The issue of carrying out the death penalty or not is one that has been subjected to controversy all around the world. Some of our civilian governments had instituted it and others had not done so.
The last APC government took a stance of not carrying out the penalty acting in consonance with many states in the world.
It will be recalled that Dr. Siaka Stevens carried out the death penalty and it was effective. There were two instances of death penalty namely the Mammy Yoko Street and Wellington Street murders after which for some years there were little or no murders. The international organization known as Amnesty International has been prevailing on countries around the world to abolish the death penalty stating that it is inhuman. What they have not convinced some astute thinkers about is that those killed also have a right to life.
It is worthy of note to mention that among states that have maintained the death penalty are those within the United States and Arab States from Christian and Muslim backgrounds respectively.
Politicians have various ways of endearing themselves to their electorates and one of the ways Dr. Ernest Koroma did that was by not implementing the death penalty although it is still in our statute books. Each time the public called for the death penalty to be implemented the then A.P.C. referred to the past military regimes extra-judicial executions as against human rights.
As the killings of citizens intensified under the last APC regime there were several calls for the death penalties to be carried out. People guilty of murder were sentenced to death by hanging. The gallows were cleaned and the former Minister of Internal Affairs Major Paolo Conteh actually gave the impression that the penalties would be carried out. To the greatest chagrin of the public however the then President who had that prerogative refused to give the go ahead. He was maintaining his stance of finding favour with the public. By refraining from killing murderers there have been more murders than would have been the case with its implementation.
What has been puzzling some true Christians is what sort of Christianity was being practiced by Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma against the precepts of The Bible. The consternation is whether the former President would rather act according to the precepts of Amnesty International or the Bible if he is a true Christian.
President Julius Maada Bio would do well to distance himself from the secular policy of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma that has not earned him any dividend. As a former military man if he adopts the hypocritical policy of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma he is most likely to suffer the same fate of failure as his predecessor.
The Bible states clearly in Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image”.