By James Tamba Lebbie
Whether justified or a display of an unnecessary use of force, the just-concluded local government bye-election in Freetown has again brought to the fore the vexed issue of the (mis)conduct of our police. In the estimation of many right-thinking observers, the police, once again displayed their pro-establishment sentiments rather than conducting themselves as a neutral, professional body capable of protecting people irrespective of their political convictions.
True to say, people were taken aback by the violence that characterized the conduct of an election that many thought to be insignificant. In fact, it was the violence that informed most people of an electoral exercise in Freetown. While there are accusations and counter accusations as to who triggered the commotion, the subject of this piece is the apparent uneven handedness displayed by the police in the entire drama. This perhaps shows the police have not learnt any lesson from previous blunders.
In such a crucial election year, it is expected that the police should be concerned with redeeming its dented reputation or striving to restore its lost credibility as a professionalism public security organ, against the backdrop of unfavorable published and unpublished investigation reports. However, it is apparent they have once again missed that opportunity.
What apparently triggered police reaction or overreaction – depending on where you stand - in the immediate aftermath of the bye-election was the stabbing of APC’s Lansana Fadika, allegedly by Aziz Carew, the SLPP Chairman for Constituency 104. Let’s agree for the sake of argument that Fadika’s allegation was true (which still remains contentious given the different accounts of how the stabbing took place). What a responsible police should have done was to invite the suspect for questioning and upon refusal to report, issue a warrant of arrest. That’s how the police operate in civilized and democratic societies. Instead, the suspect was arrested on Sunday night in a commando-style raid that left him in coma by the time he was taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). And while the Inspector General of Police has publicly taken responsibility for the arrest, sources close to the corridor of power points to the Internal Affairs Minister, Musa Tarawally as having ordered the police assault after a meeting of senior government and APC party officials after the bye-election.
But here is the interesting paradox of, and selective justice in the different episodes of this ugly political drama that started in the wake of the 2007 elections: in 2009, Lansana Fadika, in his capacity as SLPP Chairman of Western Area sustained serious injuries when his party’s Wallace Johnson Street office was stormed allegedly by irate pro-APC youths. An investigation - the Shears-Moses Commission of Inquiry - set up to look into the matter including disturbances in other regions, produced its report that never saw the light of day. The report among other things singled out Musa Tarawally then as Resident Minister, Southern Region for blame and recommended his barring from holding public office “for a period of five years”. Contrast this with the swiftness of police action when the same man, in his new capacity as an APC convert, was stabbed on Saturday, allegedly by an SLPP official. This is plain double standards, selective justice and blatant display of partisanship by the police!
Let’s look at the other contradiction: members of both political parties – Lansana Fadika and Mohamed Kanu-Mansaray - were victims of the same violence. While Lansana Fadika accused SLPP’s Aziz Carew of stabbing him, Mohamed Kanu-Mansaray, the SLPP candidate said he was assaulted by Tunde Lewally, a Member of Parliament of the APC party. Aziz Carew was hurriedly manhandled by the police and taken to the CID while the other suspect, Tunde Lewally, is roaming the streets a free man. And any argument for parliamentary immunity for latter is a mockery, otherwise Rado Yokie, an SLPP Member of Parliament would not have been arrested for the disturbances in Bo. If this is not selective justice and a compromised police conduct, then I wonder what is.
I’m under no illusion that our society is made up of power relationships and that whosoever has power, tries to shape the institutions and organizes society around its interests and values. However, we should also be reminded that wherever there is power, there is counter-power, as social actors challenge the domination embedded in the institutions of society In this regard, the public is no doubt, aware that that the police is under tremendous pressure from the government to dance to its tunes as we move towards the elections. In the midst of this challenge, the police should be made to understand that times have changed and that people, irrespective of their status, are now made to account for crimes committed on innocent civilians, whether they are elections-related or not. Cases in point are Kenya, Ivory Coast and lately, Libya.
It is therefore incumbent on those in power and the social actors that work to protect their interests to ensure that sanity prevails in this country. As for the police, their persistent denial of brutality meted out to opposition members is certainly not helping the situation. But let them know the world is watching.
