The Sierra Leonean forth-estate and judiciary are lamentable
The above should be among the unbiased and uncompromising entities in defending the rule of law in every development oriented community. Unlike in our beloved Salone, they have become the exact opposite of expectations, as editors continue to betray the general public by bringing them maliciously authored articles against those they hate, and sugarcoated stories for and in behalf of those they love; the judiciary relentlessly persecute against innocent rising stars in bid to blacken their shining images, while letting the real criminals who they suppose to prosecute, roams free. Those are the most lamentable facts gathered from our online-newspapers over the past weeks.
It all began with the corruption charges against Former Magistrate Adrian Fisher, a man I have never met before but I admire and respect highly. This young shining star was abandoned by the fourth estate in the hands of heavy handed old men at the law court in Freetown, to be taught a bitter lesson that he never deserved simply because he wasn’t prepared to buy columns. He was convicted and charged the sum of Le100 Million which is the highest I ever heard of in the country’s anti corruption history. Adrian Fisher is said to have pocketed petty charges collected from the court in Bo where he was briefly assigned prior to his conviction. In this regards, every reader will agree with me that petty charges collected in such courts shall never exceed 10 Million Leones in half a year. So how Adrian Fisher whose monthly salary as a magistrate was about Le200,000, could be fined up to 100 Million Leones for such minimal crimes and refused bail till the said amount was paid cash by friends and relatives? One wonders how much this court is going to fine the NRA boss Alieu Sesay and the embattling former Minister of Fishery Afsatu Kabba, if any.
Another tongue-wagging story was that of the Tyrannous Resident Minister of Southern region Musa Tarawally. This man is gradually becoming a second Pharon for his people. If he is not coming from mobilizing thugs to harass the poor people during bye-lections, he will be going to arrest poor people for no just course. It was recently reported that he ordered armed personnel to storm and massively loot a village in the Moyamba District on false pretend that the inhabitants were engaged in initiating Kamajors in order to overthrow the central government. A man like this shouldn’t be encouraged by a government that is focused on positive change. Sadly enough, he is using a life jacket tailored by the judiciary; and journalist who suppose to report such stories as they unfold, are bent on misinforming the general public about the reality.
The most dramatic of all is the purported warrant of arrest issued against the Minister of Land – Dr. Denis Sandy. First and foremost, one has to ask, is it really true that a bench-warrant was issued against this gentleman by the real court of law? Well, in as much as that beautiful country is governed by a democratically elected administration, no one should be counted above the law whether poor or rich, leader or led. However, one has to ask again, in which circumstance was the Minister sued in court?
It is clear that Dr. Sandy ordered the alleged malicious damage on the ground that the property was erected on a piece of land that belongs to the state. No one knows whether this is true or false. In his capacity as a Minister of Lands, I think he is charged with the responsibility to protect, or investigate about, all pieces of land that might be of state interest right across the country including that of Honorable Edie Turay’s unjustifiable 80 acres. This man had retrieved state lands from illegal owners in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Kono; why not in Freetown?  And to attack his person or any of his accomplishes while discharging such a sacred duty would be a real crime against the state. So for a private citizen to sue that man in court individually for having tried to retrieve a piece of land that he believes belong to the state is ridiculous; and the magistrate who invited him to answer to charges drown against him was not doing so in the interest of the state. Most importantly, no police has the right to arrest a government Minister except otherwise he was involved in serious crime against the state. Even in that case, the warrant has to be endorsed by the Inspector General of Police.
Every reader will agree with me that Dr. Sandy is not the first minister that conducted demolition exercise in that country. If ministers were subject to prosecution for such acts, why the judiciary never queried Dr. Alfred Bobson Sesay for houses and properties he destroyed during former SLPP regime?
Sadly enough, prominent editors of diverse newspapers in the country who fully well know that Dr. Sandy is trying to retrieve that land and hand it back to the state (not to his own family), are vociferously backing the land-grabbers either because they don’t favor Dr. Sesay’s existence in the esteemed position, or they share common interest with the land-grabbers. The judiciary on the other hand, has taken the issue very personal just as in the case of Adrian Fisher
In view of the above, I expect Dr. Sandy to “Beware of the ides of Marchâ€. Because if the house of parliament can rule in Honorable Edie Turay’s favor after he proved him to be in possession of 80 acres of land in a tiny territory like the Freetown Western Area where people are sleeping in cages due to lack of space, he should understand that not everybody is committed to President Koroma’s agenda to change. And what is hard to believe is the truth that most of those who are undermining that effort are found in high places of public interest.
Meanwhile, no need to wonder why the issue is being treated with such a serious attention by the judiciary: the land belongs to one Cole family and the Magistrate is another Cole.
Othman Sheriff, Berlin, Germany
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