By Joseph A. Kamanda
Sincere concerns over the spate of substance abuse and the illegal drug trade, trafficking, as well as addiction, continue to pose serious problem to the growth and development of society.
The quantum of damages being caused by the syndicate, ranging from the magnitude of deaths, mental ill-health problems and scores of societal mishaps remain unknown, having a huge negative impact on the youth, making it a critical national and regional concern. The illegal drug problem is due to the fact that rules and procedures have long been compromised by state actors who are supposed to ensure that the right things are done.
It largely remains challenging to authorities to extents that the drug issue precipitated loud public calls on President Julius Maada Bio and his administration to make Sierra Leone a drug-free nation, reasons government, from the Presidency downwards, took bold steps to crack down on substance abuse, drug addiction, trafficking and trade as a whole, with the principal drive to cut the chain of supply, though it is rapidly resurfacing.
The campaign keeps receiving setbacks from the very people who are supposed to be enforcing the laws, from the Presidency down to the least government worker with close proximity to the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party-SLPP. Footages and videos of former Chief Immigration Officer, Hon Alusine Kanneh; and the Head of the Executive Director of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Andrew Jaiah Kaikai, partying with ‘Bolle’ Jos Leijdekkers, speak volumes of top government workers’ roles in downplaying the anti-drug war, despite authorities denying that the drug kingpin ‘Bolle’ Jos Leijdekkers has never been in Sierra Leone, although investigations are ongoing regarding his presence in the West African nation.
As for Kanneh, he has reportedly been fired from the Sierra Leone Immigration Department by Bio, ostensibly over ties to Jos Leijdekkers. Reports abound that Kanneh’s dismissal also stems from his sale of Sierra Leone diplomatic and service passports to foreigners, which Jos Leijdekkers may have sneaked in with.
With the unfolding trend of events, Sierra Leone is still far from being a drug-free nation, considering recent narratives about the discovery of Netherlands’ most wanted fugitive, ‘Bolle’ Jos Leijdekkers, in the country.
The arrest of contraband substance in the diplomatic vehicle of ex-Sierra Leone Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea by Guinean security personnel, coupled with the arrests of Sierra Leoneans with cocaine in the sub-region are indications of the tricks of security personnel detailed at border crossings, all under the leadership watch of the President as the chief security of the state.
The anti-drug campaign, as it was declared by Bio as a national emergency on substance abuse in April 2024, is meant to be fully implemented by a taskforce, to make Sierra Leone becomes a drug-free country. It initially took off with rigid law enforcements, ranging from regular security patrols, raids, arrests, prosecutions, and at times imprisonment of criminals involved in the organised crime.
Due to the culture of compromise in the execution of duties, especially by security personnel, and also negligence, paved way for rendering the entire campaign moribund through arrests and releases, instead of playing strictly by the rules and procedures of the national campaign. The well planned security approach that was designed to combat the spread and abuse of harmful substances such as cocaine, kush tramadol, among others, went up in smoke.
In Freetown, for instance, pubs along Bai Bureh Road and the Freetown-Waterloo highway continue to play major hosts to drug traffickers and addicts round the clock with heightened activities at night under the guise of night clubbing. Other popular spots, beaches and touristic areas, also serve as transits for traffickers. Such drug-taking rendezvous now aid the collection and intake, at times covered up in shisha pots, but actually smoking kush.
Whiles declaring the situation an emergency, Bio admonished the security sector to implement the five-step strategy for a drug-free future… the more reason security personnel should up their respective operations at border crossings, scale up patrols, enhance the enforcement of stop-and-search, to curtail the chain supply from foreign sources into the country. All and sundry passing through entering Sierra Leone should be well scanned in accordance with the laws of the land without compromise, considering equality before the law and the supremacy of the law.
Implementing a robust approach on drug control will help government crackdown on drug traffickers from the United Kingdom, China and the Netherlands as stated in recent report unveiled by Lucia Bird Ruiz Benitiez De Lugo and Dr. Kars De Bruijne.
Through zero-tolerance on harmful drug intake and trade, the narcotic drug menace will be a thing of the past, provided the very security sector players are not part of the drug racket, which drug-law enforces are not expected to do, but to fully enforce laws of the country.
The Office of National Security, the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, and the Sierra Leone Police should scale up their operations at all entry points into the country, making sure that checks and scans are properly done accordingly.
Information sharing and collaboration among partners in the campaign as well as the disruption of the chain of supply by the security sector will also go a long way in minimising the inflow of drug into the country.
