EDITORIAL : 70 MILITARY OFFICERS FORCIBLY REMOVED AT WHAT COST ?

EDITORIAL : COCORIOKO NEWSPAPER : 70 MILITARY OFFICERS LAID OFF IN SIERRA LEONE AT WHAT COSTS ?

The Julius Maada Bio SLPP Government has started massive retrenchment of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces .

Seventy army officers ranging from Brig. General to Lieutenants have been forcibly retired. According to the military command, the soldiers were fired for administrative reasons, misconduct and prolonged absence without leave ( AWOL).

At a time when “Dog yaiye dey run blood ” in Sierra Leone due to the destruction of the economy by the SLPP Government.and everybody is crying about the unbearable hardships in the country, to keep killing military officers ( As was done earlier in the week ) and cashiering such a large number from the army for whatever reasons is a recipe for disaster.

Given our extended family system, the pots over 2,000 innocent persons are going to stop boiling. Scores of children , whose fees were being paid by the now jobless soldiers, are going to be thrown out of school.

When the names of the soldiers are released, we hope the victims will not be from one particular region or linked ethnic clusters. We call on the military command to furnish the names of the sacked military officers for transparency and accountability purposes.

We have also learnt that another mass retrenchment is pending in the Sierra Leone Police Force.

All these adverse decisions being taken against sections of the Sierra Leone army and police — extrajudicial killings and compulsory retirements — point to the spirit of impunity that has waxed worse in President Maada Bio and the SLPP.

With the opposition effectively castrated by the SLPP and civil society, media, judiciary , intelligentsia rendered impotent through carrot- and – stick policies and the international community possibly silenced by blood diamonds shoved in their mouths, Bio is laying the basis of his unchallenged dictatorship sure in Sierra Leone . How long with our people continue to suffer in our sorry country ? Everyday, bad news spiced with spectacular propaganda about White Elephant projects that bring nothing on the dinner tables of our people.

Maada Bio is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good. WE SPENT A DECADE WARNING SIERRA LEONEANS BUT THEY DID NOT LISTEN. Now, they must pray to God to redeem them from the hands of this callous tyrant and heartless dictator.
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