Bashiru Vandi: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 September 2018:
The tragic death in Mile 91 of a fellow citizen is an outcome that must be roundly condemned by all citizens.
Relevant videos and audios in the media validate reports that a citizen was shot dead by law-enforcement officers in Mile 91 in the course of a valid, necessary and ongoing raid in communities engaged in the unlawful cultivation of cannabis.
Law-enforcement personnel must be expected to use proportional force in self-defence. But the execution of a civilian in cold-blood, with no authentic proof that the police or military personnel were in imminent danger of losing their lives is a despicable act of despotism that has no place in a civilised democracy.
One must therefore express heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family.
However, there is a worrying but expected trend of engagement from the APC Opposition. We all know that the APC feeds on vicious propaganda, violence and the callous exploitation of ignorance.
These traits are on full display in this unfortunate episode. In the absence of any intelligent contribution to national governance by way of constructive articulation of alternative ideological policies, especially after losing all national and international credibility in salient areas of governance, the supine and useless APC simply resorts to what it knows best: deceptive propaganda with the destructive aim of inciting tribal strife in the country.
It is despicable to see clueless political activists busy peddling deliberate falsities on social media.
Quite contrary to their innuendos, the raid on mile-91 was not a politically-motivated attack on APC’s stronghold; nor was it a witch-hunt.
There is no credible evidence of the so-called “rape and sexual slavery” being parroted by an army of intellectually-limited APC miscreants that are thoroughly schooled in the backward art of Jungle politics.
They fail to also acknowledge the fact that the killing of civilians by the Sierra Leone police was much more rampant throughout the disastrous rule of the APC.
See the following photos of some of the young people gunned down in cold blood by the police under the Koroma APC leadership. Since 2007 to 2018, no fewer than 13 young people were killed needlessly during the APC government. This use of live ammunition against civilians must stop:
As the audio below of a radio interview with the head of the police unit that conducted the raid explains, such raids are habitual, and the local police commander might not have been notified to avoid potential law-breakers in the area having prior knowledge of such raids – obviously from CORRUPT local police officers.
So, the APC has no interest in good governance; it has NEVER been a democratic party. It’s simply utilising simpletons to crudely hyperbolise and tribally weaponise this tragic incident, in order to expediently whip up national unrest and discourage inward investments.
The opposition APC sees this tragedy as its only hope of survival and making itself relevant.
In conclusion therefore, all decent Sierra Leoneans should indeed condemn the gruesome death of a fellow citizen. The onus is now on this government to stamp out the hideous culture of police killings that has blighted our people’s lives throughout history; especially under APC misrule.
But like most intelligent Sierra Leoneans, the international community is copiously aware of APC’s vicious record of bad governance.
So, one logically views APC’s comical and futile struggle to hypocritically and shamelessly find favours abroad, after recently insulting everyone else for its electoral demise, as a desperate clutching at the political straws.
Sierra Leone will rise and prosper.
Listen to the head of the police unit that conducted the raid speaking on local radio:
Thanks very much, may God bless you.
I absolutely agree with the writer of this piece and thank him for his honesty. As tragic as this incident is we must not go so low as to present it as a tribal war against the Themnes. Afterall Sierra Leone police is made up of all tribes including Themnes.
If we go about fanning the flames of tribal hatred and inciting discord it will blow up very badly on our faces.
If there is any evidence of rape or any other human rights abuse by the police during the raid, then these should be investigated independently.
Thank you for the photos which show that the police have had a long history of killing citizens in Sierra Leone, which record shows was worse under the APC.
Please let us not politicise this tragic death. let’s wait for the investigation report before jumping to conclusions.