By Umaru Fofana
Sometime between 16 and 18 August 2013 a group of military officers and men were arrested at Teko Barracks in the northern town of Makeni. The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) would not give the exact number of the serving military personnel, their ranks or exactly what their offences were. Persistently we asked. Persistently our questions were rebuffed.
Days later the Mayor of the opposition stronghold of Bo was also arrested. Rather ludicrously, Harold Tucker was later released and we were made to believe, rather bizarrely, that no one had asked that he be arrested. They police gave us the impression and the excuse that it was a case of a mistaken identity. Or, that, perhaps, his arrest was because of some mispronunciation of the word "Mayor" for "Major". It may sound funny, but nothing can be more serious, not least when you consider the fact that the liberty of someone was being denied with such arrant lack of reasonability and contrition on the party of the police.
Later we were told the soldiers were being held on a wide range of issues - from alleged mutiny to even a brazen military coup. But soon, and somewhat incomprehensibly, they were handed over to the police, yes to the police, to investigate an alleged crime said to be military in nature. The army would not give detail as to what sense it made to have handed them to the police if what they had allegedly committed was a mutiny which should be investigated and tried by the military, let alone a military coup.
In late September 2013, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Frankly Kargbo, told me that the soldiers would face a Court Martial whose panel he said was being constituted. Since their arrest, that interview was perhaps the most detailed thing that has been said about the soldiers. Among other things the minister said: "I can confirm that we received the file from the investigators towards the end of last week and we are reviewing it and at the same time based on the extracts of evidence that we have viewed so far we are in the process of making preparations to set up a court martial."
Asked how many people were being held, he said "upwards of seven". When pushed on the exact number of detainees he said "between 10 and 14". Asked what the soldiers were alleged to have done, the Attorney General would not say. Asked whether there was any irony lost in him that the men (supposedly there are no women among them) were being held way beyond constitutional provisions, the Attorney General said: "These are very serious offences that they will be facing. And in any event I’m not too sure that the question of constitutional rights applies in military matters. They have their own rules, as I say, and the 72 hours or 10 days are applicable to ordinary citizens."
One begins to wonder why such harmless information as to how many soldiers are being held, what their ranks are and what they are alleged to have done, cannot be disclosed. One can be forgiven for thinking that the whole thing is suspect. And since September when those files were received by the Office of the Attorney General we do not have a clue about the status of the matter. RSLAF leadership is not talking about it. The government is quiet about it. Now rumours are flying about the wellbeing of some of the detainees. These are bound to fuel speculation with the tendency to affect the peace and quiet.
Whoever thinks that because they are serving military personnel the people being detained almost ad infinitum do not deserve their liberty should explain that further. Any rules and regulations should be deemed to be under the power and authority of the country's constitution especially on issues of the liberty of its citizens. Unnecessary ambiguities aside. But that is not the issue. What the bull's eye is in all of this is that those people were arrested with speed and seeming verbal conviction by some state officials that they were plotting to do bring down the state. So one wonders why a Court Martial has not been constituted to try them amid all the evidence, said to be overwhelming, adduced accordingly.
Hand on heart I do not know if I know any of the soldiers being detained. But truth is, it is never fair to hold someone for six months without charge, never mind a soldier, especially when there are no legal restrictions prohibiting due process. The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces has a lot of brains these days and many lawyers among them. So constituting a Court Martial should not be like studying rocket science.
But even if there are problems in the way why can the public not be informed about such. The soldiers being held have families. Those families must be suffering in silence because they cannot complain to anyone, simply because someone has alleged, without proof, that they were planning to do something. The consequences of such are too dire for them to dare. In as much the same way as the consequences of any soldier plotting a military coup in today's Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, however, we are a nation whose leaders and followers are too forgetful, perhaps naive, not to reflect on what begets the bullying of middle level and other ranks in the army in years gone by.
I am sure I am not the only person in this country and beyond, curious, anxious perhaps, to know about who are being detained, how many of them, what they are alleged to have done or wanted to do, and when they will be brought before a court of competent jurisdiction - civil or military. That, certainly, is not too much to ask for.
Clearly mutiny or coup is bad. But making unsubstantiated allegations of mutiny or coup is nothing insignificant either. So whoever says that the undisclosed number of unidentified soldiers being detained for the seventh month now were planning a mutiny or a coup, should try to adduce any such evidence now, and end the agony of the detainees and the anxiety of their families. Anything short of that makes mockery, the more, of our country's human rights record, and must not be tolerated. Sadly, the institutions charged with this, and the rest of society do not seem to have woken up to the reality of this situation. Often we forget that what is good for the gander is invariably good for the gander.
(C) Politico 28/01/14
