VP Sam-Sumana
By Septimus Senessie in Kono
Office of the National Security (ONS) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have squarely blamed the country’s Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana and local government minister, Finda Diana Konomayi for the woes of Kono district.
They said both government functionaries who are natives of the diamond-rich district were “the forces behind the insecurity, political divide and underdevelopment of Kono district”.
Representatives of the two institutions made the complaint at an emergency district security committee meeting summoned by the parliamentary oversight committee on defence and national security and held at the Sierra Leone Road Transport Authority conference hall in Koidu.
District coordinator of ONS, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma, told the committee that “the deep-seated personal rancour between the VP and the minister has seriously disturbed the security of the district”.
He added that “it is not a hidden secret that VP Sumana and Diana Konomanyi do not see eye-to-eye and this division between them has cost the district a lot. What we see now are insecurity, underdevelopment, and youth violence.”
The coordinator also alleged that “the 14 paramount chiefs and their subjects, the ministers, mine workers at OCTEA, and youth groups of the district are also divided against one another into two camps.”
Koroma claimed that Kono had become too difficult for public servants to “operate freely and fairly because if you are working in the district and you do not identify yourself with one of those camps, you will either be transferred or relieved of your duties”.
He referred to the frequent transfer of police personnel and heads of other government offices to other districts “as a clear indication of the direct interference and influence by the masters of those two camps into the operations of public servants in the district.”
The security agency chief told the committee that “until and unless this deep-seated grudge between VP and the minister is addressed, Kono will never enjoy positive peace among all other efforts.”
Meanwhile, the sub-regional manager of ACC in Kono, Rev. Bob Kandeh, also told the committee that the political interference from the two big guns in the operations of public servants had “dragged the district 15 years backward from development.”
He alleged that all the job contracts in the district were awarded to contractors on the basis of those two camps; something he said “has made it too difficult for even the ACC to monitor them.” He cited the township road work among several others as key examples in that respect.
He also cited “call from above” by those two camps into their operations as a serious problem for government functionaries to operate effectively and efficiently.
A member of the committee on defence and national security, Patrick Foyah, MP, referred to the situation as “as a serious problem for the district" and that they were concerned as members of parliament on national security.”
He asked the newly transferred Local Unit Commander of the Tankoro police division, Superintendent David Sahid Koroma, how prepared they were to compromise "calls from above" in their dispensation of law and order "in a volatile district like Kono".
The LUC replied that although they were understaffed, they would endeavour to perform their constitutional duties in the district “devoid of the phenomenon of "call from the above”.
Chairman of the committee, Leonard Fofana, MP, thanked members of the district security committee for "frankly" making known the numerous problems they faced in terms of peace and security. He promised to table the various reports before parliament for possible intervention and encouraged them to remain courageous and focused on their duties for national development.
(C) Politico 08/07/14
