The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has on Saturday, October 10, 2020, warned cassette sellers to desist from selling or distributing the audios and video materials relating to the Thursday, October 8, 2020 incident in Makeni, which was transmitted on compact discs (CDs) and video compact discs (VCDs).
It could be recalled that last Thursday, some residents of Makeni including youths and masquerades, lined up the streets leading to the Makeni residence of the former President and Chairman and Leader of the All Peoples Congress Party, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, preventing officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission, from obtaining a statement from him, on corruption related allegations. The Police issued a statement condemning some of the youths for transmitting the incident on CDs and VCDs for commercial purposes.
Police described the act as unpatriotic, and forbade it with the risk of being arrested and prosecuted for inciting and instigating violence and disaffection within the State.
“This act of selling and distributing these CDs and VCDs on the streets and market places in Freetown and the provinces, is not only considered to be unlawful, but also viewed as encouraging and inciting violence and lawlessness in society,” the Police added in a statement from the Police Media and Public Relations Unit.
They reiterated that it is an offence to sell and/or distribute materials which have the tendency to instigate and encourage violence and disaffection within the State.
“In this regard, the SLP notes that whoever is or has been unlawfully engaged in selling and/or distributing such audios and/or video materials, relative to the October 8 incident in Makeni, should desist forthwith or risk being arrested and prosecuted for inciting and instigating violence and disaffection within the State,” the Police warned.
By Stephen V. Lansana
13/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7929