KILLING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IS REPREHENSIBLE , HEINOUS , CALLOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE
By Kabs Kanu
Where truth is concerned, the killing of police officers is reprehensible and must be roundly condemned by everybody, regardless of their political leanings.
Though the Maada Bio SLPP government has fractured our society and in its wake turned the Sierra Leone Police and army into a tribal killing force, who harm , oppress and also murder innocent civilians for common, no sensible or godly person will glory at the killings of law enforcement officers. The act, wherever and whenever perpetrated, is wrong , dangerous and heinous .
Whatever the motive for Saturday’s killing of Assistant Superintendent of Police for the Northern Region , Matthew Gbanya, it was wrong and unacceptable.
We at COCORIOKO , though repulsed by the SLPP’s bloody misuse of police and army power in Sierra Leone, condemn the killing with all the emphasis at our command and we hope the perpetrator ( s) will be brought to justice expeditiously .
In seeking justice for the poor police chief whose life has been cut short by whoever killed him, we enjoin law enforcement officers to be very independent, open- minded and transparent in the conduct of their investigations.
The government and law enforcement officers should not lend themselves to the conspiracy theories being peddled by partisan political psychos. In Sierra Leone today, politics is the demon behind every bush . There is nothing in Sierra Leone today that is not politicized.
There is no evidence that yesterday’s killing was politically- motivated or was a revenge killing for the beastly murder of APC activist Evangelist Sampson or the alleged attempted assassination of the APC flagbearer , Dr. Samura Kamara as some SLPP extremists are asserting . Anybody raising such issues at this time is only bent on plunging our nation into total chaos .
Hyper political partisanship and extremism between the ruling SLPP and the opposition APC have reached dangerous heights inimical to national peaceful coexistence, stability and progress during the tenure of President Maada Bio, whose tribally and regionally harmful policies have contributed in tearing asunder national unity and national integration and are breeding dangerous suspicions among our people that will not augur well for our nation, if not stemmed .
Neither the people of MAKENI nor the APC should be stigmatized at the moment, for there is no evidence that they committed this foul act . We have a tendency in Sierra Leone to profile people based on their ethnic, regional and political colors . These evil emotions have the propensity to prejudice such investigations.
Another issue worth considering if justice must be faithfully and correctly rendered is the mutual suspicion that now abounds between the people and the law enforcement forces.
Due to the high handed, brutal and bloody actions of the police and the army in recent times and the reckless, incendiary, provocative and divisive utterances of some police brass and government officials ( even by President Bio and his wife, Fatima ) and some SLPP and opposition APC extremists , Sierra Leoneans no longer trust their police to conduct fair , unbiased and independent judicial investigations . It is therefore suggested by this newspaper that foreign investigative agencies be called upon to help the Sierra Leone Police unearth who actually killed ASP Gbanya. This will ensure that the real perpetrators are caught. We do not want to see wrong persons in the dock as is often the case in Sierra Leone now .
Even when the suspect ( s) get finally caught, it should not be forgotten that an accused is presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent court of legal jurisdiction. We eschew vigilante or mob actions against political or ethnic opponents in Sierra Leone.
We express our deepest condolence to the family of Superintendent Gbanya and we sincerely hope that barbarity and extrajudicial killings will cease in Sierra Leone, whether by government forces or civilians ( if they are responsible ).
