By Mustapha Sesay
The main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) finally laid to rest the remains of its former spokesman and Publicity Secretary Musa Tamba Sam on Monday, amidst accusations of selective burial policy implemented by the National Ebola Response Center (NERC).
Tamba Sam was buried at the Ascension Town Cemetery in Freetown following his death from a protracted illness earlier last week.
The occasion which saw in attendance the top hierarchy of the party, including deputy chairman Prince Harding and Dr Khadi Sesay, Vice Presidential running mate in the 2012 elections, followed days of acrimony over botched plans by the government to conduct an ‘Ebola burial’. Dozens of SLPP supporters staged a protest at the main morgue at the Connaught Hospital last Thursday over the issue.
Mr Sam died at the 34th Military Hospital at Wilberforce, west end of Freetown. The official cause of his death has now been confirmed to be diabetes.
But some people, mainly in government, cited the prevailing state of emergency declared at the height of the Ebola epidemic last year as reason to bury Mr Sam the Ebola way.
Tamba Sam`s supporters argue though that he was Ebola-free and some of them who spoke to Politico at the protest last week called him “hero” and so they couldn’t accept according him anything less than respect to his final rest.
They held placards depicting various messages, one reading: “He is Ebola free.”
Mohamed Bangura, chairman of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) party with known ties to the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), was at the head of calls for Tamba Sam to be buried as Ebola victim even though he did not die from Ebola disease. Bangura cited the existing ban on the movement of dead bodies from one part of the country to the other. The UDM leader told Politico that he was only liaising between the SLPP and the government in his capacity as chairman of the All Political Parties Association (APPA).
It turned out that a negotiation between the SLPP and NERC yielded some compromise. The body wasn’t released to the party as it had demanded, but it was buried at a place of their choice.
Nonetheless, Ambassador Alie Badara, who spoke on behalf of the party to Politico, regretted that Tamba Sam could not be buried at his hometown of Vayama in Kailahun, which he said was the late man`s wish.
He said in an interview a day after the burial that the remains of Mr Sam were buried by the party`s youths and not by the Ebola burial team, another of their key demands.
The body, he explained further, was carried in a military ambulance and upon arrival at the cemetery it was released to the youths.
At his grave at the Ascension Town cemetery, a tomb has been erected so that after the Ebola epidemic his remains could be easily identified and exhumed for reburied in his hometown, Badara said.
But there were also indications that a rift within the highly fractured and increasingly lame duck opposition SLPP means some of them were indifferent about the kind of burial their former spokesman had.
Mr Sam, according to some party insiders, was seen as a stanch supporter of former head of state and presidential aspirant, Brigadier (rtd) Julius Maada Bio. As such not just the government but some within his own party had course to have his remains humiliated.
The visible absence of SLPP Secretary General Tejan-Sie and leader and national chairman Chief Sumano Kapen at the burial ceremony lend credence to this position.
Mr Tijan-Sie in fact last week told Politico that they as party were committed to the Ebola fight in all forms and that they`d held meeting with the APPA where it was made known to them that the body would be buried as Ebola victim.
“All we asked for was for more time to bury him in a nice casket,” Tejan-Sie said.
Tamba Sam would have been in support of what was right, he added.
Ambassador Badara however reserved much of the reprimand for the NERC, accusing it of conducting selective burial. He said at the same time as Tamba Sam was been buried, there was a funeral session going on at the ‘Our Lady of the Sea’ church in Juba where the body was released to relatives of the deceased. He also spoke of the body of a parent of an unnamed sitting minister, who died over a month ago, still been kept in the morgue without no concern from the NERC.
Repeated calls and text messages seeking a response to these allegations from the NERC`s spokesman Sidi Yaya Tunis weren’t responded to.
Tamba Sam who served as MP for one term representing Constituency 003 in the Kailahun District was survived by five children. According to official sources, the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation have opted to take care of three of his orphaned kids – two girls and a boy – up to university level education, while Dr Khadi Sesay reportedly offered to take care of the remaining two girls to university level of education.
Mr Sam has been described as “fearless” and “outspoken” during his time as an active politician. He was particularly known for his uncompromising opposition to alleged plans to change the country`s constitution to allow the incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma re-run for a third term as President.
© Politico 12/03/15
