Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 October 2020:
The U.S. embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone today published a security alert advising its staff and American citizens to avoid the central districts of Freetown the country’s capital, and Makeni in the north – hometown of the former president Ernest Bai Koroma.
According to the US embassy, “Former President Ernest Bai Koroma will be questioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday, October 5. Street closures and spontaneous demonstrations are possible. U.S. Embassy personnel have been advised to avoid the area and remain alert while travelling.”
Last week, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) wrote to former president Koroma (Photo), inviting him to the office of the ACC in Freetown to help the ACC with their investigation into alleged corruption and abuse of office by the former president, which according to the report of a Commission of Inquiry runs into millions of dollars, including the acquisition of unexplained wealth.
But tonight, there were uncertainties as to whether tomorrow’s meeting with the former president will go ahead as scheduled, or indeed whether the former president will travel to Freetown to meet with investigators.
Speaking to the Sierra Leone Telegraph, a source at the ACC said that their meeting with the former president which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been cancelled and will now take place on Thursday, 8th of October 2020.
“On the request of Ernest Koroma and his lawyers, we have decided to shift the questioning to Thursday,” the source told the editor of the Sierra Leone Telegraph.
The Sierra Leone Telegraph understands that this new arrangement is to allow the former president and his lawyers sufficient time to properly prepare for the meeting with the ACC.
But it is still not certain where the meeting will take place, as this is still subject to negotiation between both parties.
Last week, some supporters of the Koroma-led opposition APC put out notice on social media, calling on supporters of the president to form a mass convoy that will escort the former president to the capital Freetown from Makeni for his meeting with the ACC.
But the police in Freetown say they have not received any application for mass demonstration by any group.
Street demonstrations involving large crowds without police permit in Sierra Lerone is unlawful and usually dealt with harshly by the police, using tear gas and sometimes live ammunition.
The last time mass demonstration was quelled by the police, was in Makeni in the north of the country a few months ago, which led to the shooting dead of five youths.
Although the police would no doubt try to avoid a repeat of the Makeni incident, the police say that they will respond harshly to any mass demonstration that has not received police clearance.
Warning to any one about to go risk your life for these rats. Ask yourself this question; is it worth it? Their families are well taken care of, why go die for them? Don’t test the resolve of this government. Please stay home. Let them defend themselves. They’ve already done enough damage to you by not providing you the opportunities you need as a citizen, They’ve used it to enrich themselves and their families. Your life is worth more please value it. This is their fight stay away from it.
No matter what, we do really have some good true tellers, and people who actually care about their country, thanks brother E. John. We have to understand that the US gov’t not only have it’s informants but also always protect it’s nationals around the world. The FBIs well paid off, in terms of intelligent issues, the US gov’t is not sleeping folks! The State Dept, always giving traveling warning restriction not to anyone else but to their Citizens. They were informed to stay in doors – the danger is coming from the Republic Of Makeni, where EBK is claiming Presidency.
Folks what is happening currently in Sierra Leone, no other country is experiencing this kind of rhetoric. I have advised my family members not to travel to Freetown and Makeni until further notice. God protect Mama Sa/Lone
The embassy of the United States never does anything on a whim, or out of impulse. All their actions are always totally deliberate and premeditated. Without any doubt the greatest nation upon the face of the earth currently has reliable FBI informants, and squealers on the ground in our beloved Sierra Leone who are deeply embedded within a broad complicated spectrum of our nation’s politics. My authentic sources tell me that there are snitches within the criminal SLPP party providing the Americans credible updated information about the lawless, criminal, thieving policies of their party for a handsome, generous fee.(lol)
See – If the US issues a security warning for Makeni and Freetown, it is because they are fully convinced that the notorious SLPP is going to do anything and everything possible to ignite a political firestorm through their usual mindless practice of using brutal tactics and unchecked violence against a law-abiding peaceful opposition. The image of this little Country of ours has already been tarnished worldwide by poorly educated arrogant men that totally lack the abilities to put to practice, and good use what they proudly claim to have studied and mastered from books.(lol)
Strange is it not – Vagabonds that use to wander from place to place abroad without a home and a job, losers that ate only tacky, tasteless sandwiches for their three square meals a day in the freezing winter cold, are now building mansions and holding the keys to lucrative government positions in Sierra Leone? In advanced societies where some of us kept on shining like diamonds put on display by jewellers, the incompetence and detestable attitudes of these good-for-nothings brought them nothing but humiliation, shame and barrenness. And here they are, birds that don’t know what it means to fly straight, toothless ancient turtles that have always crawled in a crooked way, trying to tell majestic lions how to move and hunt in a direct line.(lol)
Thanks to the Almighty the international community knows that the lifetime leader of the APC has finally decided to make his dream come true to “make our country ungovernable” whenever his party lost an election. His party succeeded in destroying our country by sponsoring Johnny Paul Koroma who invited late Foday Sankoh of the Rebel RUF during the first term of the SLPP government under the leadership of late President Tejan Kabba. Fortunately, Johnny Paul and Sankoh were tried by the ICC before peace, stability and democracy was restored by the international community.
Now that the lifetime leader of the APC party has been asked to account for his 11 years misrule, he referred to accountability as “Harassment” which is a coded message to his supporters for violence. I understand that the only way he expects to prove his innocence is by inviting the “ARIOGBO” devil, and he is only scared of the “ WITCH PUSS” which usually “Witch-hunt” BIG ARATA.
Finally, I believe that this warning from the USA Ambassador is mainly for most Sierra Leonean Americans residing in Freetown and Makeni that are members of the APC. Hopefully, the lifetime leader will respect the laws of our land by accounting for his stewardship and also denouncing any form of lawlessness, violence, terror and destruction, because the International Criminal Court (ICC) is watching.
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Indeed. The ICC has already had a great watch and taken notes on the massacre at Pademba Road Prisons and in Makeni. Oh Ja. Let me don’t forget about the attack on Chief Sam Sumana in his backyard and on the streets of Port Loko, the bloody attack and assault on the mighty APC party headquarters etc. What the hell are they talking about?
God bless Sierra Leone’s greatest former Commander in Chief of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Chief Sam Sumana and the huge and mighty APC. Sierra Leoneans will not sit aside and watch their former gallant Commander in Chief of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces maligned political without supporting him. No way. Bloody hell under the dead maggot infested Palm tree.
Our former Commander in Chief of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces is a very peace loving man and law abiding citizen. I don’t see any reason for him to do anything that will disturb the hard earned peace he himself made sacrifices for. As long as the law takes it course, there will be no disturbances. But if the Bio SLPP kakistocracy, who have been for more than two bloody years in power, concentrating on the arrest of one of the most peaceful and respected people in the world, instead of bringing development to the country, by hook or by crook, then things will not be very good in my view.
I said it some time ago, after Chief Sam Sumana who next? Now it seems, it is the greatest former Commander in Chief of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces ever, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma. TBC.
When they say be careful what you wish for, that saying has never had such a poignant meaning in the context of the ugly tribalistic politices and regional differences that exist in Sierra Leone. Apart from the RUF wars, maybe the only other time the security of Sierra Leone was so recklessly tossed up in the air, was the DOGBOWUSU uprising in 1982 by some villagers in Pujehun District, which was violently put down by the Stevens government. And the 1977 students riots. Today I will say no one, not even Bio and his extremists adviser can tell you where the chips will land, with this ongoing corruption investigations of past APC officials especially the former president EKB.
Yes we need to fight this scourge in our society. But it has to be done with blind justice. When people suggest other retired African presidents have been investigated for the same corruption misdeeds, like Zuma of South Africa and the fomer Zambian president Chuliba, I suggest you revisit our history or speak to your elders about the rivalry between this two indomitable parties that have dominate our lives and political space for the past decades .
And by the way these two countries never went through open civil war in which thousands of innocent people lost their lives. If Pujehun or Kailahun District are the base of the SLPP, then Makeni and Kabala in the North are the mecca of the APC. Anyone who suggests otherwise does not know anything about the nitty gritty of the invincible tribal and regional differences that exist in our country. To put it into context it is like the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. The only difference in Sierra Leone is that it is low level and cloaked in deception, and the law used as a tool to advance their tribal and political objectives.
Unfortunatly, we had a civil war fought on those conditions, but no one seems to have learnt anything. And the losers in all this, is us Sierra Leoneans. We continue to support these parties that have offered us nothing but poverty and always scared about what is coming next. There are kamakazi elements on all sides, ready to lay their lives for a lost cause. If you are too young to have lived it, we have lived through the Stevens government and subsequent regimes. Same old story; maybe the only thing that is consistent in our country. The rest is left much to be desired for. May God grant us peace in Sierra Leone.