By Mr. Félix B. Khonte
“A LIE WOULD ALWAYS BE A LIE, NO MATTER HOW CLEVERLY IT IS PACKAGED, BUT NOTHING IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH, WHICH IS ALSO THE TRUTH. AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE.”
These were the words of one famous Nigerian Clergy Man.
The political situation in our country today is very much polarized and fragile, a situation that has led us to where we find ourselves completely entangled in a web. I am writing this piece from my own personal view point. I am not a supporter or opposer of the two opposing factions in this debacle, but rather, as a citizen who is anxious to see where justice and fair play will hold supreme.
To start with, I have been following diverse opinions from different quarters on the political crises in our beloved Sierra Leone since the advent of the Bio administration in 2018. If we are to arrive at any point where TRUTH will reign supreme, I think we all shall congratulate ourselves as good citizens who fought hard for the impossible to be made possible by saying the truth ! There would be no need for sanctions to be imposed on our leaders if things were done the proper way.
Now let me examine the truths or half truths about our present predicament as a Nation. Since President Bio was elected President of Sierra Leone in April 2018,many ugly things have happened in this Country which we over looked, or we treated them with a pinch of salt, as if they will never affect us, and now we begin to feel the consequences of such neglect.AS William Shakespeare once said: “COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE THEM”.
The first error that President Bio committed was his ill-advised stance of setting up commissions of inquiries to investigate the former President, Ernest Koroma and other Government officials that worked under his administration. It might have been a good intention, but it turned out to be a witch hunt. The laying out of the instruments to carry out that exercise was not properly set up as true democracy dictates.
Huge amount of money was poured in and a Nigerian Judge Justice Biobelle Georgewill was contracted to head the inquiries. At the end of it, a white paper was purportedly produced and names of persons whose properties were to be seized and confiscated to the state was published. The houses of the former President were ear marked for seizure, including those of Dr. Minkailu Bah, former minister of Education and Mr. Momoh Conteh former director of NATCOM. The matter of the former President is still on hold, whilst those of Dr. Minkailu Bah and Mr. Momoh Conteh, though they had since passed away, their properties were not spared as they have been seized and forfeited to the state. What a pity indeed as most times judgements are not handed down to people who have died during trials. WHAT A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS!
In all of these nefarious activities prominent people from the South East who worked under President Koroma were never called to those investigations. Even Permanent Secretaries and senior Accountants who are the prime controllers of all Government monies in the various Ministries and departments were spared because the majority of them are from the same region with the current President.
Again, the Anti-Graft Agency started chasing the former President on allegations of corruption and money laundering. He was embarrassed on several occasions after getting invitation to report at the criminal investigations department for questioning. It got to a point that the former President became defiant and this led to tensions between the security apparatus and residents of Makeni City, the home town of former President Koroma. It was after that stand still that he got some respite.
Even though President Bio might have had good intentions for the smooth running of the country, but there were elements around him who wanted him not to succeed in his New Direction Drive. They gave him wrong advices about the actions he took that severely tore this Country apart, leaving one to ponder about the true meaning of their Party motto which is: ONE COUNTRY ONE PEOPLE, (or the complete absence of it).
I now turn my attention to the truths or the half-truths, as some may prefer, because no man is entrusted by Nature with absolute knowledge. Let me draw the attention of our readers the significance of our country motto which is UNITY…. FREEDOM …. JUSTICE. O MY GOD, Beautiful words, well chosen by our founding fathers!
Let us as readers and right-thinking Sierra Leoneans analyze the word UNITY: It is the process of staying together, that means helping and supporting each other in any situation. Being together is the key to build a good, stable and strong society and relationships. Unity is important at every step in our lives. The quality or state of being one, single, whole or the same. It gives us the courage to fight injustices and evils in society. It brings people together to achieve shared goals. Togetherness. Oneness. No great achievement in this world could be possible without unity. Unity is crucial because it provides strength, power and courage to individuals and nations.
The President, who is the fountain of honor and commander in chief, is also the embodiment peace and unity, has the moral duties of unifying the country by treating every citizen as equal to each other, irrespective of tribe, region or political affiliations. I Could recall vividly the first lady’s reckless statements that only Sierra Leone Peoples Party supporters are true Sierra Leoneans. There was not a word of condemnation from our God Father for these unfortunate and unprecedented remarks coming from his wife as it lent credence to opening the ills of an already volatile society.
There are many other instances of wrongs committed against the people from the North West of the country which our President never treated as if they were his subjects. The issue of Retired Major Pallo Conteh,former defence Minister of the Koroma regime, who was wrongfully charged for treason and later freed by a panel of Jurors at the high court. The killings at Pademba Correctional center by suspected State house security apparatus, the Makeni killings, the Mile 91 killings, the killings at Tombo and Lunsar, the August 10TH and after were all orchestrated and stage managed by the authorities that be. In all of these random killings, neither the President nor civil society raised a voice of concern. Neither an investigation was set up to look at those gross human rights violations.
We witnessed the Security personnel attached at the Presidential Lodge dancing and brandishing their weapons threatening to kill any Sierra Leonean who dared on the streets to demonstrate against President Bio’s style of leadership. There are videos on social media where one Austin Johnny threatened to exterminate former President Koroma and his entire family, the entire A P C executive and their families, the entire former ministers and their families, Mayors and their families, Councilors and a host of others. He was never invited by the C I D for making such dangerous and life-threatening statements.
But there are reports of opposition members being invited to the C I D, and locked there for days without charges proffered on them. Like the case of Sidi Yayah Tunis, the All Peoples Congress National Publicity Secretary, who was invited by the C I D for merely saying that the people of Sierra Leone will resist any form of threats from any quatres prior to the elections. There are the cases of Madam Femi Claudius Cole of COPP (CONSORTIUM OF PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL PARTIES), Dr Dennis Bright, Madam Diana Konomani, Mr. Karamoh Kabba and a host of others who suffered gross human rights abuses for merely exercising their democratic rights. WHERE IS UNITY IN THIS KIND OF SET UP?
From the above analysis, we now take a crucial look at FREEDOM: But what is FREEDOM? It is defined as the quality or state of being free, such as the absence of necessity, coercion or constraint in choice of action. Liberation from slavery or from the power of another boldness. To live your life doing what you want, to live where you want, and to choose what your heart desires without any intimidation or harassment. To express yourself in a free manner. It refers to the state of independence where you can freely associate and say what you like without any restrictions by anyone. In short, Freedom is the ability to think and speak freely and objectively without duress.
But was Freedom actually experienced in this Country these past five years? Taking a look at all the human rights violations citizens were subjected to, you might be tempted to shed tears why freedom has been completely abrogated from our constitution. During the period of campaigns for the June 24th 2023 elections, the opposition was not allowed to go and canvass people in certain parts of the South East. People were hatched with cutlasses and wounded mercilessly because they belonged to the opposition. The regional Party office of the opposition in Bo was set ablaze by thugs suspected to be Sierra Leone Peoples Party supporters, the house of Mohamed Moriba, the regional P R O of the A P C in the South was also burnt down.
Going further in Pujehun, where a group of women had thrown their support for Dr. Samura Kamara because they too had wanted to get a first lady from their district as Samura Kamara’s wife is their sister. This did not go down well with the S L P P executive in the district. They forcefully interrupted the celebrations and scores of women were wounded in the fiasco. On the day of A P C nomination in the district, similar intimidations occurred and people were wounded severely and hospitalized. The police in exercising their duties behaved unprofessionally by turning the table around against the complainants. It happened again in Bonthe were All Peoples Congress party supporters were again beaten and wounded on their campaign days.
We again saw on social media when thugs mounted road blocks along the high way on the road leading to the home town of the former Minister of Information Mr. Mohamed Rado Swarray. They even mentioned his name as Dr. Samura Kamara was embarking on his campaign tour of Pujehun District.
In all of these atrocities committed against peaceful citizens who were only trying to exercise their democratic rights, there was not a single line of press release neither from the Presidential desk, nor from the Police. But the bottom line here is that the President who is supposed to govern his people as one family has openly told them not to encourage the opposition All Peoples Congress to get a single vote in that part of the country.
There is the case of one Michael Mansaray from Bo City who was severely manhandled by Security personnel in that part of the country for merely saying the stadium that they are enjoying there was built by the former President. I understand he is the youth leader of the opposition in the Southern Region. He was taken to court and sentenced to eight months jail for no tangible reasons.
I now focus my attention to our so-called human rights activists and civil society (or evil society) propagandists who have been fattened by this regime to advocate for them to counter the nefarious and dubious activities of their administration. Not to talk of the O N S(Office Of National Security) or the P P R C(Political Parties Regulatory Commission) who never intervened when these human rights violations were committed to innocent citizens across the North West of the country. Fancy a civil society activist predicting the outcome of an impending election survey that gave the incumbent President 57 percent lead. You kidding me!
Now I take you to Mr. JUSTICE…. BUT WHAT IS JUSTICE? “A concern for justice, PEACE and genuine respect for people. “SYNONYMOUS, FAIRNESS, FAIRPLAY, FAIR MINDEDNESS, EQUITY, EQUITABLENESS
EVEN HANDEDNESS, EGALITARIANISM, IMPARTIALITY, IMPARTIALNESS, LACK OF BIAS, OBJECTIVITY
NEUTRALITY, DISINTERESTEDNESS, LACK OF PREJUDICE, OPEN MINDEDNESS, NON-PARTISANSHIP,
HONOUR, UPRIGHTNESS, DECENCY, INTEGRITY, PROBITY, HONESTY, RIGHTEOUSNESS, ETHICS, MORALS,
MORALITY, VIRTUE, PRINCIPLE, RIGHT-MINDEDNESS, PROPRIETY, SCRUPULOUSNESS, TRUSSTWORTHY,
INCORRUPTIBLE.
JUSTICE…. The legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered. Justice is the ethical, philosophical idea that people are to be treated impartially, fairly, properly, and reasonably by the law and by arbiters of the law, that laws are to ensure that no harm befalls another, and that where harm is alleged, a remedial action is taken.
Justice, to give each person what he or she deserves, or in more traditional terms giving each person his or her due. Justice and fairness are closely related terms that are often today used interchangeably.
Now, let us take stock of our Country these past five years and do proper reflections on how we were governed under the new direction of President Bio’s leadership. Was there any JUSTICE or a semblance of it, especially with matters related to the main opposition All Peoples Congress? NO! There was the forceful imposition of the speaker of Parliament which should have gone to the opposition because they were in the majority in the house. The Executive used his sledge hammer to prevail on the Judiciary to pass judgements that saw the removal of ten All Peoples Congress Parliamentarians and the hasteful replacement and swearing in of nine ruling Party candidates, who were the runners up. The one case of constituency 110 that the National Grand Coalition was the runners up, the courts recommended a rerun. The matters of the All Peoples Congress appeals against their own Parliamentarians have still not been attended to up to the end of the fifth Parliament.
Now coming to the period leading to the elections, very controversial amendments were made in the constitution that brought in the Proportional Representation or District Block System. The opposition tried hard to kick against it and went as far as the supreme court, the highest court in the land. There was no way it could be reversed as it was done the PAOPA WAY. This led Dr. Abdulai Conteh, a seasoned international Lawyer who was one of the pioneers of the 1991 constitution, to make these remarks: “Well, I feel disappointed as democracy is slowly dying in Sierra Leone”.
When the issue of the incompetence of Mohamed Konneh to conduct the very crucial 24Th June 2023 elections was challenged by the A P C, and Lawyer Charles Francis Margai at the high court and supreme court respectively, the Chief Justice audaciously said he had no Judges to assign for those cases. All of those people who were advocating that the All Peoples Congress should have gone to court to challenge the result announced by Mohamed Konneh should think twice. There are cases in the high court which the All Peoples Congress petitioned against the Sierra Leone Peoples Party after the 2018 elections that have been swept under the carpet.NO HEARING!
There is this case of former member of Parliament Emmanuel Saidu Conteh, who was unlawfully arrested and charged to court for allegations of importation of arms at the Quay. Then the matter of Dr. Samura Kamara who is standing trial at the high court for the New York Chancery building. This matter should have been closed by now as there is no evidence to indicate that he took part in the loot. Those that are involved in the deal are all walking free. To my view, I think there was no reason why the A P C should go to that court when the writing was already on the wall that democracy and the rule of law have been wiped off in Sierra Leone. Again, our proud motto of… UNITY…FREEDOM…JUSTICE… IS MISSING IN ACTION! WE NEED A GOD-FEARING REDEEMER TO RETRIEVE IT FOR MAMA SALONE…………
THE BEST WAY TO LOOK FOR TROUBLE IS TO SPEAK THE TRUTH AND CONFRONT LIES, THEN, THEY WILL GANG UP AGAINST YOU TO FIND YOUR FAULTS!