By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio has vowed to take drastic action against anyone involved in acts of violence as he called for an end to a spate of unrest that has rocked the nation in the last two weeks.
In a televised address to the nation last night, Bio accused unnamed people associated with the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) of being behind the state of insecurity, noting that the party’s failure to condemn the acts made it appear complicit in them.
His statement comes on the back of a series of violent incidents across the country that have claimed over a dozen lives and destroyed properties, from Freetown to Lunsar in the north and Tombo in the Western Area Rural.
Several people are reported to have been detained in connection to these incidents, among them controversial female politician and member of the APC, Sylvia Blyden, who police say is under investigation for incitement.
Bio said all those suspected of playing any role would have to face the law.
The president described the attacks as “carefully planned, coordinated, well-orchestrated and executed acts of violent terrorism” targeting the state. He believes it is all a fulfillment of a threat by the losing APC candidate in the 2018 presidential election, Dr Samura Kamara.
“Evidence emerging from investigations has named known local leaders and members of the APC as being responsible for inciting, planning, financing, mobilising, and in some cases actively participating in violent terrorist attacks against the people of this country,” Bio said in his statement.
“Like terrorists elsewhere, they even record their acts with telephone cameras, run self-valorising commentaries on their acts of extreme violence and killings, and share those synchronously in WhatsApp forums,” the president said.
Bio’s address, arguably his toughest since he assumed office in April 2018, also comes amidst calls from development partners, including representatives of the international community, civil society and religious leaders, for him to act towards unifying the country to prevent it from slipping back into conflict.
Last week the UN called on both the government and other political players in the country to bury their differences and focus on Covid-19 which continues to spread across the country.
At least one of the violent unrests – in Tombo – was linked to Covid-19 restrictive measures.
This week the group representing all denominations of Christians in the country also added its voice to the call for an end to violence and for national unity.
While reiterating his commitment to democratic values and freedom of expression, President Bio in his statement said his government couldn’t allow such to be abused by endangering the security of the state.
Bio lamented that the APC had failed to reciprocate all his overtures for national unity and peaceful coexistence in the last two years of his presidency. He cited his convening of the national peace summit which paved the way for the formation of a National Peace Commission.
He also mentioned reaching out to his predecessor, Ernest Bai Koroma, by dispatching his Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jallow for a meeting with the former president, followed by a meeting with the leadership of the APC with himself at State House.
“But within those two years, there has been an unrelenting barrage of attacks against the state, state officials, public and private persons and properties. This hearkens back to a public threat issued by the losing Presidential candidate that the All Peoples Congress party would make the country ungovernable.
“One would therefore expect that the leadership of the All People’s Congress, like the leaderships of the other political parties in Sierra Leone, would have publicly and staunchly condemned as well as dissociated the party from any persons or groups of persons who incite hate, associate with and support violence, or participate in violence against the state. They have not. Instead, the leadership has made public statements that have heightened tensions,” Bio said.
The president in his statement said he had ordered reforms and restructuring within the police and the penal system to reflect much needed changes required to bring their operations to international standards.
He said for those facing charges for their alleged role in the current crisis, the law would take its course. In this vein, he appealed to the country’s Chief Justice to put measures in place to ensure that they get their chance in court, at a time when court proceedings are all but shut.
The APC has not responded to the latest statement by the president. But in a statement last week, they accused the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party of being behind the unrest as a ploy to harass and intimidate its members.
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