By Mabinty M Kamara
Last week’s violence in Kenema has once again brought to the fore the persistent discourse on political violence within the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).
The police have confirmed that one person died in clashes between supporters of two of the main rival candidates seeking to run for President in 2018 under the ticket of the SLPP. The attacker, who is now in police custody, has been linked to ex-head of state and Presidential hopeful Brigadier (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio, and the victim is said to be a supporter of John Oponjo Benjamin, who is also running for president.
Bio has distanced himself from the attacker and condemned the violence. But Benjamin, who is former national chairman of the party, said the retired Brigadier was to be held responsible for the action of his supporters.
The attack came as both presidential aspirants were touring the country as part of their campaign for the party’s delegate conference expected to be convened soon.
JOB, as Benjamin is fondly called, was in Kenema where the incident happened. He told Politico that the attackers, who were allegedly close to Mr Bio, had chased his convoy after a meeting he had attended in Kenema. He said the alleged murderer, whom he named as Fonnie, a well known SLPP supporter in Kenema, was one of the staunchest supporters of Mr Bio. According to other reports, especially on social media, Fonnie, whose first name is said to be Mohamed, is also said to be a member of the private bodyguards of Bio. Benjamin believes the attack was actually aimed at him.
“I was in a meeting in Kenema when I got information that Fonnie had come around and said he had come to execute me. But I didn’t take that seriously. But after the meeting, on my way home, I saw a vehicle chasing us so I told my driver to check. Fortunately; the AIG [Assistant Inspector General of Police] of Kenema appeared on the scene. He said he had received an intelligence from a bike rider that a vehicle was tracing me.”
JOB went on to say that at that point, his supporter [the now late Daddy George] appeared, bleeding from his back, and claiming that he’d been stabbed by Fonnie.
According to reports, Fonnie was subsequently caught at the Bandama check point after a failed attempt to leave Kenema and avoid arrest.
JOB claimed that Fonnie was been sponsored by some people in the Bio camp.
“That boy has a lot of violent record in Kenema but whenever he committed crimes they will spend [money] to get him out. And if the government and those concerned do not put this under control, we are going to be having more causalities which is not good for the country,” he said.
But in his statement, Bio called the violence “unacceptable, unnecessary and unjustified,” and had “no place in our modern politics of Sierra Leone.”
Bio said he was a man who believed in peaceful democratic competition.
“For this reason I condemn this act of violence and call upon the law to take full course,” he stated.
The statement goes on to dismiss the fact that Fonnie is part of his private bodyguards, noting that he was in the northern Kambia District at the time of the incident.
“If he was one of my bodyguards he should have been with me in Kambia,” the retired Brigadier stressed on a telephone interview with Politico. He said although he recognized the accused as a supporter who had “come around” his campaign, he was never one of his bodyguards. And he added that Fonnie was an adult who was criminally liable for his actions.
“I should not be held liable for his acts,” Bio said, stressing: “if somebody broke the law, the law should take its course.”
According to sources, the body of Daddy George, the victim, has been sent to Freetown for postmortem.
Assistant Superintendent Ibrahim Kamara, public relations officer of the Sierra Leone Police, confirmed to Politico that the alleged perpetrator was now in police custody and that they were looking at the possibility of making more arrests.
“This is a case of murder, so an elastic investigation is required because the crime might have been committed with motive or there might be other people who might have prompted the act,” he said on a telephone interview.
ASP Kamara said as a result of the incident the police had placed a ban on all political activities in Kenema District.
(C) Politico 31/05/16
