Hypocrite SLPP Govt Uses the Burial of Police Officers Killed by SLPP Kamajors for PR Purpose
By Abu Shaw
Six Police officers murdered by the SLPP Kamajors during the August 10 Protests were buried by the hypocritical SLPP/Paopa government.
President Julius Maada Bio was there and he slyly used the occasion of the burial of the poor police officers as a perfect Public Relations stunt to divert attention from the nefarious role his SLPP Kamajors played in the execution of the police officers during the August 10, 2022 demonstrations. “We all know that the protesters never killed anyone including the police officers. It was the SLPP Kamajor militias in police uniforms and in civilian clothes who secretly joined the peaceful crowds that carried out these killings, ” a keen observer noted. The officers, six of them lost their precious lives as the peaceful protesters were demonstrating in Freetown against the tyrannical regime of President Bio. It was organised by the Peoples Power in Politics PPP. The protest was going on well and peacefully when all of a sudden, a Kamajor militia dressed in police uniform opened gunfire around the Upgun Turntable in Freetown. A protester was shot and that was when pandemonium broke out. What followed next left a trail of fatalities resulting in the death of six police officers and many protesters. (Photo: Late police officers. RIP).
The second deception applied by President Bio’s failed regime was the number of police officers who lost their lives. Initially, they said eight police officers lost their lives. The government ridiculously used two dead officers who had died weeks ago as among those killed on August 10. They included one ASP Tucker and Eleanor Peters. Unluckily for the Bio caboodles, the families of ASP Tucker and Eleanor Peters blasted the government for using their family members’ names as victims of the police officers who died on August 10. Later the shameless SLPP government changed the number of police deaths from eight to six. On the protest day, police officers were seen on social media beaten to death by so-called protesters (but it was later learned that the killings were the handiwork of the SLPP Kamajor militias who were deployed among the protesting crowd wearing civilian clothes and others in police uniforms. President Bio’s regime did this nefarious deployment of the deadly Kamajor militias to give the organisers a bad name. (Photos: Maada at Hastings yesterday).
And indeed, the SLPP regime was able to confuse the narrative as to who actually killed the police officers and the many protesters. The SLPP regime has properly shifted the blame to the PPP organisers who in turn have vehemently denied any involvement in the deaths of the protesters. “Our people never had any weapons, guns, or sticks nothing during the protests. We know the Kamajors did the killings. We have evidence to show that,” the PPP leader Adebayor based in Holland said. From investigations, it was clear that the genuine police officers initially deployed to man the protesters never held guns. All they had was tear gas canisters. It was the SLPP Kamajors who had pistols and rifles during the protests. This secret deployment of the fake police officers – clearly Kamajor fighters in disguise – into the protesting crowds was discovered after a thorough investigation. Even the PPP leader Adebayor immediately blamed the SLPP government for the killing of the four police officers.
To show how deceitful President Bio’s regime is, the ruling SLPP government, through the newly appointed Sierra Leone Police boss William Fayia Sellu, added two names and pictures of dead police officers among those killed during the protests. The postures were posted on social media and the whole world saw the nakedness and blatant lying of the Bio presidency. President Bios police told the world that eight police officers rather than six lost their lives on that fateful day August 10. Thanks to the vigilance of Sierra Leoneans the SLPP lies were exposed again as family members of the two police officers added to the postures as victims of the August 10 protests, came out, and debunked the government narrative and explained that these two officers died a long time ago. Up to press time, the government has not apologised to the families for misusing their dead family members in the SLPP PR stunt. (Photos: Late ASP Tucker and Eleanor Peters, names of these two innocent officers were included in the SLPP list of those killed on August 10. It was a lie by the Bio presidency).
Nevertheless, yesterday, the hypocrite President Bio had the nerve to attend the funeral ceremony of the six police officers, a move that the SLPP thinks would make the people forget the dubious role played by the Kamajors during the peaceful protests. Hypocritical for the violent-oriented regime to extend a noble burial for the dead police officers i.e. a civil burial. It was good to see these poor officers given such a civic funeral yesterday but God Almighty will surely hold President Bio and those who carried out the orders to kill these six police officers would face justice on a fine day. Police officers who lost their lives during the August 10 insurgency were today laid to rest after a civic funeral in the presence of President Bio, Vice President, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, cabinet ministers, and senior Police Officers at the Sierra Leone Police Training School in Hastings in Freetown.
Fallen Police Officers Laid to Rest Yesterday
By Peter Truman
Grieving family members and colleagues of murdered Police officers of the August 10 violent protests is to witness the last honours for the slain officers who will be laid to rest today. The men were killed by mobs that went out into the streets of parts of Sierra Leone, on Wednesday 10 August attacking the Police, setting up barricades, and burning tyres. They damaged Police stations and set ablaze government buses and properties. It was reported that they were protesting over the rising cost of living. But it soon degenerated into chants for President Julius Maada Bio to go. These are the Policemen who were Killed: Supt. Osman Fofanah a 20 year veteran, Sgt. Tommy Munda (27yr. vet), Const. Charles E. Kumbu-Smart (8 yrs.), Const. Abu bakarr Turay (12yrs) and Sgt. Desmond Hanciles a 21 yr. vet. Another officer Sgt. Ibrahim Jalloh who was gravely wounded died days later at the Kingtom Police Hospital, bringing to six, the number of slain officers. (Photo: IG Fayia Sellu has failed even before starting his new job).
It is the single highest violent death to be suffered by the Police Force ever, apart from the country’s civil war years. Some 21 civilians were also killed in the course of the riots. The protests were confined to parts of Freetown East, Tintafor, Makeni, Magburaka, and Kamakwie, but most parts of the country including West of Freetown largely went unaffected. The military had to be called in to put the situation under control. The violence was swiftly condemned by ECOWAS, the Mano River Union, and other international bodies. President Bio who was on a private trip overseas had to hurriedly return home. ECOWAS Chairman and current President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo visited Freetown to shore-up support for the Government of Sierra Leone. President Bio has promised to crack down on those suspected of involvement in the disturbances which he described as the handiwork of “terrorists”. The country’s Bar Association and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) have called for a fair investigation and for those found culpable to be brought to justice.
