Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 March 2017
There are unofficial reports of two students shot by police this afternoon at a student demonstration in the centre of Bo.
The students have been named as Mohammed Morlu and Augusta Sungai.
One of them is believed dead, and the other has been taken to hospital with serious injury.
Thirteen students are now believed to be detained at Lumley police station in the west of the capital Freetown; three detained at New England Ville Police Station; and five detained at Kenema Police station.
Some of the student leaders are reported to be meeting the president at State House for talks.
Reports from the southern district of Bo say that the town is today under siege.
Students from Njala University have taken to the streets in sympathy protest, after lecturers are denied payment of their salaries for several months by the government.
Eyewitnesses say that movement of people as well as normal business life have been disrupted in the city.
Students are demanding the reopening of classes, and have put up road blocks with burning tyres.
Students say that they are very angry to see that the president and his ruling APC can use tax payers and donor funds to finance the party’s youth wing convention in Makeni – running into Billions of Leones, but cannot find money to pay the salaries of poor, hard working lecturers.
A concerned citizen said today: “The silent torture of a helpless nation is now exploding into direct mindless killings of the oppressed.
“This is an unacceptable development that should have inevitable consequences for the culprits, be they high or low.
“Those who fire bullets to kill harmless civilians are as culpable as those who order the killings – sitting behind high walls. In the end they will all have to face up to the consequences of their desperation to maintain a system that feeds on innocent blood.”
BBC Umaru Fofanah is also reporting of shooting in Bo as police try to disperse the students.
The authorities have told journalists that students will be identified, arrested and charged to court.
But concerns are growing for the plight of those students that are peacefully protesting in accordance with their civil liberty and human rights.
The Sierra Leone Telegraph will bring you more on this later. In the meantime you can listen to the following recordings:
The killing of students is an unfortunate situation. But is it only Njala University lecturers that are not being paid? or all the lecturers of our universities in Sierra Leone?
The reason for my question is simple. If the government is able to pay other universities – which maybe the case, why not those at Njala university?
African leaders like president Koroma and others who turn their guns on their own people should be banned from entering the USA and all other civilised countries. We dont want leaders like Koroma here in the USA.
How can he get away with raining bullets on poor innocent student protesters? Are you watching this president Trump?
The ICC should take note of these brutal violence perpetrated by Koroma against his own people and hold him to account when he leaves office next year.
We must not be surprised at the shedding of innocent young blood today. Today marks the start of the APC youth league conference in Port Loko and APC has sacrificed the blood of a young innocent student as part of their ritualistic belief that this will help them win the 2018 elections. God go pay dem.
Politicians are responsible for almost all of the ritual murders that go on in this country. By killing Mohamed today they have made a powerful sacrifice to their evil gods to win the minds and hearts of the youths of this country.
These people are evil and perverse, but one day they will be brought to justice to answer for their deadly crimes.
Education in this country is a right – not a privilege. All the students were protesting about is their right to receive the education for which they have paid the government in cash.
If government cannot deliver the education they have paid for, then government must return the cash to the students who have already lost the whole of the first term without lectures. To take away their hard earned cash and then their blood – all in the name of ritualistic murder for votes is evil. President Koroma has got blood in his hands.
President Koroma educated his daughters in London. He has no idea what crap we are experiencing here as poor parents of these students.
As for the life lost today, we hold president Koroma and the head of police – Francis Munu responsible and accountable. One day they will be brought to justice.
My heart goes out to the family of the student who was killed and to the many students who have suffered needlessly at the hands of the Police, the very people who are sworn to protect and serve them.
This APC government like its predecessors does not respect the sanctity of life, free speech, or the right to peaceful assembly. It is validation for many of us who continue to say that the APC party cannot govern. It is also another nail in the coffin of this APC government and our duplicitous President Ernest Bai Koroma, who made very lofty promises to upgrade education and to improve the lives of the thousands of young people in Sierra Leone.
What we have witnessed instead, under the Ernest Bai Koroma government, is not only the worsening deterioration of education in Primary and Secondary schools – but also at University levels. Fourah Bay College, which was once the citadel of higher learning, is today a relic.
If I remember correctly, there was a very ostentatious signing of a grant to renovate some of the dilapidated buildings, including the Hostels on campus. What happened to the money is anyone’s guess. But rumor has it that the contract was awarded to one of the relatives of the President, however, going ten years into his presidency the renovation has yet to be completed.
The students who have sacrificed so much are still looking forward to the day when they will be able to return to the Hostels. The student union which was once the voice of the student body, has been infiltrated by the APC party and politicized.
And to top this off, I have heard that part of the reason why this APC government is not too enthusiastic to complete the work on the Hostels is to keep the students from organizing and demanding better conditions.
As for Njala University, their relocation to Freetown and Bo has been a blessing in disguise; otherwise, their plight would have gone unnoticed.
This APC government or any other APC government promising to do well cannot be trusted with the education of our children. They have proven time and again that they do not care about the future of our children.
If we want to see a better Sierra Leone, students of voting age should register to vote and come out in their thousands to obliterate this uncaring government in 2018.
we are pleading to the government to put attention to this issue in Bo and parts of Freetown. Just take a look – students are now being killed for their rights. This is a serious problem.
If the APC government under the leadership of President Ernest Bai Koroma has arrived at a point of not affording to pay lecturers for their great effort in keeping the fabrics of education in the country, what then is he doing in State House?
Why can’t he simply admit that he has failed and can no longer manage the country? This is pure nonsense.
The government of salone is not being truthful these days. That’s why Emerson Say’s “yesterday is better than today”. We are electing fools to rule us. But all the same, they have charmed us. Ar know say e go lef buff pan dem (in other words – it will be there loss).