As Hon. Shiaka Sama Cries!!!!
‘President Bio Plans to Kill a sitting Independent Member of Parliament
An Urgent Appeal to President Julius Maada Bio
By Hon. Shiaka Musa Sama
4th September, 2021.
Dear His Excellency,
I received a call from Sahn Malen yesterday, 3rd September, informing me of a new plot against me. The source of the information is a military personnel stationed in Malen. I would have loved to meet with you to discuss this but the urgency of the matter dictates that I do what I’m doing now since repeated attempts to have a face-to-face meeting with you had ended in futility.
PRESIDENT BIO: ACCUSED OF TRYING TO KILL A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
The new plot is to kill me or cause my arrest. A similar plot in 2019 led to my arrest and detention at Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and the Pademba Road Maximum Prison. But for the mercy and protection of Allah, the One True God, I would have suffered death by hanging or life imprisonment for the alleged murder of two young men, including my relative. They were gunned down by a team of police and military personnel who shot at peaceful protesting poro secret society men at Jao Junction, in Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District. According to the plot, I was to be shot on sight. I didn’t have any prior knowledge of the event and was in Bo but I was blamed and made to suffer for the crime. The killing was to build a case of murder against me. I was charged with murder! As a sitting Member of Parliament, I was treated like a common criminal. No government official cared to hear my side of the story. But for God, I would have been a dead man.
Months after the shooting incident at Jao Junction, I was told of another plot against me. A group of young men loyal to our Paramount Chief were to pelt stones at the chief’s vehicle on his way to Bo. Some of the men were to be caught at the scene and would have implicated me as the person who sent them to do the act. I shared the information on social media. That was how the plot was aborted, but only by the grace of God, my Helper and Protector.
Before my last arrest and detention, a young man saw an ONS official in Pujehun make a call to an unknown SOCFIN official to ask for cash “to deal with that Hon. Sama” and a policeman on another call said “Hon. Sama has given guns to his men so we are going to meet them”. That was how the two young men lost their lives. How would the security personnel have known that the young man who was at the Pujehun Police Station for a different matter was witnessing a plot against an innocent man. He immediately sent an sms to inform me. I was arrested two days after the shooting. Prior to my arrest, I received three phone calls from senior government officials in Freetown, whose names I won’t disclose here. They all made several threatening remarks, and didn’t want to hear anything from me. They trusted my enemies more and were probably part of the satanic plot. The rest is now history.
As a prelude to this new plot, some senior government officials have recently made threatening remarks against me. One of them told me at the last State Opening of Parliament: “I hear that you are still disturbing that man(Chief Kebbie) eh? It was after I had said good morning to him. His response was a shock, considering his position and role in Malen. I later learnt a lot about his hidden financial interests in Malen. Another senior government official I met in Daru last weekend had this to say to me: ” I hope you won’t plan any more trouble in Malen”. He was one of the men who called to threaten me before my last arrest, in January, 2019. I told him that I have never planned “any trouble” and advised that they should not take action on what my enemies tell them about me without hearing from me. This is always the case in the Malen land conflict. Most government officials would support the company. Any report from the company or the Paramount Chief would mean trouble for the accused. Recently an elderly woman from Kpanga got missing and has not been seen and that is not a problem. Before the 2018 elections a group of six men on motorbikes armed with cutlasses were sent to attack me at Taninahun when news reached Sahn that I was in the town. Fortunately, I had left before the men arrived. The police didn’t take any action on my report. Not one person was called to make a statement. But when palm fruits of SOCFIN go missing, innocent persons are arrested and those who are convicted are jailed. It was same under the APC regime. Nothing seems to have changed on the ground sir. The situation is in fact worsening. We have waited for over two years for the Technical Report of the fact-finding mission or the Technical Team formed by the Vice President’s Office but to no avail. We have lost all hope in the mediation process, considering the evidences in our possession. All we ask for now is a meeting with you as promised in February, 2021, during your visit to our chiefdom. We trust that you will fullfil your campaign promise to resolve the land conflict and human rights abuses in Malen Chiefdom. You reaffirmed your commitment to a win-win resolution of the conflict in your last visit to our chiefdom. We are praying that God gives the courage to take the appropriate steps, for God and our people.
I also want to bring to your attention that the Paramount Chief has been undermining my development projects. He stopped me from building a constituency office in Sahn, a mosque at Makka Junction, and recently a school in Kpangba. These were all provocative moves to trigger violence so that the security can come in to gun down more people. This would have again led to my arrest, as usual. I have abandoned the projects for personal safety and peace.
This morning I attended the morning congregational prayer in the mosque in Bo, with the new plot in my mind. It was a relief to say “ameen” at the end of Al-Fatihah, after the Imam had asked that we read the surah for God to solve our problems. The “ameen” gave me a lot of relief, knowing Allah is my Helper and Protector and would never disappoint His slaves, if they put their trust in Him alone.
It is not only the Paramount Chief or the company this time. My political opponents are also desperate and are working in a concerted effort against me. They think my death or elimination from the political scene is the only way they can win my seat and punish me for standing up against impunity in our chiefdom. God being my Protector, I rest my case here, hoping to hear from you.
Yours faithfully,
Hon. Shiaka Musa Sama,
Independent Member of Parliament, Constituency 104,
Pujehun District.
