The presidential candidate for the opposition All Peoples Congress party in the 2018 presidential election, Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara has in a press release on Sunday July 19, 2020, called for calm at Makeni after violent riot which left five dead and several others injured.
In the press statement, Dr. Kamara condemned violence in all forms and called on the youths and security forces to observe tranquility. He added that an independent and impartial inquiry should be conducted on the Makeni riots.
Dr. Kamara advised the nation to learn from its mistakes and ensure that the lives of citizens are always protected by those in authority rather than the other way round.
“We saw communities in Kono and Kissy Teng in the past two years try to prevent the relocation of power generators from their communities, and in both instances the authorities stepped back and re-engaged those communities to resolved the disagreement peacefully. Why was the same approach not employed in Makeni? ,” he asked.
He cited that even though details of the incident are still sketchy, it is clear that the disturbances arose from an attempt by authorities to move and relocate a power generator from Makeni to another location in the country.
“I don’t wish to comment on the appropriateness of this decision for now, but what is very clear is this, there has been a failure on the part of the authorities to properly engage the community, particularly the youths on the proposed removal of the generator from their community. The removal and relocation of public utility from one locality to another has always proved very controversial and fraught with problems, and this is not unique to Makeni,” he said.
He opined that from all indications, the use of live rounds by security forces that led to the killing of a number of young people in Makeni was unreasonable, unjustified and highly regrettable. He said the security forces executed a what he was a ” shoot to kill” policy which he insisted the security forces have adopted lately to deal with community protests particularly in the North and Western area, which he said is disturbing and worrying the political leadership of the country.
He said that the use of lethal force by security personnel had led to loss of scores of lives in Tonko Limba, Mile 91, Port Loko, Lunsar, Tombo, Pademba Road Prison, Grafton, and most recently Makeni city.
By George M.O. Williams
22/07/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7871