By KABS KANU
The Sierra Leone Army once prided itself as one of the most disciplined and professional in the whole of Africa during the colonial era and the years immediately after Independence. However, if our colonial governors and officials of those times should now see the depths to which our army has sunk, they will shed tears in disappointment.
The video making the rounds on social media, showing Sierra Leonean soldiers attached to President Maada Bio engaged in a wild and wanton tribal dance, brandishing their weapons and threatening to kill anybody who stepped out on Independence Anniversary Day to demonstrate against misrule , is a disgrace to the army, the nation and the people of Sierra Leone.
“Do not tell us that indiscipline and unprofessionalism in the Sierra Leone Army have sunk to such frightening and shameful levels, ” some stunned Sierra Leoneans responded after watching the video.
Whatever the rationale for the production of the video clip–whether to demonstrate a show of force or frighten and cower ordinary civilians–is reprehensible and shameful because this is not what a what soldiers of a disciplined and professional army should be found doing. The army is there not only to protect and defend the territorial integrity of the State but to protect civilians as well. To be seen threatening with impunity to kill civilians who would be exercising their rights to be heard about how they are being ruled is a negation of military responsibility. It is crude, uncivilized and gross and a demonstration of the sad fact that some of our soldiers are lawless vandals and killers who do not deserve any place in decent society , not to mention the army.
A Liberian recently made a statement in a gathering and I was offended, but could it be true ? She said : “So-so gronner boys in the Freetown people’s army “. Gronner boys in Liberia refer to wayward, indisciplined youth. Is it true under the SLPP?
It is like there is nobody in control in Sierra Leone. President Bio is silent and going about his normal business as if nothing wrong is going on in the country.SLPP Police beat, kill and maim with impunity. SLPP soldiers pillage, loot, threaten and harm unarmed civilians, dance like hooligans in public in their uniforms to gloat about it. Shame on our country.
Where truth is concerned, it is not the whole Sierra Leone Army that should be blamed for this show of shame. The RSLAF, largely, is still a good force. It has disciplined and professional soldiers who remain untainted by politics, tribalism and lawless conduct. In fact, the army had been rebuilt and infused with a new spirit of discipline, professional ethics and chivalry during the post-war rebuilding eras of Presidents Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Ernest Koroma. We did not see these kinds of indiscipline and unprofessionalism by soldiers and Police during the era of the two named presidents. Rebuilding the army after the war was always going to be a work in progress, but soldiers had begun returning to their old pre-Independence character.
It would seem however that since President Maada Bio became head of state in 2018 and took Sierra Leone back to the junta and reckless style of leadership, discipline and professionalism in the army and the police have been unhinged once again. President Bio’s governance-style which relies on stroking tribal and partisan passions, trigering chaos and exhibiting no respect for the rule of law, the constitution and human life has had a negative influence on our security forces.
Many Sierra Leoneans believe that the army is being misrepresented by lawless and discredited hooligans from the disbanded Kamajor Force were recruited en masse into the security forces by President Bio when he came to power.
Things must change or the fears of Sierra Leoneans that their country could be heading for another war under Bio are real and credible.
