Curfew, state of emergency, restrictions including inter districts lock downs were put in place by Government to help in the mitigation of the coronavirus COVID 19 pandemic since Sierra Leone started recording its initial cases until now when yet cases continue to hike on daily basis.
The stay at home measures are being hugely spent on from tax payers’ money from the consolidated revenue fund as stated on Wednesday 10th June, 2020 by Finance Minister “bread” and “butter” Mr Jacob Jusu Safa. These, including other security expenditures on the COVID19 lockdowns jointly manned by Police and personnel of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces are increasing by the day while incidents of cases keep raising alarms in the country, with growing insecurity from armed robbers taking advantage of the situation by always storming residents’ homes and private businesses centres all over, rendering the whole place unsafe for the people.
Besides one thing people are now always discussing is for government to ease restrictions i.e. curfew, state of emergency and inter districts lockdowns and move fast toward addressing the problems of rampant armed robberies, so that people can move around their communities safely without facing any obstacle.
Robbers are all over busy taking plus of the situation by breaking into homes and shops in hard to reach communities in Freetown and other places in the country even when security patrols are busy roaming everywhere. Staying at homes means prevention from transmitting the virus from one contact to the other, not for criminal security personnel to be wagging wars on vulnerable people at nights.
Even in amidst heavily armed Police checkpoints backed by regular patrols everywhere, robberies continue to occur unabated. And the COVID19 restrictions measures put in place by government were done to protect people and the country during such situations which we hope should not be deliberately misunderstood as opportunities for robberies by security personnel across the board.
Security personnel must therefore step up and put on their guards to protect the people from the bad eggs among them, from other criminals who are taking advantage of the situation because of the widespread culture of compromise permeating Sierra Leoneans.
So one wonders who is doing what to the defenceless people to the extent that most people are calling on government to life curfew, state of emergency and inter districts lockdowns, so that in the events state security personnel fail to provide security protections for the people, they can resort to self-defences of their communities to protect themselves.
In the east of Freetown resident of Allen Town, Calaba Town are always under threats from armed robbers breaking into their homes and shops even when patrol teams are moving all over the place as if there is no curfew at all.
Most recently shops were break into by armed robbers who carted away with goods worth millions of Leones. The matter was reported to the Calaba Town Police station where investigations are on-going.
Apart from that Police patrolling at night always forcefully extort money, snatch mobile phones and other valuable items from vulnerable people they come across at nights for reasons best known to them. Similar acts are mated on commercial sex workers, mostly forced to make love to some of the patrolling police and security personnel as was explained on Radio Democracy 98.1F.M Good Morning Salone programme.
One victim of their robbery acts is Sylvester Thomas Kargbo of Temne Town Upper Allen Town east of Freetown, who was recently attacked by five unidentified “Police officers” who took away from him his phones, money to the tune of two million five hundred thousand Leones, whiles returning home after business at around 9:45pm. Kargbo said the team of so-called Police officers also asked him to direct them to his house but refused and was told to bail himself from their arrest which he didn’t and was taken to the Mayemi Police Post at Allen Town.
He disclosed that several business women leaving in the morning hours to purchase goods at Dove Cut and other markets are being attacked and snatched their money and other valuables from them by criminals, therefore suggested that since other countries are now easing restrictions government too should be thinking of lifting curfew and clamp down on criminal Police and armed robbers for the general safety of the people.
Asked if he can identify “Police officers” with handcuffs and were dressed half uniforms half civil attires, adding that only God knows their actually identities as so many people have been treated so since curfew, state of emergency and inter district lockdowns were sanctioned.
Moreover, COVID19 restrictions are being hugely taken advantage of by bad eggs in the security sector, and criminals at the detriments of defenceless people all due to that fact that only security personnel are allowed to monitor the stay at home restriction measures.
At Mayenkineh, Calaba Town and certain isolated areas as Waterloo, Newton, Grafton, Hastings in the Western Rural district, and other places business houses and private homes are always under serious security risks for fear of robbery attacks at nights. As such, even when distress calls are made to the Police, they always arrive at the scenes of crime late, mostly when the criminal had caused their havocs and already left. That is why the more call for lift of restrictions, ranging from curfew, state of emergency and inter districts lockdowns.
Gibrilla Santigie Koroma at Newton who is also no strange to the existing occurrences said; “we are always in fears in our homes and communities at nights because people who pretend to be Police are always after us breaking into our places. We prefer the lifting of the curfew, state of emergency and the lockdowns so that we can start to physically engage most of these armed robbers calling themselves Police and security officers. We are not afraid of them it is only because of the curfew, because whenever one comes out they will all rush at you in the name of violations of the curfew.”
He observed that if at all Government in its wisdom can only lift all the restrictions some of the criminal games will be minimized and brought to end because most of the hard core criminals are hiding behind the veils of curfew, inter district lockdowns and the state of emergency to perform their criminal games.
That, according to Koroma is the situation almost everywhere in Newton and the rural district especially during the COVID19 pandemic curfew, state of emergency and the inter districts lockdowns, which were expected to have tightened national security by now. It is an unfortunate situation particularly when most of the robbers use guns at nights to threaten people whenever they attack homes and shops.
Lockdowns, curfew and state of emergency amid criminal activities and insecurity, is totally unacceptable in that if people are told to stay at home to prevent themselves from spreading the virus or contacting it, then authorities should as well be equally mindful of their security and safety of people in communities. That is why security personnel manning the restriction should not relegate themselves to robbers and common criminals. That must stop now going forward and even when restrictions shall have been eased by Government.
