used against the interest of THE PEOPLE they are there to serve and protect.