Sierra Leone President Maada Bio is taking the country toward a brutal era in the country’s history. He has literally declared war on the people, especially the youth. Anyone who opposes him in any sense will face the brute force of the police. The inspector general of police wantonly arrests, detains, and tortures citizens for simply expressing their right to free speech.
As the 2023 elections approach, Mr. Maada Bio has declared war on the youth of Sierra Leone and anyone who criticizes his bad governance. A previous arrest and detention of a homeless, mentally disabled man who criticized Maada Bio was a perfect example.
The case of Alhaji Amadu Bah, a popular rapper, a.k.a. Boss LAJ, beloved by the youth of Sierra Leone, is Maada Bio’s most recent example of how far he can go to silence the people of Sierra Leone. LAJ is a prolific musician who sings about Sierra Leoneans’ hardships in the Maada Bio era. On June 12, 2022, LAJ was arrested on allegations of theft and assault without evidence.
Since his arrest, LAJ has suffered at the hands of the police, who tortured him with pepper spray, beatings, shaving off his signature long-maintained dreadlocks, and allegedly injecting him with an unknown chemical substance. Sierra Leoneans know that prisoners, especially political prisoners, are often tortured in prison. But the most baffling part of the inhuman treatment perpetrated on LAJ was the shaving of his head. What did the inspector general of police gain by forcefully and brutally cutting off the rapper’s dreadlocks?
Well, we think the bald-headed IG Sovula wanted the locks for himself. It is the only sane explanation we can come up with now, especially since the police did not provide any valid reason for the shave.
As if all the torture that has been perpetrated on LAJ by the police was not bad enough, the judge presiding over his case, Magistrate Sahr Kekura, has totally ignored the laws and procedural rules of Sierra Leone, he is instead handling the case based on ‘orders from above’ rule. This rule is given by the president to the police and judiciary.
Nearly three weeks after his arrest, with severe injuries he sustained while at the Benghazi torture camp, LAJ languishes in detention.
A few days ago, however, Magistrate Kekura, after conducting the quickest trial in the history of Sierra Leone, sentenced two brothers and nine friends of LAJ to 36 months in prison.
This sentence guarantees the young men will remain imprisoned until after the 2023 elections. There were no announced charges, except that the 11 men visited the Benghazi detention center to enquire about the welfare of LAJ at a time that the family, friends, and the Sierra Leone public were all anxious about the fate of LAJ, as he had not been seen or heard from by his father and lawyers.
Magistrate Kekura’s sentencing of the 11 men, including the leader of the Youth Power Movement, Ismail Bah, who happens to be the brother of LAJ, is an obvious effort by Maada Bio to use the police force to round up and incarcerate young people who do not support his government.
These tactics are a recipe for instability in the country, which could lead to a conflict similar to the decade-long rebel war that killed over 50 thousand people and left even more children, men, and women maimed and in dire poverty up to this day.
By using these tactics to silence citizens who oppose him and oppress the youth population in 21st-century Sierra Leone, Mr. Maada Bio is eroding the peace the country has been building since the end of the war.
As a fragile state, President Maada Bio’s use of the police and the judiciary to oppress the people of Sierra Leone risks putting Sierra Leone on a slippery slope to a terrible fate.
Sierra Leoneans and the international community must not ignore the current plight of the people of Sierra Leone and must call for the immediate release of Alhaji Amadu Bah, a.k.a LAJ, and others.
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 