Maada Bio Admits Extrajudicial Killings

Karamoh Kabba and Sidie Yahya Tunis :

Maada Bio, the Presidential Flagbearer of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), in an interview with BBC Focus on Africa on 9^th May 2012, admits he collectively pulled off extra judiciary killings of 26 people including the former Inspector General of police, James Bambay Kamara.

MAADA BIO

Not too long ago, families of the firing squad victims under the collective order of Maada Bio and other young soldiers who had overthrown former President JS Momoh for a reason as simple as no salaries for war frontline fighters requested an inquest into the killings. It is also worth noting that the hands of the Government of Sierra Leone Judiciary may have been deterred by the dictate of truth and reconciliation conditions that gave a blind amnesty to all crimes committed against humanity in Sierra Leone before 1996. Certainly, Maada and others had pulled off the foregoing extra judiciary killings in 1992.

Maada Bio was pinned down to admit that he was a part of a group of young soldiers who carried out such grave crimes against humanity when they collectively ordered the murder of 26 Sierra Leoneans, including a very prominent figure as Bambay Kamara, former Inspector General of Police and a very lowly placed 72-year old palm-wine tapper.

In the interview with BBC Focus on Africa’s Audrey Brown, Maada tried vainly to set himself apart from the crime of extra judiciary killings against the very aggressive BBC interviewee who pinned him down, “but you were a part of it,” when Maada stated that “it is where you went wrong, I was not the second in command” to the question as to whether he was a part of the extra judiciary killings before Maada Bio succumbed to apology.

What is more, Maada Bio demonstrated a newfound pathological tendency to lie due to his newly developed desperation to become president of Sierra Leone including blatant, misinformation and deception that he [Maada Bio] constructed 700 kilometres of roads into other countries. Maada Bio states in desperation and selective amnesia that H. E. Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone constructed 3-4 kilometres cosmetic roads in the face of the people.

The fact remains that Sierra Leone has two border countries, Guinea and Liberia, with only one tarred road into Guinea which was recently constructed and launched by H. E. Ernest Bai Koroma. And from end to end in Sierra Leone there is no 700-kilometre road. This is on the backdrop of the major highways the President constructed; Bo/Mile Siaka, Bo/Kenema, Makeni/Matotoka and Rogberi/Pamalap, the construction of tarred roads in all cities and district headquarter towns as well as the more than 500 kilometres of feeder roads that have been constructed.

Maada Bio’s numerous lies and deceptions include the claim to have brought democracy back to Sierra Leone. But the fact is that Maada actually derailed and thereby delayed the process twice through coups.

In April 1992, just when Sierra Leone was galvanizing back towards a multi-party rule under APC and here comes Maada Bio and his coupists under the influence of SLPP top operatives to overthrow the government, suspend the constitution and all political party activities.  To this end, John Oponjo Benjamin the current chairman and leader of the SLPP had confessed to have been the mastermind of that coup.

After several pressures from the international community and the people of Sierra Leone, the NPRC under Captain Valentine Strasser agreed to return the country back to democratic rule after Bintumani I consultations in an election that was slated for February 12^th 1996.

And on January 29^th, 1996 just few weeks before the elections, Maada Bio led a palace coup that overthrew Strasser and attempted to suspend all political activities. This however faced much resistance from Sierra Leoneans and the international community, which forced him into Bintumani II conference with another stratagem, “Peace before Elections”, which obviously delayed the process. Though the elections were finally held in that February, it was still delayed by over a week from the 12^th to 28^th.

Are the foregoing deliberate lies, thoughtfulness, ignorance or all of the above?

© 2012, COCORIOKO. All rights reserved. – Discuss this and other related articles on the Salone Forum