November 27, 2024
Cocorioko
By KABS KANU
The presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of the rule of law. According to this legal doctrine, a man is presumed innocent until he is tried and proved guilty in a competent court of legal jurisdiction. And it is not the accused, but the accusers, who have the burden of proof to demonstrate that the accused is guilty of the offence with which he is charged.
Yet in Sierra Leone since Julius Maada Bio came to power, it is the other way round. In Maada Bio’s Sierra Leone today, a man is deemed guilty of an offence until he proves himself innocent— which is a negation of the rule of law. Sadly enough, in Sierra Leone under Bio , not only does the accused have the burden of proof to show that he is innocent; he is also not given the opportunity to prove himself , because he is murdered by the government before he even has time to open his mouth.
Yesterday, two army Captains of the Sierra Leone military forces, who, according to government, had been in hiding since they were accused of taking part in last year’s alleged abortive coup, were butchered to death after their hideout was allegedly discovered.
From the kinds of brutal injuries found on the men, whose bodies were left lying on the streets like dogs without owners , as this SLPP Government often does , it is obvious that this was more a massacre than an attempt to capture and bring to justice alleged fugitives. The government version that the men engaged the Bio Army in a firefight does not hold water, because the injures on the men were not gunshot wounds. NAR CHAP DEN CHAP DEN BODY DEM.
This was jungle justice plain and sure. These were politically- motivated, extrajudicial killings, writ large. This was a bloody extermination , Kamajor – style .
The army and police, since Bio came to power, have been studded with Kamajors, the military wing of the SLPP, whose members are so uncivilized, uncouth, cruel, wicked , godless and operate so much by jungle law that you do not have a chance even to whisper your innocence, once this government accuses you of an offence against them. You are brutally murdered without ado. Is it not the reason why people go into hiding the moment they are accused by Government buzzards ? They know their lives are gone, once accused.
Yet there are shameless and wicked sellouts within the opposition APC and of course government sycophants who will soon come out to defend this wilfull slaughter of men whose guilt has not yet been established by a competent court of law. They will even posit that Maada Bio did not do the killings. But it will be a stupid argument. We have had too many extrajudicial slaughters under Bio by his security forces. As President and Commander-In – Chief of the Armed Forces , he has command authority and operational oversight over them. He should have nipped in the bud these needless killings and bloodshed by now. But Maada Bio will not do it. He enjoys the slaughters. Maada Bio must shed bloood . It was his trademark even when he was a junta leader. He even once bragged in public that ; “If you bring bullets to this country, you will meet bullets. ” Bio cherishes the shedding of blood in our country.
Maada Bio might think that he is now free and disposed to brutally kill anybody who rises against his government because opposition parties and leaders have sold out to him ; he has castrated the judiciary, civil society, sections of the media and the intelligentsia and for reasons best known to themselves, the the U.S ( Once considered the Conscience of the World), former colonial masters Britain and international stakeholders, are also now giving him carte blanche to do anything he wants and get away with it.
One-time brutal dictators like Liberia’s Samuel K. Doe, Iraq’s Sadam Hussein, Libya’s Mouammer Ghaddaffi and others reached that same point where they believed that they could kill opponents with impunity and commit whatever crimes their perverse hearts contrived and will get away with it . But what was their end ? We all know their grisly end.
There is still a God in Heaven who watches and judges whatever men do on this earth and Karma does not sleep. We want to assure everybody about it. We should not fret when evil prople succeed in their schemes because Judgement Day will come for Maada Bio.
Maada Bio will defiitely pay for his wickedness and crimes against the people of Sierra Leone. It will tarry but it will not be thwarted . It will surely happen. So, we urge him to continue killing and shedding blood in Sierra Leone and we appeal to all honest and patriotic Sierra Leoneans to continue to wait on God. Corrupt and conscienceless man will fail to provide justice but God does not. His day of judgement ultimately comes.
This newspaper condemns coups, forceful seizures of power and chaos. We want the constitution , rule of law and peace to prevail in the land but that is one side of the coin. There are two sides to the coin. In the same way we condemn coups and chaos, we also condemn jungle justice , extrajudicial killings and shedding of needless blood.
Bio has shed too much blood in Sierra Leone. He will not go free. He will meet his Karma some day.
Let us all just wait on God.
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