By Osman Sesay
Reliable information reaching this Press has revealed that Dickson Kabia who was allegedly caught with his gay partner, Ibrahim, making love in a nearby bush has been declared wanted by the Sierra Leone Police. They say, the intended arrest was influenced by family members and some community members including religious groups in Waterloo and some other parts of the country. According to the Police who were addressing newsmen at a Press conference on Monday 13th August 2018 at the Police Headquarters in Freetown. According to reliable sources, Dickson was reportedly caught red-handed by a passerby, having sex through his anus with a young man called Ibrahim Conteh in a nearby bush on Friday 10th August 2018.
According to eye witnesses, they were both caught by a passerby who shouted and alerted community members. They then rushed to the scene to mob both Dickson and Ibrahim.The Waterloo Police were alerted and before the Police could come at the scene, both of them had escaped. The angry crowd, after Dickson with his gay partner, Ibrahim had escaped, rushed to Dickson’s family house at 5 Liddel street in Waterloo, where he was staying before the sinful incident, but did not meet him there. After his escape, Dickson, through the influence of traditional and religious groups and the Police, was declared wanted and when caught , he would be tried in a court and if found guilty, he would be sentenced to prison for life with hard labour by Law.
In Sierra Leone, homosexual activities continue to be immoral behaviour and misconduct based on the fact that it is still illegal in the country. Police are using such instances under petty crimes.
However, campaigners and advocates on same sex rights were reportedly killed. Just as how Fanny Ann Eddy was brutally raped and killed for promoting Lesbian, Gay , Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights project. Eddy founded the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association in 2002. Fanny Ann was brutally murdered, after been heartlessly raped, for been a vibrant promoter of LGBT. The Intelligence reaching Dickson on how badly Fanny Ann Eddy was murdered, urged him to desperately run from one undisclosed location to another for fear of his untimely death. Though civil activists and human rights organizations are still calling for Justice in favour of Fanny Ann, society and the religious community are paying less attention to it. Reports about other campaigners been harassed and humiliated have also reached this Media practitioner. It is so because Sierra Leone continues to practice and implement petty crime laws. Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual and Transgender(LGBT) people in Sierra Leone are facing legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Male same-sex activity (whether in public and private) is illegal in Sierra Leone and carries a possible penalty of life imprisonment (with hard labour),although this law is seldom enforced. By and large, male same-sex sexual activity is illegal under section 61 of the offences against the Person Act 1861,and imprisonment for life is possible. However, in Sierra Leone today, it is only male to female sex activity that is legal. There is neither male to male sex activity nor female to female sex activity that is allowed.
By and large, this Writer was intimated that Dickson was a poor okada rider who was finding it very difficult to even interact with people within the vicinity where he was residing, just because he had decided to be a gay. What made his issue more grave is the fact that the Police, community stakeholders and religious groups were irresistibly pursuing to kill him for bringing shame and disgrace to their community and they are determined to get rid of him, dead or alive if found in Sierra Leone.Having faced all those dead threats, castigation and humiliation, he increased in his hiding skills and started running from one undefined location to another, not until When he finally left the shores of Sierra Leone to an unknown destination. It was told that he would either be beaten to death or be imprisoned for Life if caught anywhere in Sierra Leone.
