By Mabinty M. Kamara
President Julius Maada Bio has sacked the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Anthony Brewah. He is replaced with Mohamed Lamin Tarawally according to a public notice from the office of the President on Tuesday 18th January this year.
This came after several public outcries on the release of a popular herbalist Baimba Moiforay also known as LAC in a usual prerogative of mercy that the president grants prison inmates on every 1st of January. The decision which sparked several controversies was later on the 17th January 2022 revoked by President Bio.
160 inmates benefitted from this year’s presidential pardon with 43 inmates including five women released to go home and the remaining 117 who were on death row committed to life imprisonment.
Moiforay was convicted in 2016 for the murder of Henry Sydney Buckle popular Disc Jockey, known as DJ Cleff whose lifeless body was found at the Murry town - Macauley street cemetery in Freetown on May 25, 2015, after he had attended a party hosted at the convict’s residence in Freetown. The convict was to serve a 25-year jail term on guilty verdicts of conspiracy and the death penalty for murder.
The Press statement from the office of the Press Sectary and Presidential spokesman states that the government has instituted an “investigation into the process leading to the granting of pardon to Maimba Moiforay (aliasLAC) on 1st January 2022 pursuant to section 63 (1) (a) of the constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991)”. The release, therefore, noted the immediate withdrawal of such pardon.
A group photo of LAC, the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Information and Communication taken after his release from prison went viral on social media platforms. But the Minister of Information, Mohamed Rahaman Swaray was quick to distance himself from the convict, saying that he had gone to pay a usual courtesy call on the former Attorney General when travelling past his Tiama residence. “I have never met LAC before let alone have any dealings with him. It was purely coincidental that I met them there and they requested a photo opportunity which politicians hardly reject,” he posted on his Facebook page.
Speaking to Politico, Kashor Christian Buckle, younger brother to deceased DJ Cleff said as a family, they do not know if they should celebrate the withdrawal of the clemency or not. He said that their New Year's Day celebration turned into mourning when they heard the news of the release of LAC, saying that they are still yet to recover from that sad state.
He, therefore, urged for the speedy investigations into the committee that handles the presidential clemency “The people that brought the list to the President needs to be behind bars including the Director of Prisons and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice,” he said.
Politico understands that the Sierra Leone Correctional Service submitted a list of 225 inmates from across the country to the Mercy Committee. Our source says these inmates were mostly people who had three months or less to run on their sentences. The list was rejected by the committee headed by the Attorney General who chaired the committee because the Vice President was busy with other official assignments.
According to the source, the list was rejected because some members of the committee argued that inmates that have served a portion of their original long jail term should be considered for such pardon. The source says Moi-foray’s name was not on the list of 225 submitted by the Correctional Service which was then rejected. The source adds that another list of 43 inmates was then prepared of inmates serving long sentences for violent crimes like robbery with aggravation and murder. That list was then approved by the committee and forwarded to the State House for the president’s signature.
We also understand that President Bio met the committee at State House last week and expressed his disappointment with the way they handled the issues that resulted in the controversial release of LAC. One member of the committee told Politico that a technical committee that would normally meet to undertake a detailed analysis of the issues around recommended inmates never met.
Yusuf Keketoma Sandy, the Presidential Spokesman, told a radio station in Freetown that the process of selecting inmates for the recent Presidential Pardon was ‘flawed’ and would now be investigated by a special committee authorized by the president.
At this moment our sources at the Correctional Service say LAC is not in their custody.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (19/01/22)
