By Jariatu S. Bangura & Emmanuel Gborie
Opposition Member of Parliament of the All People’s Congress (APC), Hon. Rugiatu Rosie Kanu, has charged that the Sierra Leone Police, Human Rights Commission and Civil Society organizations have failed citizens of Sierra Leone.
Whilst contributing to the ongoing debate on the President speech he made in parliament, she claimed that the institutions that should be protecting the rights of citizens were ones violating them.
She said they have seen instances in which the police have subjected citizens to inhumane treatment, citing a certain councilor who was invited by the police and that despite her intervention the man was taken to an unknown location and tortured.
She claimed that the Human Rights Commission has now become a toothless bulldog.
“When we talk about human rights, it’s not only the signing of international treaties and conventions on human rights, but the implementation aspect them, which is the most important. The Sierra Leone Police have failed us, the judiciary has failed us, the Human Rights Commission has failed us and civil society has failed us as a people. Where are we as a nation?” she questioned.
Hon. Rosie Kanu also mentioned an increase in the number of school going kids coupled with an increase supply of text books, but claimed that kids were not using those books.
She stated that according to a survey conducted last year,49% of teachers were untrained and unqualified, yet they continue to teach children the wrong thing and the wrong curriculum, a development she said has been the main cause for the massive failures and a fall in the educational standard.
She noted that the backbone of quality education lies in the quality of teachers and that if they were poorly catered for, and then the country will be heading for doom in the education sector.
On his part, Hon. Dominic Tshombe of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party said whatever they do as a government was in tandem to the campaign promises.
He said they provided tax waivers to traders so as to ensure leverages for economic diversification, adding that investing in education was not profitable but a risky project.
He said they were putting regulations together to combat the long standing situation in the education sector.
COURTESY -CONCORD TIMES
