The Sierra Leone Telegraph has received a report from Freetown, about an armed attack which took place at the residence of opposition presidential hopeful – Mr. Alie Kabba in the early hours of this morning.
Four men believed to be soldiers, attempted to break into his home. But after several attempts which lasted over one hour, the heavily armed men left the premises.
The editor of the Sierra Leone Telegraph has spoken with Mr. Alie Kabba about the incident. Speaking from the USA where he is on vacation, he confirmed that heavily armed men – dressed in para-military uniform and believed to be soldiers, this morning attacked his home.
He said that his security men who were at the house, called the police for help several times, but got no response.
Kabba told the Sierra Leone Telegraph that: “This is an apparent escalation of targeted harassment and intimidation of opposition figures in the country. If this is another attempt to silence me, then they have failed once again, because I will continue to speak about the suffering of our people and the weak in our society. Political intimidation and the abuse of power should have no place in our democracy. But it seems the culture of impunity and the abuse of power have become deeply woven into the psyche of those entrusted with power. This must stop, so that Sierra Leone’s democracy and peace can be allowed to flourish.”
It is almost one week to the day – 23rd of December, 2015, that Mr. Alie Kabba was arrested by police in Freetown, on what many in Sierra Leone believed to be a politically motivated arrest.
Alie is one of Sierra Leone’s main opposition candidates for the presidency at the next presidential election in 2018. He is a popular politician who in the past twelve months has proven to be a fierce critic of the Koroma government.
His arrest on the 23rd of December last year, came just two weeks after returning to Sierra Leone to establish his campaign offices and embark on a nationwide tour.
Since returning to Sierra Leone, Kabba has been vociferously vocal in his criticism of the government’s handling of the economy, corruption in high places and the deplorable management of state institutions.
When it comes to criticising the Koroma government, Alie Kabba pulls no punches.
And this could be seen in his reaction to the unconstitutional sacking of vice president Sam Sumana in February 2015 by president Koroma. This is what he said to the annoyance of State House:
“Once again, the governing APC party has succeeded in not just embarrassing themselves, but in making Sierra Leone the laughing stock of the world by the thuggish way that they have attempted to remove Vice President Sam Sumana.
“The misguided caboodle running that party seems to have forgotten that Sierra Leone is now a democracy.
By Abdul Rashid Thomas
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