By Thomas Vandi Gbow
The late Jamaican reggae icon Joseph Hill once said there are three sides to one’s story: my own side, your own side and then the truth. There have been several versions to the violent incident in the Kono district headquarters of Koidu city at the weekend during the funeral rite of the late Paramount Chief Aiah Abu Kongobar of Mafindor Chiefdom. Many have reported the incident based on how they selectively perceived their news angles to satisfy their readers.
According to one version, erstwhile Vice President Chief Sam Sumana was reportedly attacked by some youths and one of his bodyguards was stabbed and had seven stitches.
A report, which suggested that the incident had heavy political undertone, stated that when Chief Sam Sumana and delegation visited the family of the deceased, they were well received by Paramount Chiefs and members of the bereaved family. His address to the bereaved family and mourners, according to report, was a call for unity in addressing issues affecting Kono district, including chiefdom matters in times of need.
The former Vice President also reportedly commended the role of the late Paramount Chief in fostering unity in Kono and promoting pertinent issues of the district at national level, remarks that were endorsed by the former Minister of Transport and Aviation in the Koroma administration, Leonard Balogun Koroma, and the current Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ambassador Tamba John Lamina, both of whom are indigenes of Kono district respectively.
This version claimed that the Local Government Minister made a statement highlighting the support of government to the family and the district towards the funeral arrangements, but Chief Sam Sumana and his delegation were attacked allegedly by SLPP youths after Paramount Chief Foryor had given the closing remarks on behalf of the Kono Paramount Chiefs.
The SLPP’s version of the story, according to the report, was that it was their marshals at the funeral that were allegedly attacked by APC youths, whilst the APC not only blamed the SLPP for fomenting the violence, but were also accused of attempting to assassinate Chief Sam Sumana.
Another version of the report is that there was an attack on Chief Sam Sumana at the funeral ceremony of PC Kongobar in Koidu city and one of his bodyguards was seriously injured when he attempted to block the attackers who almost descended on his boss with a knife. This version quoted unconfirmed reports pointing accusing fingers at some Kono politicians that hired thugs to embarrass the former Vice President.
It claimed that Chief Sam Sumana arrived late for the funeral ceremony with a crowd of supporters that hailed him, whilst a few of them accompanied him into the compound where the funeral rites were being observed. There were also some senior government officials in the living parlour of the late Paramount Chief’s house prior to the arrival of Chief Sam Sumana and the environment was very peaceful and quiet. The problem, according to this version, started when verbal arguments broke out amongst members of different political parties.
The third version of report of the Kono incident, which is conspicuously subjective or biased against the former Vice President, claimed that the violence erupted amongst “thugs belonging to disgraced former Vice President Sam Sumana at the funeral….” According to this version, the reaction of majority of Kono people is that the turncoat politician Sam Sumana had got too big for shoes and must be tamed by law. The report claimed that each time the former Vice President entered into Kono violence would take place, adding that Chief Sam Sumana thinks that he commands the same respect among his people, forgetting that his people only voted for him and C4C in Kono because they believed he was treated appallingly by the APC that he had since mended fence with. This version claimed that the former Vice President wanted to take the centre stage at the Paramount Chief’s funeral that was principally an SLPP organized event. It then claimed that Chief Sam Sumana was attacked by his own thugs who he promised a hefty sum during the 2018 national elections but reneged on the promise. The aggrieved thugs had earlier warned the former Vice President to cough up what he promised them before he would pay any visit to Kono, but the latter defied the warning and returned to Kono with a new set of thugs that was going around with him.
The same version of story also alleged that Chief Sam Sumana was angry with the ruling SLPP for failing to pay his benefits like it did to other former APC government officials including for President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, ex-Vice President Dr. Victor Bockarie Foh, former Ministers and Deputies, amongst others.
From the aforesaid versions of stories about the attack on Chief Sam Sumana and one of his bodyguards in Koidu at the funeral ceremony of the late Paramount Chief Kongobar in Koidu at the weekend, one would surmise that the true story of what actually led to the attack on the former Vice President at the funeral ceremony is yet to be told. Given that most of our local tabloids like to be completely beholden to political parties or godfathers for material gains, political stories are always slanted in favour of their vested interests. That is why it could be very difficult for the public to actually get the true version of the story about the attack on Chief Sam Sumana and one of his bodyguards. A pro-APC paper, for instance, will slant the story to whip up sympathy for Chief Sam Sumana, while a pro-SLPP mouthpiece will let the former Vice President appear as the bad guy who nobody wants to see in Kono.
But no matter the fact concerning the different versions of stories on the attack on Chief Sam Sumana in Kono at the funeral rites of the late Paramount Chef Kongobar, there is the adage that there is no smoke without fire. I believe something may have led to the physical assault on Chief Sam Sumana and one of his bodyguards in his home district where he commands maximum respect among his kinsmen.
The first version of the story states that Chief Sam Sumana was attacked allegedly by some SLPP youths after Paramount Chief Foryor has given the closing remarks on behalf of his colleague Paramount Chiefs in the district. Why did the SLPP youths attack him? Did he say anything at the funeral ceremony that annoyed the SLPP youths to the extent of attacking him? Do they see him as their political rival?
At the same time, the SLPP were also reported as claiming that it was the APC thugs that attacked the SLPP marshals at the funeral ceremony, whilst the APC claimed that not only did the SLPP thugs attack Chief Sam Sumana, they also attempted to assassinate him.
I believe if Chief Sam Sumana arrived late at the funeral ceremony together with his noisy supporters whilst the compound where the ceremony was taking place was very peaceful and quiet, then his arrival may have led to some pandemonium that could have caused a furore between his supporters that were hailing him and supporters of SLPP and perhaps C4C, the political party he formed and deserted midstream for his former party, the APC. Given the desperation and exuberance of party youths, lawlessness may have played its part in the attack on Chief Sam Sumana. And as hapless as he was in the face of the ruling SLPP that had organized the funeral ceremony, the erstwhile Vice President and his delegation would not have had the temerity to put up any resistance knowing that they would be overcome if they did. Besides, the programme was under government’s control and security forces were there to cow them into submission should they have resisted.
The most skewed version of the story is that Chief Sam Sumana was attacked by his own boys who he promised hefty sum in the 2018 national elections. The same version also claimed that the former Vice President was reportedly angry and bitter with the SLPP for failing to pay his benefit as paid to his former boss. How would his former loyalists attack him now for reneging on his promise after more than two years of the national elections? Or, was the funeral ceremony the right place for Chief Sam Suma to express his annoyance at the SLPP for failing to pay his benefits?
The different versions of stories on the attack on Chief Sam Sumana have left many concerned Sierra Leoneans totally confused as to what actually led to the attack on the erstwhile Vice President and his bodyguard at the funeral ceremony in Koidu. No one actually knows who is telling the true story about the incident unless the Council of Paramount Chiefs in Kono District comes out with a public statement on the incident since it occurred during the funeral rites of their late colleague Paramount Chief. Even the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ambassador Tamba John Lamina, under whose purview the occasion was organized, will also save himself and the government from any blame by issuing a public statement explaining what actually happened on the visit of Chief Sam Sumana and his delegation to the funeral rites of the late Paramount Chief Kongobar in order to lay the issue to final rest.
Truth is, as former Vice President, an elderly statesman and indigene of Kono district, it was the inalienable right of Chief Sam Sumana to attend the funeral ceremony of the late Paramount Chief Kongobar and nobody has the right to attack, embarrass or scold him for exercising that right. Though the funeral was organized by the ruling SLPP as reported, yet it did not exclude the involvement of Kono indigenes from other political parties, The occasion could have served as a platform for the Kono people to foster unity irrespective of partisan affiliation, but unscrupulous people chose to foment trouble for political gain, which was nothing to write home about.
By and large, it is about time the Kono people came out from their political cocoon and embrace themselves for development and better representation. Despite past and present governments had recognized many Kono politicians by appointing them to notable positions, those appointments had never reflected positively on the diamond-rich district and its people because of the disunity amongst the politicians. In the previous APC Government, for instance, Kono had the Vice President, First Lady, Second Lady and a handful of Ministers and Deputies, but unfortunately, there is little or nothing to point at in terms of their contributions to development in that district. It is the same trend that is continuing and how long will this ‘bad hat’ among the shakers and movers of Kono last?