Retributive justice – who suffers it?
It is a fact that Sierra Leone’s 11 year war was referred to as an act of civil butchery. The war, which came to an end in 2002, left many homes in disarray and poverty.
Of course, it is to the resolve of Sierra Leoneans that perpetrators must be brought to book or made to reconcile with victims as prescribed in the Truth and Reconciliation report.
Despite widespread sensitization on issues of vengeance, the spate of attacks, especially in the interior, suggest that the Truth and Reconciliation report has not been well implemented but rather abandoned on dusty shelves of successive governments.
That governments (past and present) have ignored the implementation of recommendations as officially endorsed in transitional justice advocacy books.
A case in point is the unfortunate and uncalled for attack meted Joseph Gandhi Sisay, who incidentally is the son AFRC junta strong man, Pa Lumpri Sisay.
It is also reported that experiences of reprisal continues befalling homes linked to militias and juntas of Sierra Leone’s finished war.
As relatives and friends intensify their search for Joseph and other members of his family, it is reported that the entire family abandoned their homes and went to distant countries for solace.
And it is revealed also that victims of the scourges of Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) are desperately bent on barking the hell out of the Sisay family, whose dad, Mr. Lumpri Sisay was real time member of the forenamed junta government and was in fact their liaison officer.
The AFRC, in 1997, forcefully took over governance from former President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in a coup-d’état.
Disgruntled junior military officers were appointed to key positions and have instinctively seen themselves as rendering better services to people of Sierra Leone.
Joseph Gandhi Sisay’s father served the AFRC as one its public relations officers from start to finish.
He was with those soldiers that flee to the bush after being removed from governance by ECOMOG forces.
The AFRC, while in governance, rendered disservices to Sierra Leoneans consequently leading to serialized atrocities and carnages caused.
Pa. Lumpri, who later metamorphoses into becoming a member of the SLPP, was widely known for his instrumental role during periods of AFRC rule.
He was neither encouraged nor given any rest by members of the SLPP at all.
In 1994, there was an attempt by Pa Lumpri to assist the SLPP in their local election campaigns, but was singled out and in the process dealt with.
His son was kidnapped and brutally manhandled to the point of death.
On his recovery, he revealed to his family that his assailants are out to kill all of them.
It was then that all including Joseph, took to their heels for safer destinations unknown to society.
Human Rights groups have also added their voices to forestall retributive justice in society.
It could be recalled that the office of National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) in 2010, was with one of AFRC commanders, General Savage, to Tombodu Town in Kono District to cause him reconcile with indigenes of the town for atrocities caused, but met very stiff resistance.
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