Security personnel checkmating people to put on mask are merely undermining the entire campaign that they hardly mask up whenever they are on monitoring the public to mask up to stop the spread of the virus and Covid-19.
Senior officers of the Sierra Leone Police manning such operations are expected to lead by examples worthy of emulation, unlike what was displayed at the Up Gun Round About on Monday 10th August 2020 morning, when police were busy checking vehicle, tricycles and motorbikes for face masks.
What appeared clear surprising at Up Gun was that a Police Superintendent neatly dressed in his official blue and white uniform, walked to the turn table unmasked. He stood there unmasked for considerable period of time whiles the operation continue by junior police personnel chasing members of the public to mask up.
Most of those who were after people urging them to mask up had their face masks below their chins, leaving their mouths and noses unmasked as if that is the right face mask dress code.
Honestly, the use of mask is a very difficult thing considering how discomforting it is when you look at the restrictions of air coming out and what we take in, but it is what it as the new ways conducting our lives amidst our collective embattlement the Covid-19 pandemic. So let’s comply with the prescribed measures now to defeat the pandemic as a nation like we did to the deadly Ebola virus disease.
Thus whoever you think you are irrespective of one’s social economic status in the society we must abide by the new ways of life now to win the war against the common which is what is exactly expected from our security personnel, be you a police or military officer of operation mask up.
The scene this medium observed was not strange at all as most of the enforcers of the Covid19 safety and protocol including the use of face masks in public places hardly abide by the rules governing the campaign, which makes the whole efforts less effective and most people are no longer treating the use face mask with the level of seriousness it really deserved.
In June this year, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ambrose Michael Sovula and his Deputy Assistant Inspector General of Police, Madam Elizabeth Turay were both spotted in a group photo posted on the social media unmasked as if they are less bothered with the tasks of masking up.
Their attitudes in that photo lend much credence to that fact that they are very supportive of the debate that the virus and Covid19 do not exist and that they should thus not waste their times to put on face masks. So also the unmasked senior police officer saw at Up Gun Round About because he had already copied the culture of defiance from his top bosses at George Street, where IGP and the DIGP are failing to lead by brighter examples.
Apart from what was displayed by the senior police officer on Monday morning, the unmasked faces of IGP Sovula and his Deputy Madam Sesay, there is also a video on social showing an unmasked female personnel of the Operational Support Division of the SLP with a megaphone calling on the public to mask up. What is she communicating to the public that she could not practice is the question being asked by the public.
Other heads of public institutions including President Dr Julius Maada Bio, the Hon. Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament amongst others are in full compliance of the use of face mask wherever they go as required recommendation prescribed by local health workers and the World Health Organization.
Since Sierra Leone was declared hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, President Bio hardly appear in public unmasked, let alone to talk of his ministers and other public and civil servants working with him. Thanks for leading by example Mr President and your team.
Moving forward with the national efforts geared towards defeating the common enemy, we want to continue to urge the leaderships of our security forces including the SLP in the person of Mr Sovula to reinforce the mask up culture amongst police personnel irrespective one’s social status in the force. A word for the wise…
