By Mohamed T Massaquoi in Pujehun
Police in Pujehun in the southern district of Sierra Leone have arrested an unspecified number of youths in Zimmi Town, 42 miles of the district headquarter town, on allegation of contravening the prevailing Public Health Emergency declared to stem the Ebola virus disease.
The Officer in Charge (OC) at the Zimmi Police Station, Sheku S. Bangura, said the youths were arrested for organizing a football match, “in contravention of the public emergency regulations Act of 2014 and the Ebola bye laws.” He told Politico their investigation revealed that it was the district council chairman, Sadiq Silla, who authorized the youths of Makpele chiefdom, of which Zimmi is the headquarters town, to recommence football playing, thereby breaking an almost eight months` old ban on the sports.
OC Bangura vowed that the situation was unacceptable as far as the anti-Ebola bye laws and state of emergency were concerned.
As part of his social mobilization effort in the fight against Ebola, President Ernest Bai Koroma, at the height of the epidemic, urged traditional leaders across the country to device bye laws geared towards cutting the spread of the virus which experts say is transmitted through bodily contact. Those bye laws enacted by Paramount, town and village chiefs saw all aspects of social life in most part of the country curtailed. Football is among the most affected.
Zimmi Makpele recorded the highest number of Ebola confirmed cases in the whole Pujehun District, with twenty one out of a total of thirty one cases.
However, Pujehun district was among the first district to contain the virus` spread at the early stage, and this has been attributed largely to strict adherence to these bye laws.
OC Bangura said until the Public Health Emergency was declared over by the central government, the police would not allow any football activity in the district.
Summon
The District Ebola Response Centre (DERC) coordinator, Ali Bao, condemned the decision by the district council chairman and demanded a public apology for seeking to undermine the anti-Ebola fight. Bao said Chairman Silla had always refused to accept the DERC`s leadership role in the fight against the epidemic.
“The council chairman should realize that it is the sole responsibility of DERC to handle every Ebola activity with support from the community people in overcoming the virus,” he said.
Bao also told Politico that based on the laws of Sierra Leone, taken part in any sporting activity at this time constituted an offence, as per the public emergency regulation Act of 2014. He said the law was still applicable as long as new cases were been recorded in the country, and that eventual declaration for recommencement of sporting activities must be done in consultation with the DERC.
“He (Council Chairman) has no power to do what he has done and we are going to summon him to a meeting in other to explain the reason behind his declaration for necessary actions to be taken,” Bao vowed.
Bao then warned the chairman against creating a situation that could cause the people to misinterpret the laws regarding the anti-Ebola effort.
Chairman Silla admitted declaring recommencement of football playing in Zimmi and pointed at the re-opening of schools to justify his decision.
The council chairman told Politico he had no regret for the decision.
“As far as schools have been re-opened and physical education is part of the school curriculum, football must be played in the district and let me tell you that even the president did not make any conditionality to that and therefore DERC should realize that there is governance system operation in the district headed by me,” he argued.
“I am the only person to interpret government policies in the district,” he added.
Silla then explained that he took the decision while visiting Zimmi together with a cross section of the district stakeholders, as well as the provincial secretary South, as part of a mission to settle a longstanding land dispute that resulted in the removal of two section chiefs.
“The youths were very much active in the dispute and that day they came up pleading for the reinstatement of football playing and I have accepted it.”
He explained that the youths were a major part of the reasons for the escalation of the Ebola crisis in the district and that in view of their opposition to Natural Habitat, a new agro-business company in the district, accepting their request was a way of encouraging them to cooperate with the authorities.
“These youths even attacked the first Ebola ambulance that went into Zimmi to bring the first Ebola patient who later died, and they went ahead to bury the dead body,” explained Silla.
When asked by Politico if he thought this was the right time to have declared football playing, when new Ebola cases were still been recorded in the country, the chairman referred Politico to ask President Koroma on why he ordered the re-opening of schools at this time of the epidemic.
A youth spokesperson in Zimmi, Ibrahim Kanneh, complained police brutality during the arrest of the youths and called on the district authorities to properly investigate the matter. But OC Bangura denied any police brutality and said those arrested displayed no physical injury.
© Politico 21/04/15
