Rebuttal : 𝐒𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲

Fake Sierra Leone Diplomat Fools UN as Citizens Say Maada Bio’s Human Rights is Terrible

By Abu Shaw in London (02/02/2021)

President Julius Maada Bio’s SLPP government continues to fib that human rights violations against innocent Sierra Leone citizens are non-existent.

Dozens of Sierra Leoneans have lost their lives in the last three years under the watchful eyes of President Bio as well-armed State Security unleashed deadly violence on prisoners at Pademba Road Prison on April 17-18 last year killing nearly a hundred as a result. Massacres also happened in Makeni where protesting youths were gunned down in broad daylight on July 29, 2020. Not to mention Tombo and Lunsar mayhem where many were murdered by irate State Security officers. (Photo: The fake diplomat Lans Gberie lied to the UN, covering-up President Bio’s terrible human rights record in Sierra Leone. But the UN knows what is transpiring today).

And sadly, the SLPP government has been trying ever since to brush these human rights abuses and genocidal incidents under the carpet. Unfortunately for Sierra Leone also, even the so-called Civil Society Organisations and many other institutions have kept mute on these human rights violations against innocent citizens. The silence of these stakeholders is due to the fact that they are on the payroll of President Bio. And to make matters worse for the victims, the BBC reporter Umaru Fofana, also in President Bio’s pockets, is in connivance with the liars thus hiding the true accounts of the ongoing human rights abuses in the country.

SLPP government officials are not relenting in their deadly pursuit to fool and deceive themselves in particular. Yesterday, they succeeded to lie to the United Nations again through a doctored report that was submitted which painted a glowing picture of President Bio’s human rights record in Sierra Leone. This latest big lie was led by Dr Lansana Gberie popularly known as Lans Gberie. He is presently serving the corrupt SLPP government of President Bio as Ambassador to Switzerland as well as a Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations.

Lans Gberie, a leading PR for President Bio, yesterday conspicuously abandoned the interests of the majority of suffering Sierra Leoneans to promote the tattered image of his fraudulent paymaster by fibbing. Lans Gberie told the UN that President Bio has a fantastic human rights record in the country. That’s a big lie! Sierra Leoneans have understandably rebuffed Lans Gberie’s blatant misinformation.

The fake diplomat called Lans Gberie shamelessly submitted to the UN that President Bio’s SLPP government has fulfilled its commitment to the “fundamental human rights and freedoms of individuals and added that all the core rights have been firmly safeguarded in Sierra Leone.” That’s a big lie! (Photos: Makeni massacre when protesting youths were killed).

This blatant distortion of facts by Lans Gberie is tantamount to aiding and abetting the perpetrators of those who physically committed human rights violations and genocide in Sierra Leone. There is no reason why the likes of Lans Gberie should not be charged with accessory to murder for the killings of dozens of citizens by State Security in the future. Here is the bias report submitted to the UN by Lans Gberie yesterday. Followed by the fierce reactions from angry Sierra Leoneans:

Sierra Leone Scores Milestone in Global Human Rights Accountability and Transparency

Geneva, Switzerland, Monday 1st February, 2021-Sierra Leone this week submitted its national human rights progress report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, marking a significant milestone in respect of His Excellency, President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to Human Rights Accountability and Transparency. The report, prepared with the assistance of a renowned International Consultant funded by the United Nations to ensure its objectivity, covers all facets of the human rights and rule of law situation in Sierra Leone.

Ambassador Dr Lansana Gberie, Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations, tabled the report to the UN Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mrs. Nabeela Tunis, on 31 January 2021.

The 32-page report highlights the government’s commitment to “fundamental human rights and freedoms of individuals,” noting that “all the core non-derogable rights have been firmly safeguarded” by the Bio administration. The report underlines particularly the government’s commitment to the Independence of the Judiciary, citing the recent treason trials. The trial process of Paolo Conteh, which lasted for around three months from July 2020, “helped to underscore the independence of the judiciary as envisaged under the 1991 constitution and fair trial principles,” the report says. In an unprecedented decision, the government did not attempt to influence the jury selection process and when the 12-person jury “returned their verdict of not guilty on 11 of the charges including treason,” Bio’s government “complied with the decision of the court,” the report says. There are no political prisoners in Sierra Leone, says the report.

The report also highlights President Bio’s fulfillment of his manifesto commitment to abolish the Criminal Libel Laws by repealing Part V of the Public Order Act of 1965. It also features the First Lady’s successful ‘Hands-off our Girls’ campaign; the Government’s reversal of the ban on pregnant girls from going to school; the declaration of sexual violence as a national emergency; and the enactment of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, as recent developments in the promotion and protection of human rights, especially of women and girls.

Also prominently featured in the report is the Bio Government’s increase of budgetary allocation towards education from 15% to 21%. The Free Quality Education scheme is recording huge achievements, the report says, with school completion rates for boys and girls at an all-time high. In 2015, for example, 48.7% of boys and 65.4% of girls completed basic school education. According to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education, the school completion rate in 2019 stood at 92% for boys and 90% for girls. (Photos: Pademba Road Prison and the dead inmates murdered).

The report details actions the government has taken to fight the Coronavirus pandemic and mitigate its impact, noting that those actions are rooted in the rule of law and are fully compliant with national law (Section 29 of the Constitution) and international human rights principles (Article 4(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). The report highlights the government’s financial support packages to people and businesses to soften the harsh impacts of COVID-19.

The report notes impressive records of actions and measures taken by the Government to implement the 177 recommendations it had accepted from the UN during the last review of the country’s human rights record. Through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Government of Sierra Leone worked with Parliament to ratify in July 2019 a total of seven conventions from the International Labour Organisation. With these Conventions, Sierra Leone is now in a better position to protect victims of forced labour, domestic and migrant works, as well as guarantee minimum standards in the provision of social security.

The report records challenges, however. The needs survivors of the Ebola crisis and the mudslide in Freetown, and continuing impact of COVID-19, limit Government’s ability to protect its people. Poverty and youth unemployment continue to be high, and sexual and gender-based violence remains a problem. Prolonged pre-trial detention and prison overcrowding continue to impact the right to access to justice.

The National Human Rights Report will be published by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. It will be subjected to peer review and scrutiny by Member States of the UN, other UN agencies, civil society organisations, and international non-governmental organisations. A delegation from Sierra Leone and the Embassy and Permanent Mission in Geneva will participate in the open review of Sierra Leone’s human rights record in May 2021. This review will include an interactive dialogue among the UN Member States, and other stakeholders including CSOs. This will be the 3rd UN review of Sierra Leone’s national human rights record under the mechanism known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Sierra Leone’s first two UPR reviews took place in 2011 and 2016.

After the review in May, Sierra Leone will then consider the recommendations that the other UN Member States will make during the review and decides which of those recommendations to accept and to note. Following the 2016 2nd UPR review, Sierra Leone received 208 recommendations and accepted 177, and noted 31 of those recommendations. For More Enquiries: Mohamed Sheriff, Information Attache’, Geneva, Switzerland +41 79 175 66 48 Email: [email protected]

Sierra Leoneans Criticise Fibber Lans Gberie for Lying to the UN that Human Rights Exist in Sierra Leone

Reverend Leeroy Wilfred Kabs Kanu, the publisher of the Cocorioko newspaper and former

Minister Plenipotentiary to the UN in the last APC government of President Ernest Koroma, did not mince his words: “Gberie is abusing the UN system because he worked there before. He is a criminal without any human feeling for our people who have suffered so much under this wicked government. Gberie is one of the criminals hired by the Mafia boss Maada Bio to use international contacts to prepare criminal reports like these about the government.

“However, these criminal reports will not save the SLPP because the people who will vote in 2023 know otherwise. When we take back power, I see a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth for some of these criminals. They will be made to pay dearly for the way they are deceiving the international community to prolong the suffering of our people. If they think they will get away with such deceit, they are mistaken. We are preparing for them. There will be recompense. (Photos: Reverend Kabs Kanu, left, and Mr Alfred Palo Conteh whose treason trail was politically motivated by the SLPP government. The day Palo was freed).

“Let it be known that what people like Gberie are doing is criminal and that is why they will pay for it. How can you facilitate such criminal lies in the face of the horrendous and well/documented human rights abuses our people have suffered under this heartless and wicked government? Look at all the massacres this government committed at Tombo, the Pademba Road Prisons, Lunsar, and Makeni? Look at the beating of parliamentarians in the wells of Parliament? There was no independent investigator. It is just a criminal scheme to disguise the truth and deny our suffering people the redress needed.

“He knows that some of our international stakeholders are pliable and corrupt and can be used by any official to produce fake human rights reports. I will report the matter to the UN Human Rights Council and find out whether it is right for a serving ambassador to use the system deceitfully to give the wrong picture about the status of human rights respect and the lack of it in a country he is representing,” Kabs Kanu blasted Lans Gberie.

Also, yesterday, there was a friendly exchange between Kabs Kanu and SLPP party member Albert Momoh on social media regarding Lans Gberie’s report to the UN. Albert Momoh said, critics of Lans Gberie are wasting time because representatives of the international community in Sierra Leone are the ones giving information about what is happening in the country. Albert Momoh said these representatives know it is the opposition APC party supporters who are giving the ruling SLPP government a bad name.

However, Mr Kabs Kanu, replying from the United States reacted: “Albert Momoh, I respect you highly. Do not defend this criminality by Gberie and others. He said an independent investigator worked on the report. It is a fake. Let him name the independent investigator and what qualified him to make such false assumptions. Albert, that report is dangerous to the welfare of our people. If the SLPP government can commit such spectacular human rights abuses and the international community is presented with a completely different picture, will that not motivate President Bio to kill and maim more people with the belief that the true story will not be reported to the international community?,” Kabs Kanu noted.

The SLPP man Albert Momoh replied in sarcasm: “Bossman, please don’t stress yourself coronavirus is around. The international community knows everything. Please enjoy your pension and grandchildren. Resign from active politics now.”

Theorganisers.net newspaper’s first reaction after reading the lies propagated by Lans Gberie read thus – It is disgusting to read the report you submitted to the UN. How deceitfully clever for you people to fib about the existence of human rights under Maada Bio! You know there are no human rights in Sierra Leone today. Shocking but not surprising that you guys continue to hide the truth for selfish gains. What about the massacres at Pademba Road Prison? Not to mention the Makeni, Tombo, Lunsar massacres? Your report did not even mention these abuses under the SLPP government. Disgusting! You lied about Palo Conteh’s politically motivated treason trial. Where was the independence of the judiciary? You guys have always disappointed Sierra Leoneans. Lying to beef up your paymasters’ image is a disgrace. Blood is on your hands. God will never forgive liars like you. Citizens will counteract these lies. Trust the silent people.