By Saio Marrah
The Commander Joint Force of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Major- General Dauda Fred Alpha has warned military personnel to stay off politics as the country approaches the General elections.
He said this during closing courtesies to end a two day Command Group Conference held at the Myohaung Officers’ Mess, Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown on Friday 16th December 2022.
While highlighting the key issues deliberated at the conference, he said “sooner or later we are going into the electioneering process. We saw the threats that were highlighted and one of the key take away from that bothers on the unprofessional behaviours of security personnel during the electioneering period.”
After informing the different military commanders to be mindful of their constitutional mandate, he also called on the senior officers who attended the conference to keep on reminding their subordinates about being apolitical.
Gen.Alpha also talked about their role in supporting the Sierra Leone Police especially during the electioneering process, and that they should not be seen taking the centre stage.
He said military personnel should not be parading at polling centres, but can be called up when there’s need.
The officer later informed Politico that as military personnel they must maintain their professionalism.
“That is why the conference gave us the opportunity to again admonish our top commanders to go back to their men and warn them to be apolitical,” he reiterated
He added: “being apolitical means you should be neutral when it comes to politics. You have the right to vote but you don’t have right to meddle around with politics because your role is to provide the much needed security for our people.”
Commenting on the significance of the conference, he said it brings top military commanders to discuss pertinent issues that bother on security.
He said as the country is about to go into its next general elections, they as security sector want to strategize their respective roles as to what are their expectations.
He also noted that part of the conference deliberations bothered on their operational readiness. While stressing on the theme for this year’s conference which is ‘enhancing RSLAF capability in meeting the security need of the people of the Sierra Leone’, he said commanders came to discuss pertinent security issues that surround the border security management, social media and its implications.
He said they also discussed issues that have to do with capabilities of the Armed Forces with specific reference to the Maritime and Air Wings, which he described as important components.
He said as they had been having challenges in those areas and that they looked at the development plans for them.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General, Patrick K. Lavahun, also in his closing remarks presented some rhetorical questions saying:” As a force do we want to be professional in the way we conduct ourselves, think? Do we want to make RSLAF a safe haven for substance abuse? Do we want to maintain a resilient force staying together in spite of the global and local challenges that we are facing? Do we want to remain out of politics openly and behave professionally as we approach the 2023 elections?” he went on.
Copyright © 2022 Politico (19/12/22)
