It was in October, 2023 at the Bintumani hall in Freetown that the ink of a pen paralysed arms and ammunition in the arsenals of President Julius Maada Bio.
A peace communiqué, the outcome of a three-day dialogue dubbed as the document for peace and national cohesion dumped SLPP government in the ditch through the stroke of a pen.
The peace document brokered by members of the international community was to end a post-election stalemate that badly impacted on the security and development of Sierra Leone.
But, the document has conundrum which the Chief Minister did not see or if he saw, he turned blind eye and ready to deal with the consequences since his government is in power.
Leader of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC), Dr Samura Kamara believes in the power of the pen while government representative, Dr Moinina Sengeh bears the sword and the guns.
His government is in charge of the state security forces who have been lording it over the members, supporters and sympathisers of the APC, but the pen has rendered them powerless.
It was a big leap in the dark for Dr Sengeh to sign a document without reading between the lines to digest the real content and meaning. Its negative implications on government still rages on without knowing where it would end.
The Chief Minister was carried away by the cool, cosy and rosy smiles of Dr Samura Kamara, a man who many see as a cool-hearted man that easily let things go. Hardly did the Chief Minister had a clue that that the peace communiqué would bring devastating consequences.
Dr Sengeh could also have been deceived by the fact that he and Kamara’s wife, Massa Rogers hailed from Pujehun district, Southern Sierra Leone failing to realise that politics is a different world.
Politics is like a football game in which one’s full-blooded brother could be tackled to stop a goal passing through the goal post, and later unite after the game, so be it for Kamara and Sengeh. The APC presidential candidate used the pen to fight men with artillery the same way David confronted and conquered the heavily armed Goliath with a sling and stone.
However, some Sierra Leoneans especially his critics who fail to understand the silent war hit out at him saying he is too cool for their comfort.
They do not see Samura Kamara as a politician and therefore not au fait with the intricacies of politics and state governance. He is therefore unfit for purpose especially to occupy the presidential seat.
But, his diplomacy seems to have worked for his party and the people of Sierra Leone by dragging the most feared government into signing a document that made them admit that they had been conducting political trials, holding political prisoners and accepting to resettle all those driven from their communities by political violence. What a dangerous commitment?
The commitments are found in Resolution-4 of the communiqué, and information reaching press indicates that a special team would take over the investigation of the political trials and detainees as well as the resettlement of victims of political violence.
In such situation, the investigators would have to ask for the exact number of prisoners, their personal records, case file numbers, the exact number of prisoners in custody, how many that have disappeared or killed.
These questions will be tough for government as the four main conventions that form the crux of international law prohibit degrading or inhumane treatment to a prisoner talk less of killing them.
Conducting political trials in a country governed by the rule of law makes a complete mockery of Sierra Leone’s judicial system and takes Sierra Leone to the dark ages.
It also constitutes a great human rights violations for which victims are entitled to reparations. In fine and civilised jurisdiction, political trials could warrant compensation for those whose have been unlawfully arrested and detained.
It happened in Britain where a prisoner who was mistakenly held behind bars for several years was compensated with millions of pounds to let him start his life.
Such is the situation SLPP government has been trapped as they would have to compensate all their detainees in the near future as the laws of Sierra Leone do not encourage political trials. Sierra Leone is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, a document that makes provision for the compensation of those detained unlawfully.
Sierra Leone’s motto: Unity, Freedom and Justice embodies the country’s fundamental belief which has to be respected by all and sundry.
In a political trial, the person is arrested and detained not on the basis of having committed a crime but by virtue of their political affiliation. It is apparently the case in Sierra Leone where complaints of APC members and supporters being tried on the basis party politics are rife.
Perhaps, the worst commitment for government was to agree to resettle those forced out of their communities by political violence especially by thugs linked to the ruling party.
Resettlement of victims is a financially demanding venture that will cost government millions, if not billions of dollars in the near future, and the question where will government get the money to resettle or relocate the victims still lingers. Political violence started the day Bio was announced winner of the presidential elections.
In early 2018, hundreds of APC supporters were chased out of Kono district in the Eastern province after President Bio was declared winner of the elections. Most of them sought refuge in Massingbi town in the Northern region where they were given food and non-food items to ease their plight.
APC supporters were also threatened in Bonthe district, one of the major heartlands of the ruling party, the youth leader was recently attacked while others ran away for their lives. It is unclear whether they have returned to their villages since the attacks were carried out.
Hundreds in Pujehun will also have to be resettled after dozens mostly women were physically attacked and injured after declaring for the APC.
APC supporters in Kenema also will have to be resettled as their houses were set ablaze and household property vandalised during the electoral period. Images of irate youth destroying the portraits of Dr Samura Kamara and chasing the people out of their communities were also viral on media platforms.
It is also no difference in Bo city, Southern Sierra Leone where the house of Cecilia Ngobeh, APC chairperson, was burned down alongside four vehicles. Even APC Public Relations Officer, Mohamed Moriba was attacked and his house put on fire owing to the campaign he put up for his party.
These attacks have badly affected victims who find it difficult to leave normal lives, and there must be clear-cut policies and programmes to get them back to their houses.
Quite recently, US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan David Hunt was in the South-East regions to take stock of the extent of damage, but his findings are yet to reach the public.
To dispense such obligations as lawfully provided means an herculean task for a government grappling with socio-economic and political challenges ranging from legitimacy crisis to weak economy. But, during the October deliberations, SLPP never saw it coming not until after the signing of the communiqué that SLPP saw the net and wanted to get out of the peace pact, but it was too late, and also did not know the right road to take them to the destination.
It was unfortunate for the government which has been cautioned by the United Nations and ECOWAS to comply with the communiqué. Back home, government also faces pressure to comply with the communiqué as evidence by repeated calls from the US Ambassador as well as the British High Commissioner, Lisa Chesney.
By hastily signing the document and attempt to run away means that government officials failed to hold proper consultations before they went to the conference, and now seeing intimidation and terror tactics as the only way out to their plight.
But, as the terror machine becomes smoky, some government officials are relocating or running away from their offices, and others have resigned as they smell the rat.
Now, the international community and the people of Sierra Leone are watching SLPP’s activities on a close range to assess their rate of compliance with the communiqué.
Recent allegations hold that government officials fight hard to foment violence to take the people’s attention off the communiqué and to curry favour from the international community particularly ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States).
SLPP members and supporters nurse a general feeling that the sub-regional bloc might deploy ECOMOG to safeguard the Bio regime as it was in 1998 when President Tejan Kabba of SLPP was restored following a putsch, but at the cost of many Sierra Leonean lives.
But, it could be a big difference this time as ECOMOG troops will be here not only for the government but also the people of Sierra Leone.