By Jenneh Braima
Executive Director, Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Ibrahim Tommy, has condemned the arrest and detention of a traffic warden on the allegation of insulting and provoking Sierra Leone’s Chief Immigrations Officer, Kholifa Koroma.
Tommy told Politico that it was important for the state to protect all workers, especially junior officers who work in the traffic division of the country’s police force.
”I think it is unfair for the traffic warden to have been arrested and detained for three days before charging the matter to court”, he said.
Even when the matter finally went to court, Tommy noted, the complainant failed to show up for three consecutive sittings before it was eventually thrown out by the magistrate.
According to the CARL boss, it was improper for any public officer to lose his liberty in such circumstances which, he said, in fact raises questions on how the police uses its powers of arrest.
“Just because the police can arrest someone doesn’t mean that everyone can be arrested and detained for 72 hours. If the complainant didn’t have any case to pursue in court, he probably didn’t have any reason to file a complaint in the first place and in my opinion it`s sheer lack of respect for legal procedure that causes that”, he stated.
Tommy pointed out that the immigration chief could have, “at the very least turned up in court or sent someone to represent him in court so that members of the public can know what actually transpired between him and the warden”.
He urged the Sierra Leone Human Rights Commission to launch an investigation into the matter so as to determine whether or not the rights of the warden was violated and, if so, recommend compensations for the violation of the officer’s right, particularly when the case was thrown out of court.
Traffic Warden 150, Musa Abdulai Kamara, the officer in the midst of the controversy, explained to Politico that he was on duty December 17 when he saw a private Jeep with registration number; AIV 701, along Glouster Street in Central Freetown. He said he noticed that the vehicle was uninsured which was why he stopped it.
“The man started using invectives on me and asked if I knew him. He immediately called my boss. I was arrested minutes later and I was kept in detention for two days before the matter was charged to court. I spent three more days in remand at Pademba Road Correctional Center before the matter was thrown out of court on January 16”, the warden explained.
Politico tried to reach the Immigration chief for a comment but he wouldn’t respond to either a call or text message.
© Politico 20/01/15
