Wednesday, May 22, 2013

About keeping "public order"


Interestingly, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, states, “5.(1) The Republic of Sierra Leone shall be a State based on the principles of Freedom, Democracy and Justice”. Really?

It started on Thursday evening (the 25th of April) as an argument in a compound in my neighborhood of Aberdeen. The compound in question has several houses around a common courtyard where people cook, launder clothes, dry laundry, wash, play, meet, talk, eat, etc. An argument erupted between two women/neighbors and eventually spilled over to include the families of these neighbors, including children. The argument had something to do with politics and ethnicity/tribe.

I am writing about this for several reasons… 1) it happens all the time in compounds all across Sierra Leone, 2) it involves a Junior Secondary School student (14 yr old) that I tutor and support in school, 3) involves a family that’s “adopted” me and that I help on occasion and 4) it represents a horrendous problem for all of Sierra Leone.

The argument escalated and insults were exchanged… “abusive language” is how they refer to these sorts of exchanges. The shouting continued… but there was no violence and no physical contact between the groups of women but insults were exchanged. The landlord of one of the houses went to the local police station. He apparently bribed the police to arrest those involved. I have no proof of the bribe but I’ve been told this by several of the people involved and tend to believe this is what happened. The police arrived and arrested two of “my” family’s aunties and one of the other neighbors. Auntie Mary called me at 10:30pm on Thursday, in tears, from the police station.

I should add that Auntie Mary and her sister, Lucinda, are very mature, somewhat older, quiet, law-abiding, responsible women. They have never been involved with the police and live quietly in the home that Mary recently built. I’ve known the family for four years now…

Mary and Lucinda, (my friends and family), were detained overnight – placed in a disgusting, small, smelly, mosquito infested cell at the Aberdeen police station. The charge – “insulting conduct and disorderly behavior”, which is a breach of the Public Order Act of 1965. One of the other neighbors was also arrested and placed in the same cell. Interestingly, one of the main instigators of this argument was not arrested because she is rumored to be having an affair with the landlord and (because he paid the police) he instructed that she not be arrested.

I went to the police station on Thursday night, which is up the road where I now live, and tried to talk to the police officers on duty. Mainly, my role was to watch… to try to monitor the situation and make sure things went according to procedure. Essentially, I wanted to make sure “my family” was treated fairly and that there was no corruption on the part of the police. I didn’t know the landlord had previously bribed the police to initiate the whole thing.

The processing officer, an older woman, was rude and abrupt with me and the arrested “suspects”. She would not discuss the issue and refused to listen to my pleas for reason. The Officer in Charge (OC) initially agreed that this matter was a waste of time but he too had been paid by the landlord (unbeknownst to me) and soon left the station to go home (around 11:00pm). I maintain that this issue was not a police matter and that this was a complete waste of time for all involved. In fact, my opinion was reinforced the next day when other family members arrived and stated that this was a matter that the local Chief should have mediated and negotiated.

Nevertheless, Mary, Lucinda and the other woman removed their undergarments and handed over their possessions and were detained overnight. I felt so badly for these quiet, older, dignified women… they were crying and demeaned… and under arrest for the first time in their lives.

At 7:30am on Friday morning, I went back to the station… again to learn, observe and offer support to Mary and Lucinda. Later on Friday, the police arrested Mary and Lucinda’s sister, Isha and two of Mary’s wards/children who live with Mary and her family. The two children (15 and 14 yrs old) were interrogated without a guardian present and then arrested and placed in the same cell as the others. Also in the holding cell was a man who continuously vomited and lay prone on the floor. (He was later dragged from the cell and propped on the steps of the station, where he probably died) There was also a drunk guy… who was released first thing in the morning on Friday.

I raised a concern about the children in detention… and was told to talk to the Family Support Unit (FSU), located next door to the police station. I went to the FSU and spoke to a manager there who said they’d been notified and were going to request that the children be moved to the holding areas within FSU. The Child Protection Office did visit the police station but did not meet with the children and then told me that the police had already separated the children. The two children were not separated and remained in the cell with the others till they were eventually released six hours later.

I spent the entire day on Friday at the police station… provided water and food to Mary and her family. And learned, first hand, how bad/messed up/corrupt and ridiculous this whole system is. By about 10am, I’d had enough… and started to call in some favours from justice folks and police I know. I called the media representative and the Inspector General of Police. Both men made phone calls to the O.C. The OC told me that the family would be released… but it took hours for them to process the paperwork. Apparently, the woman who was supposed to sign the papers had gone into town to do some shopping and go to the bank. Sigh.

I also called an organization, AdvocAid, who work in the justice sector… and Sabrina, the wonderful Executive Director of that organization, sent a top-notch lawyer to the station. At one point, I offered/threatened to call the editors and station managers I know to send reporters to the station to report on the matter… I think all of this… and knowing that I was a journalist and work with the Canadian government here… scared the police enough to take some action.

I did not pay a bribe… but I did make some phone calls… And, when I explained the situation to the people “above” they all agreed that this case was nonsense and a waste of time. However, I later learned that members of Mary’s family had bribed the police “to get bail” for Mary and the others. The whole system is broken… clearly.

After spending more than 18 hours in police custody – in a horrible, hell-hole of a cell, Mary, Lucinda, Isha, and the two students were eventually released “on bail”. BTW, bail is supposed to be free… but everyone knows you have to bribe the police to get what is a citizen’s right.

Mary’s family was required to “keep the peace” over the weekend and report back to the police station on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, I accompanied the family to the station… and the matter was “dropped”. All nonsense and a supreme waste of time and energy. And, more importantly, a horrible indignity, infringement of rights and scar on the face of the police in this country.

This sort of travesty of “justice” happens all the time… and this Public Order Act of 1965 is a catch-all for anything and everything. BTW, it’s often used by ruling governments to silence dissent, to muzzle the media (more on that later) and “control” the public. And, it’s a scary law…

For reference:

According to the Public Order Act of 1965, PART II – BREACH OF PUBLIC ORDER.
(Public insult and provocation).
2. Any person who in the view of the public or in any public place, insults any person in his presence, in such a manner as would be likely to provoke that person to commit a breach of the peace, shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine, not exceeding twenty leones or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or both.
(Insulting conduct)
3. Any person who—
i.          makes use of any threatening, abusive, insulting or obscene language, gesture, or behaviour, or says or sings any insulting or offensive song or ballad or makes any noise with intent to provoke any other person to commit a breach of the peace; or
ii.        makes use of any threatening, abusive, insulting, obscene or profane language, or says or sings any insulting or offensive song or ballad, or makes a noise to the annoyance of any person in any place; or
iii.       
sends or delivers to any person any threatening, scurrilous, offensive, or obscene writing, print, engraving, picture or other representation; or
iv.      
calls any person by a name or description other than his own, with intent to insult or annoy such person; 

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