By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The newly transferred Line Manager to the Bo East Police division of the
Family Support Unit (FSU), Detective Inspector Lahai Koroma, has vowed that in six months time First Lady Fatima Bio's 'Hands off our Girls' campaign will yield results in the southern regional headquarters and its surrounding communities.
“I am 100 percent in to fight for the success of this Hands off our Girls Project and I assure you that within my three to six months stay here [in Bo] there will be a difference. I am working towards that goal,” Koroma told Politico.
The Hands off Our Girls campaign is a program that aims at protecting underage girls from the exploits of men. The campaign which is the flagship project of the office of the First Lady, seeks to protect and fight for victims of rape, sexual assault and other social problems affecting girls.
Koroma has just been transferred to Bo from Pujehun district almost three weeks ago. He is coming from a district where the figures on teenage pregnancy and rape are shockingly high.
Last week President Julius Maada Bio was quoted saying 80% of the schoolgirls in Pujehun are mothers. Fatima Bio did not mince her words about the Police when she visited Pujehun in October last year, blaming them for part of the problem.
She described the police as “criminals” who have frustrated the efforts to get justice for most of the sexual violence victims.
Koroma hopes to bring his experience from a place like Pujehun to Bo.
Bo city itself has a growing problem with child prostitution.
Koroma said he is currently investigating a case which involves a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a an electrician in the outskirts of the city. He said despite the short time he had spent in Bo, he could safely asses that the crime rate there was by far higher than his former district, Pujehun.
He said, “…what I have experienced is that the difference between Pujehun division and Bo East division is very great. Here in Bo, the crime rate is higher than in Pujehun and in fact it is just like comparing death and sleep.”
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
