Former military head of state of Sierra Leone under the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) has broken his silence on the late Col. Yayah Kanu and others and the executions that followed in, ruling out regrets.,
When asked by Politico whether, with the benefit of hindsight, he regretted those summary trials and executions, Rtd Capt.Valentine Essigravo Melvin Strasser said: “I wouldn’t say I regret”. He however blamed what happened on the ways the law of the country was structured, especially regarding the way soldiers related to them. “It [the law] basically says that if the state is at war for an offence like mutiny that’s what you get after court martial – sentenced to death by firing squad. That’s the thing. Even in my case had I been stopped that’s what I would have had because the state was at war,” he said.
He denied the trials were done summarily, noting that “they were executed by firing squad and then charged – their bodies were then charged in a court martial that lasted for several weeks”. He claimed that that was the standard.
“That’s the standard when the state is at war. If the state had not been at war then it would have been different. The procedures would have been different. That’s what most people don’t understand”, he said. The former junta leader argued that it was more like military law, adding that except that people might want to argue that it was a miscarriage of justice, as far as he was concerned it was never a mistrial “because military intelligence was detailed enough to submit the evidence even after the fact to suggest that they were guilty and they were indeed found guilty even in a posthumous court martial”.
In late 1992, an alleged coup attempt against the NPRC administration of Strasser, aimed at freeing the detained Colonel Yahya Kanu, Colonel Kahota M.S. Dumbuya and former inspector general of police Bambay Kamara was foiled. The coup plot led to the execution of seventeen soldiers, including Sergeant Mohamed Lamin Bangura, Colonel Yahya Kanu and Lieutenant Colonel Kahota M.S. Dumbuya. Several prominent members of the Momoh government who had been in detention at the Pa Demba Road prison, including former inspector general of police Bambay Kamara were also executed.
On 5 July 1994 the deputy NPRC leader Sergeant Solomon Musu was arrested and sent into exile after he was accused of planning a coup to topple Strasser. Strasser replaced Musa as deputy NPRC chairman with Captain Julius Maada Bio, who was instantly promoted by Strasser to Brigadier.
Full Exclusive interview:
Sierra Leone’s former head of state, Captain Valentine Essigravo Melvin Strasser seems to be going through challenging times. The man who became the world’s youngest head of state when he seized power in 1992 and ruled for nearly four years was himself overthrown in a palace coup, flown on a helicopter to Guinea, proceeded to the UK to study, but returned home through The Gambia after being subjected to more tough times there. On his return home he later established a technical and vocational institute at Grafton – near his home town of Orugu where he currently lives.
Umaru Fofana caught up with him inside his computer training institute for this exclusive interview.
Umaru Fofana: What would you say your influence was in those years when you were Head of State of Sierra Leone – what were you able to accomplish – what did you do that you are proud of?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Well, I was able to upgrade the army, that’s one – to handle the insecurity difficulties predominantly in the south. The army was made capable to handle the Ruf.
Umaru Fofana: That’s the Revolutionary United Front rebels
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Right! And at some point they started asking for a ceasefire which was impossible at the beginning of the fighting.
Umaru Fofana: And, eventually there was some ceasefire and then negotiations started. How would you say you helped influence this?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I didn’t actually handle direct talks with them. After I left in 1996, the reformed military junta, under Brigadier [Maada] Bio actually did conduct the elections and handed over to the late president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah whose representative government then handled direct talks with the Revolutionary United Front and ended up with Lome.
Umaru Fofana: That’s the Peace Talks with the rebels in Togo. Take us back Capt. Strasser what was it like on that April 29 morning in 1992 when you announced that you had over thrown the government – what was going through your mind that moment?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: For the most part it had to do with the conduct of the fight itself by the then commander, late Maj Gen Joseph Saidu Momoh. And then we were there as Sierra Leonean troops fighting the RUF rebels and we never had access to logistical support that we needed, more so in terms of evacuating our casualties. We would get wounded in action and we would not have access to first aid, we would get killed and we wouldn’t be evacuated and so on and so forth. Ready kits were not there to treat the wounded in action and that was the fundamental problem apart from the attendant economic difficulties that the country was undergoing at that time. And that was what I wanted to deal with at the very beginning.
Umaru Fofana: When you went on State radio and announced that coup did you have the feeling that you might be in trouble yourself? Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Trouble, like how?
Umaru Fofana: Well in the sense that obviously you had overthrown a civilian government did you think that things would not work out, there would be a counter-coup and that you might be arrested. Did that ever cross your mind?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: In fact there was an attempt, by the late Lt Col. Yayah Kanu and 26 others who later got court martialled and then sentenced to death by firing squad. There was an attempt to stop me from taking State House actually but they failed.
Umaru Fofana: You spoke about the late Col. Yayah Kanu and others and the executions that followed. With the benefit of hindsight do you regret those summary trials and executions?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I wouldn’t say I regret. It’s basically the way our laws are structured more so with regards to how we soldiers relate to it. It basically says that if the state is at war for an offence like mutiny that’s what you get after court martial – sentenced to death by firing squad. That’s the thing. Even in my case had I been stopped that’s what I would have had because the state was at war
Umaru Fofana: But the fact that those trials were done summarily. Just a few hours 29 people were convicted.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: No, no, no no! They were executed by firing squad and then charged – their bodies were then charged in a court martial that lasted for several weeks
Umaru Fofana: So they were killed even before they were tried?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: That’s the, that’s the, that’s the standard.
Umaru Fofana: Is it?
Rtd Capt Strasser: That’s the standard when the state is at war. If the state had not been at war then it would have been different. The procedures would have been different. That’s what most people don’t understand. It’s more like military law – except you argue that it might have been a miscarriage of justice, and I don’t think it was a mistrial, because military intelligence was detailed enough to submit the evidence even after the fact to suggest that they were guilty and they were indeed found guilty even in a posthumous court martial.
Umaru Fofana: Away from those executions but still with your presidency or you being head of state of Sierra Leone. What has the transition been like – from being this high profile baby-faced youngest head of state in the world to the low profile, so to speak, no longer being head of state, basically no one caring about you.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: What do you mean by baby face? I was a young guy then, I was 26 [years], people argued that I was the world’s youngest leader, I don’t know, when I got into the Guinness book of records is anything to come by.
Umaru Fofana: What has that transition been like – from being that head of state to being an ordinary citizen?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: It’s like going off state benefits, you no longer get paid monthly so therefore your needs are unmet and so on and so forth. But I was able to do one good thing for myself, I mean, I had a savings account. I saved some amount of money and that was what helped me through university in the United Kingdom and then came back in 1999.
Umaru Fofana: But how has that change been –from being a head of state with everybody seeking your attention to being somebody who nobody seems to care about?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: It did not change my name. The status might have changed – I don’t know – but my name as far as I am concerned never changed. I saw myself as still the person that I know myself for being. That’s it. Financially, yes it was difficult but I was able to cope. I mean, I had friends here and there who were able to help when things got desperate. But by and large it was not too difficult to adjust even though I had to undergo several obstacles and so on.
Umaru Fofana: What are some of those obstacles?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Like at some point I was asked from time to time to extend my visa and I fell out with those ones who I saw as my friends and so on and so forth.
Umaru Fofana: That’s when you were in the UK studying?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: That’s right, and then the media…
Umaru Fofana: The British media?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Exactly! They made me look too bad as if I was some eh...eh…eh…typical stereotyping. One headline, front page I think it was one of the broadsheets or so, former dictator accused of human rights violations and abuse and so on and so forth. Later on they had to talk to me and wanted to know if I would make myself available for the ICC.
Umaru Fofana: That is the International Criminal Court?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: That’s right. And, I was still studying. That was perhaps the most difficult part. They told me that they might be able to ask the court to move on campus and then I would have to face an all-white jury. They did seven actually, ranging from murder, rape, torture, including that summary execution, they had even extra judicial killings, and then they had assassination and then disappearance. I appeared before a nine-member panel, and a Polish lady Rosinsky was the president. The others I can’t remember their names. And I was cross-examined for something like an hour and half and then I was acquitted and discharged. That wasn’t the difficult part. But then the press kept attacking and then at some other point they even almost attempted to gun me down.
Umaru Fofana: Who did that?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: How would I know! I had to run actually. But I guess it was because I had such a bad press review in terms of this sort of person that they said I was and I wasn’t. That perhaps might have instigated somebody to make an attempt on my life. They did it twice in two different parks.
Umaru Fofana: So you returned home later on. Did you come home voluntarily or were you deported by the British?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: There was talk about deportation because deliberately I didn’t extend my visa because I had taken a decision to leave and I never wanted to continue to stay in the United Kingdom. I came home voluntarily.
Umaru Fofana: How has life been since you came back. I know that you’ve retired to your place here outside Freetown in the east where you’ve opened this technical vocational centre to train people in computer software studying and all of that. But it’s an empty place. Tell me about this your post-presidency life, so-to-speak?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: It’s not so much like an empty place, its online actually you can visit us online. The thing is its location, that’s what makes it for the kids. It’s a depressed area where most of the parents are unemployed, untrained and unqualified. And it’s a depressed area so the fees are impossible. So what I have been able to do is to see if I can get government involved in terms of funding. That’s the problem with projects like these ones – they tend to be unsustainable. Refurbishing the computers is another difficult problem apart from the fact that accessing the internet is costing huge amounts of money.
Umaru Fofana: And, how are you coping? How are you getting money to run this? Obviously there is no electricity you would need a stand-by generator, how do you get funds to run this place?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Yeah, that’s the thing. Because it’s not for profit it’s very difficult. So what I did was to try and turn it into something like a business that is for profit and when funds are badly needed to up keep the place I sell some of them.
Umaru Fofana: So what does retired head of state Capt. Strasser do on a daily basis – where do you go to, if you are not that busy here?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: If I have some place to go find some food that’s one thing that I do.
Umaru Fofana: How is it like for you right now? Are you a comfortable man, are you okay?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Comfortable in terms of luxury, no I don’t know.
Umaru Fofana: In terms of meeting your basic needs are you comfortable?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: (sighs and pauses) Life is not a bed of roses, my experience has been able to teach me. I don’t have a car but given the traffic situation in the country nowadays I don’t think I would even want one. But for state functions if State House invites me they would send a state car down to pick me up to attend. So that’s what the situation is
Umaru Fofana: Did you get regularly invited at state functions?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Yes, for two Independence Day celebrations I was invited.
Umaru Fofana: How do you make ends meet? How do you eat?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: It’s very difficult for many people in this country to have access to some of the basic things. Most people in highly developed economies get eh it’s very difficult for most people not for me alone, if I should point that out.
Umaru Fofana: You are saying its difficult for you as well and you live on less than two dollar a day
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: (Sighs) That might very well be true, yes.
Umaru Fofana: Do you regret staging a military coup?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: If you ask me that was what the country needed at that time, giving the political (word indiscernible) situation at that time. If it wasn’t me I am damn sure another officer would have done a similar thing.
Umaru Fofana: So no regrets?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Not at all! (Pauses) Why I would say this is for the fact that it was that same military government that was able to build the institutions that actually did build a democratic state.
Umaru Fofana: And, anything you did as head of state that you regret having done, that you would have done differently?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: The only thing that I might not have regretted is serve for 10 years in the army. There are others still serving in the army who are colonels now and brigadiers-general now who opted to serve for longer than 20, 22 years. I might have regretted that I told myself that it would be enough for me to serve for just 10 years.
Umaru Fofana: And, in terms of head of state what could you have done differently, not when you were in the army but when you were head of state. Was there any decision that you carried out with the benefit of insight that you regret having carried out?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser:
No, No, No! Emm…I think the government would have done a lot better if it would have spent more on defence, and more on health, housing and education if the resources were there.
Umaru Fofana: You were accused of wanting to perpetuate yourself in power that you didn’t want to hold elections as planned which was why there was a palace coup that overthrew you. Did you really want to continue as head of state in a civilian capacity?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: The thing is parts of the constitution - I think it was the 1991 constitution - were suspended by the military government if I can remember. But the part that had to do with the age limit as to who is eligible to contest for president was not suspended. It stated that the candidate for the office of president should be 40 years and over and anybody who happens to be under 40 years is not eligible and I wasn’t 40 years. So even if I had wanted to do so I would not have been eligible to do so.
Umaru Fofana: If you wanted you wanted you could have changed that but as a matter of fact the constitution was suspended not in piecemeal – all of it was suspended.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: No, No, No, it was not the entire constitution that was suspended. Parts of the constitution were suspended, other parts remained unsuspended.
Umaru Fofana: So are you saying that you did not intend to run at all for the office of president?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I am saying if I had intended to I would not have been eligible to.
Umaru Fofana: Have you ever met with Julius Maada Bio since that palace coup?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: (A very long pause) What is a palace coup d’état?
Umaru Fofana: Since they overthrew you and then he succeeded you and your deputy became the head of state, have you met with him?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: What do you mean by overthrow? I told you I rejected…that 10 years I was due to leave the army, even if I were head of state I was to go out.
Umaru Fofana: So what happened in January 1996 was not an overthrow of your regime. You chose to leave, is that what you are saying?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I am saying technically you might want to see it as a resignation of a commission
Umaru Fofana: So you left at your own volition?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I left! And I gave instructions to one of the units to take orders from him.
Umaru Fofana: That’s not what the reality was on the ground, because we know that you were whisked out of state house and taken to somewhere and then you were flown on a helicopter against your wish.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I had a meeting, in fact I had two events that day lined up: I had a passing-out ceremony at Benguema [military] Training School. I was going to commission about 30 or so army officers who had graduated from cadet school. I went there and I did that. And I had a council meeting at Cockeril. That was the meeting that I went to, to table the Presidential and Parliamentary elections per decree. That was why I was at Cockeril, I wasn’t whisked to cockerel. I went there for a Council meeting.
Umaru Fofana: And after the council meeting you chose to leave yourself?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I boarded the chopper, well they felt that I never wanted to go so me alone cannot fight a dozen, I said “ok you know what for you to basically be convinced that I am not prepared to fight nobody you can clamp and handcuff and I am gonna board the chopper and fly to Guinea” where I would make plans to move to the United Kingdom to further studies.
Umaru Fofana: That doesn’t look like somebody who was willingly – out of his own volition – leaving office?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: If I left instructions that they should take orders from Maada Bio who was the first deputy, what does that tell you?
Umaru Fofana: And, why would they have handcuffed you if you voluntarily offered to leave?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Because some bad blood you know was in the thing and the there was some fighting actually and I had to defend myself.
Umaru Fofana: Because we understand you put up a serious fist fight
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Yeah yeah yeah! Because…I mean you see…the thing is with team mates you run into difficult problems. Some might be your pals others might for different reasons have other things against you that you would not even know. Some guys…actually the idea is, some force would have to be used. If you say, for example, you reach your run-out date and then you don’t remember, you know some minimum level of force would have to be used to rid you of the regalia your rank including your epaulets, the crown and so forth. But in my case there was some violence. In fact to be honest the thing is (emms and errs and pauses). Actually Maada wanted the place coup d’état. Let me come out with some of these facts yeah. I went into that meeting without my pistol because normally I moved with my gun you know we are all soldiers actually. (Pauses and carefully choose his words) I had a feeling he wanted to kill me that day and then announce that he had taken over, which is sad with us Africans especially for us guys in khaki as people normally say.
Umaru Fofana: In military uniform
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: That’s right and it’s terrible, the number two always thinks that he has to be number one. That was what happened between myself and Capt. Musa. He had to go into self exile, and so on and so forth. Where he was sitting, he also would normally not go because I would make sure we all leave our weapons out.
Umaru Fofana: That’s Maada Bio.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: That’s right. In the meeting he actually, I sat down where I sat down and normally he sits on my left next to me. Yeah! We all have drawers under the high table. He drew his drawer out and I saw the pistol actually. And then he wanted to remove it and then I knocked it off his hands and kicked it aside and then was able to negotiate a safe exit out.
Umaru Fofana: That was in a cabinet meeting?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: It was a council meeting and not a cabinet meeting
Umaru Fofana: That was the military council meeting?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Yes, the military council
Umaru Fofana: And, then what happened afterwards?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: And, then I was escorted to the military helicopter and then flew to Guinea.
Umaru Fofana: But then you said a short while ago that your service date had ended and you decided to leave yourself, but all of that doesn’t add up to a voluntary decision by a head of state to leave office.
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: Suppose I had given a different set of instructions that would counter? There is also something called a counter coup d’état. If I had wanted to stay I would have said we counter perhaps there might have been some bloodletting though. But I choose that they take advice from the Brigadier.
Umaru Fofana: Capt. Strasser, thank you very much for your time, but your family – do you live with them, do you have kids, for example, are you married?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: (In a low and subdued tone) Yes, I have got a kid who is attending the school that I attended. My brother is dead, my dad is dead, and I lost my uncle.
Umaru Fofana: And, your wife?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I am divorced after something like 15 years in separation.
Umaru Fofana: How would you like to be remembered by Sierra Leoneans as this former head of state?
Rtd. Capt. Strasser: I think history will be the judge.
Umaru Fofana: Captain Strasser thank you very much for your time.
Rtd. Capt Strasser: Yeah. It’s been a pleasure.
(C) Politico 07/07/15
