News Story

FREETOWN: MAADA GBESSAY KAI: It was a meeting that was short but very focused. Involved were two paramount chiefs (names withheld for now), 5 youth leaders from Kono (one of whom has been prominently named in the recent spate of violence in Kono district and strongly associated with attacks on SLPP local government candidates), and 2 other people who are said to be prominent business people and supporters of the Vice President in Kono district. The meeting was targeted at "claiming Kono by all means necessary" in the forthcoming local government elections. Our informant attended the meeting with all the others and he has been a mole inside the Sam Sumana camp for a while, posing as a youth with strong interest in supporting the vice president.

The meeting came up with a simple but macabre plan.

1. Render the Police invalid: The vice president announced that as head of the Police Council, he has instructed the Inspector General of Police to put all promotions on hold until after the local government elections. LUCs and other police officers who cooperate with the APC and are loyal to the APC will be considered favorably. Those who fail to comply accordingly will be rewarded accordingly. He announced that the Inspector General would make the announcement over national radio in the next couple of days. Basically, he emphasised that the police will be on the side of the APC on elections day and as such, people must not hesitate to do anything that it takes to win the elections.

2. Bribe NEC officials. The meeting resolved that there will be a meeting with NEC members, ballot paper issuers, and ward coordinators. There is enough money to go around in the various wards. Basically, they will be expected to facilitate the process and stand out of the way during the "operations" - as the rigging process was referred to through ot the meeting.

3. Prevent SLPP supporters from voting. With the police incapacitated or deployed only in heavy SLPP areas and declaring a curfew there in order to prevent them from voting, the APC Task Force in Kono will also be free to organise illegal checkpoints where known SLPP supporters will be arrested and held. This will intimidate SLPP supporters and force them to abandon the polling stations on the day. The police will not arrest any body because the LUC is aware of the consequences for his career.

4. Arming the APC Task Force - The vice president also announced that he will ensure that the APC task force is provided with some weapons including some 9mm pistols. These weapons can be used against SLPP supporters who decide to attack back. He said that there will be no consequence if there is just a little bloodshed. The United Nations will not be in Kono to monitor elections. They will focus on Freetown and the major cities in the south and the east, he said.

5. Kidnapping: The vice president ended by saying that where all these strategies failed or when necessary, SLPP candidates should be kidnapped so that they are not present to monitor the voting and counting processes and the intimidation of SLPP supporters.

The SLPP leadership is hereby forewarned that the the vice president and his team are determined to carry out these operations as detailed dring their secret meeting.