By Mabinty M. Kamara
Over the recent standoff between the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and supporters of former president Ernest Bai Koroma in Makene, there have been an outpouring of outrage, amidst appeal for the relevant actors to amicably resolve the situation.
The ACC, on the 8th of October this year, had a rescheduled interview appointment with the former president who faces charges of alleged corruption offences. However, the anti-graft agency said its agents were stopped from conducting the interview by supporters of Koroma who occupied the streets leading to his residence in the northern city.
Several institutions, among them civil society groups, have condemned the acts and called out Mr Koroma and his All Peoples Congress (APC) to ensure that the Commission execute its functions.
They include the National Commission for Democracy (NCD), Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), and the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG). They all appealed for the parties to allow for the due processes of the law in the interest of maintaining the peace and democratic good governance in the country.
“Given such negative development in that part of the country, NCD condemns the incident in its entirety especially because of the implication for the peace and stability and the consolidation of democratic good governance in Sierra Leone,” said the Commission, which is a government agency responsible for providing civic education and promotion of democratic values.
“The NCD is calling on all to follow due processes and allow the law to take its course in the best interest of the land that we love , our Sierra Leone.”
NMJD, in its statement, noted that the fight against corruption anywhere is very herculean and challenging, but that it is a fight that should not be compromised, no matter who and what is involved. It recalled that Koroma, as president, spearheaded the fight against corruption throughout his tenure, including by way of reviewing the Anti-Corruption Act 2000 in order to give the ACC more independence and more prosecutorial powers to carry out its mandate independently.
“This wasn’t a misplaced priority by the former president and it isn’t now either. Corruption was as important and pertinent then in our country as it is today. It is in this vein that NMJD is calling on all Sierra Leoneans to see the fight against corruption not from the narrow lenses of party politics, but from the wider national perspective,” the campaign group said.
Latest information at the disposal of Politico indicate that the Sierra Leone police have arrested several people in Makeni and its surrounding localities, as well as in Freetown, in relation to the incident.
It followed warning from the security apparatus of legal action against anyone found wanting for involvement in the October 8 incident in Makeni.
Police spokesman, Superintendent Brima Kamara, told Politico that they have launched full scale investigation into the incident with the view of uncovering those who masterminded it. He confirmed that personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) have arrested several people, among them a section chief in Bai Sheburah Chiefdom in Bombali District, Chief Pa Misson Conteh, for unlawful assembly and unlawful procession, among other related public order offences.
Kamara added that six other suspects were arrested in Freetown for allegedly recording on compact dicks the Makeni incident and for selling it to the public.
The police, he said, had in an earlier statement cautioned the general public against the production, sale or distribution of CDs capturing scenes of the incident in Makeni, noting that the public order act forbids any one from inciting, instigating or engaging in any act that has the tendency to cause disaffection within the state.
Late on Tuesday, the main opposition APC issued a statement condemning the barrage of press releases it said where selective in their condemnation of its members over the issue.
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