By Kabs Kanu
The political tension between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP) and the opposition All People’s Congress (APC ) continued yesterday as the Deputy Spokesman of the APC, Sidi Yaya Tunis spent another day in detention at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID ) .
Mr. Tunis was supposed to have been bailed and a strong contingent of APC officials, including Secretary General Osman Today Yansaneh, spent the whole day at the CID ,virtually keeping a vigil and waiting for bail to be granted , but it was not done.
The APC spokesman is reported to be barefooted in detention and being held among hardened criminals. Officials of the APC and concerned Sierra Leonean have described the arrest and detention of Mr. Sidi Yaya Tunis as unlawful and unconstitutional.
According to the Sierra Leone Police, Mr. Tunis was invited to the CID and detained after he expressed his views on current political issues in the country during an appearance at the Radio Democracy 98.1 Good Morning Sierra Leone program. During the program, Mr. Tunis said that the APC would do all within it’s power to remove the SLPP by legitimate means in 2023. The Police have described the statement as inciting and thus the action to arrest and detain the spokesman.
The arrest of Mr. Tunis is declared unlawful for the fact that it was only last year that President Maada Bio signed into law a constitutional amendment of Part 5 of the 1965 Public Order Act that considers free speech no longer a criminal offence in Sierra Leone. Now, libel and sedition are civil offences in Sierra Leone.
The continued detention of the APC spokesman has escalated tensions between supporters of the SLPP and the APC.
