Friday March 16,
2012
- That arms importation - getting ready for extreme
violence and political intimidation ahead of November
polls. Ernest Bai Koroma playing out the APC tactics
that got the opposition cowered in the past with many
"unopposed" APC candidates gleefully announced over
national radio.
We have been taking a good look at
the inventory of the war weapons that have been brought
in to equip the armed wing of the APC party - the ISU,
SSD and now tagged the OSD. The names and acronyms might
look and sound different, but it is the same outfit that
should have been disbanded with those fit enough
absorbed into the regular police force and the rest
disarmed and re-trained in other useful and non-violent
contributions to national development. Our investigations clearly point to the fact that these weapons are meant for war and hence should be a part of the military arsenal not the police whose armed wing, the OSD is a creation of the APC of Siaka Stevens and which has always been used for the protection of that party. The military is the body, the state structure that has the know-how and capability of storing and using those weapons in the event of any threat from outside the country or indeed within Sierra Leone should we refuse to learn from the lessons of history. That the police could have been the recipient of such a large consignment of military hardware instead of the military speaks volumes about the extent to which the desperate and violence-encouraging smoke and mirrors President would want to have "his second term" so he can finish off his job of completely emptying state coffers while siphoning off illegally acquired funds obtained from any number of "investors" in deals that will see these "investors" being offered exploitation rights ranging from fifty to ninety nine years!!!! Fancy this and for which we need an explanation from the government in a country whose President then, one Ahmed Tejan Kabbah had declared some ten years ago that the devastating ten-year war was over.
1. 50 PKM heavy
machine guns,
7.62X54mm at
nearly $17,000
each for a price
of nearly $1
million dollars.
2. 100,000
rounds of
ammunition
for the
heavy
machine guns
at a price
of $180,000.
3. 100
RPK
light
machine
guns,
7.62X39mm
at a
total
price of
$345,000
4.
20,000
rounds
of
light
machine
gun
rounds
at
over
$20,000
5. 100 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers for AK 47 with a range of 300 meters at nearly $100,000.
6. 2,500 advanced new stock AK 47 assault rifles 7.62X39mm for a price of almost $3 million.
7. 225,000 rounds of 7.62X39mm ammunition for the price of nearly $150,000,
8. 200 9mm automatic pistols (NP 18 which is the Chinese type of FN Browning manufactured by Norinco Arms Corporation) for the price of $74,000.
9. 50,000 brass case rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition for a price of $17,500.
There are three sets of weapons of terror and intimidation here - never mind the calibre of the bullets which range from 7.62x54mm to 7.62x39mm. These are the Chinese PKM heavy machine guns (Type 80 weapon), the 40mm under the barrel grenade launchers and the 9mm NP-18 Browning-inspired recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol with 10-round magazines. Knowing the APC, key party members, government ministers and their "bodyguards" would now be scheduled for firing practices either at the police shooting range at King Tom or Hastings or the military range at Benguema one of the country's top military training centres. Given the fact that this special
delivery was for the police and received by that force,
it would not be far-fetched to assume that training in
the firing of the heavy machine guns and other machine
guns would have to be carried out by the military more
so as this is the first time that such weapons,
including the under barrel grenade launchers are
becoming a part of police arms and ammunition. And this
in a country that is not at war but is getting ready for
crucial elections under a regime that does not think
twice of the repercussions of unleashing extreme and
unbridled violence on perceived opponents. Former APC Youth League members, some now in their sixties would recall how effective the carrying of pistols was in the general atmosphere of intimidation that prevailed in the APC regimes of Stevens and Momoh and it was not uncommon to see the briefcase of ministers containing such pistols, this despite the Special Branch police officers attached to them as bodyguards. The importation of these arms should be a real cause for concern given the Ernest Bai Koroma's government track record of always rounding up and charging to court members of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party, the SLPP whenever there are reported clashes between the two - the ruling APC and the main opposition SLPP parties. Even when it was quite clear to eye witnesses that ruling party thugs and police did the attacks on the opposition as they did at their headquarters in 2009, it was always without any shame that the country would see the opposition charged to court. Yes - under the Ernest Bai Koroma government, this is what they see as the basics of democracy. Overturn the rule of law, send a message to APC party thugs that they are above the law and if by chance taken to court would walk out free - that is if the nolle prosequi card had not already been played to free the government and APC party-sposored hoodlums. As we have often stated and will
again advise - Ernest Bai Koroma in his desperation for
a second term at whatever cost is warned - should he be
the architect of plans to destabilise and create chaos
in a country that is trying to rebuild after a
decade-long brutal war - then he and his thugs passing
off as APC party officials and state functionaries must
be held to account and punished accordingly. It is worth recalling that the United Nations Security Council in a resolution on 29th September 2010 (Resolution 1940) lifted the arms embargo on Sierra Leone which had been in place for more than 12 years. This came about because of the report of the UNIPSIL representative then for Sierra Leone who among other things informed the Security Council that the government of Sierra Leone was now in control of all parts of the territory of Sierra Leone - a situation that had been carefully studied by the international community ever since President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah declared in 2002 that - "di wah don don" - the war is over. "In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member body recalled its readiness to terminate the measures "once the control of the Government of Sierra Leone has been fully re-established over all its territory, and when all non-governmental forces have been disarmed and demobilized." This decision, it must be recalled is predicated upon the government of Ernest Bai Koroma government behaving itself as a truly democratic government committed to, among others, "the implementation of the April 2, 2009 Joint Communique by the political parties and their contribution towards a sustained cessation of the political violence in Sierra Leone and calling upon all political parties to continue to adhere to its provisions and ensure its full implementation.... ....Calls upon the Government of Sierra Leone, with the support of UNIPSIL, development partners and other stakeholders to continue good governance reform by supporting the Anti-Corruption Commission to increase the transparency and management of Sierra Leone’s natural and mineral resources for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans and mitigating the risk of resource based conflict..... ....Urges the Government to accelerate the promotion of national unity and reconciliation; United Nations Security Council Resolution 1941 of 2010.
|
