The Police force is a sine qua non for any civilized society but their value to any state depends on the manner in which they implement their remit.Their functions especially in developing countries are carried out by toadying and Sierra Leone is not an exception.In this country after strenuous rebranding efforts by the British led by Keith Biddle it was thought that we would exhibit our Athenian leadership but it now appears to have been an exercise in futility.There is no gainsaying the fact that sidelining prerequisites can lead to undesirable outcomes.This is the fate that has befallen the Sierra Leone Police force which was putatively a Force for Good. Sadly it has been gradually sinking to pre-war levels of disrepute to the extent that it no longer deserves that sobriquet.It was agreed that recruits should be vetted by their local communities before recommendation for employment.But on assumption of power by the lawless APC this requirement was thrown to the winds. As a result all sorts of persons have been recruited into the force including sturdy rogues and vagabonds.
The comeuppance is that a significant number of the force is virtually unteachable and merely robotic as they are pushed through the ranks.It should not come as a surprise that they can misunderstand instructions and thereby indulge in excesses.Instances like the violence meted out to President Bio in Bo and the killings in Kabala are plain syndromes that define the Sierra Leone Police today.
The incumbent Inspector-General, Dr. Richard Moigbeh with the delusional idea that the APC would win the elections slammed a ban on vehicular movement of all vehicles in spite of the resistance to the ban by ten political parties including the incumbent SLPP. Not only that.The IG and his men attacked and embarrassed the President at his Freetown residence during the last elections on pretence of searching for weapons in February.
The latest imbroglio in which the Sierra Leone Police has emerged with indignity is the arrest of a civil society activist Edmund Abu Junior for allegedly staging an ‘’unauthorized’’ demonstration.The high handed manner in which the activist was arrested leaves much to be desired judging by Keith Biddle’s standards.The ‘’orders from above’’ have been ascribed to either the politicians in the Ministry or the Inspector General of Police.Whoever it was,the direct responsibility lies with the Inspector General of Police because the politicians in that Ministry are only responsible for broad outlines of policy and not details like ordering an arrest.
This manner of implementation is obviously an old direction.It makes no difference with the Police under the APC overreacting only to please the politicians for promotions or maintenance of their positions.
The earlier President Bio gets rid of the incumbent Inspector-General the better.He should find himself in some diplomatic mission like his predecessors.
A chameleonic force should change its colours according to its surrounding and the Sierra Leone Police should now be changing its colours from red to green denoting no-violence and abiding by the rule of law.