From an institutional perspective, the Kabala incident continues to send a very wrong signal about the nature of peace and the redress mechanism in the Country thus bringing into focus the need to rethink our position on the nation’s peace infrastructure and the mindset that ignites violence of the magnitude seen in Kabala.

As it stands now, the rioting of our young people on the pretext of a message about changing the location of a proposed youth village should force us to sit and think as a nation bringing to mind the realization that we need a lot of education especially civic education as we help every Sierra Leonean including the young people to learn the genuine culture of democracy in making known their grievances without resorting to any form of violence as evident in the Kabala incident.

Additionally, the Kabala incident has again brought to the fore series of allegations bordering on the fact that our men in uniform have again used lethal force resulting in the deaths reported, thus raising the question of whether they could not have used some other means of quelling the riot without recourse to the means that resulted in the deaths and injuries and as the matter is said to be investigated, we can only ask for the due process to be followed so that justice should be seen to be served in the interest of all and sundry.

At this critical juncture in the history of this nation, every Sierra Leonean should think long and hard about the implications of the Kabala incident as it speaks volumes about the low level of democratic culture we have imbibed as a people and as a nation and it leaves much to be desired in terms of our democratic credentials as a nation, thus warranting the fact that serious attention should be paid to the promotion of democratic good governance in the length and breadth of the Country.

On account of the Kabala incident, the Management of NCD is calling on all to keep the peace, maintain law and order and obey all law enforcement agencies whilst at the same time calling on all state apparatus including law enforcement agencies to operate within the ambit of the law in order to avoid the use of excessive force.

Let it be reiterated here that in a democracy, there are legitimate means of seeking redress and all must endeavor to follow the due process rather than taking the law into their own hands as the days of jungle justice are over including the use of unbridle power for the true sense of peace and security should be seen as the right atmosphere for our democracy to thrive.

Long Live the Peaceful Citizens of Sierra Leone!

Long Live Democracy that is built on the Platform of Peace!  

Copy:

All Press Houses

All Consular and Diplomatic Missions

All Political Parties

All Ministries, Department and Agencies

All Civil Society Organizations

All Government Commissions

All Tertiary Learning Institutions

SLP

RSLAF

SIGNED:

NCD MANAGEMENT

DATE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016