As authorities failed to intervene and settle a long standing division within the disability community, two factions-the Joseph Allieu Kamara led faction and the Santigie Kargbo led faction continue to lock horns over who should be the rightful leader of the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI).
Last week, the Santigie Kargbo led faction reported about a forceful eviction and alleged vandalism of the SLUDI headquarters at Approved School, an allegation which Joseph Allieu Kamara denied and told Concord Times that he took over the office after receiving report that it was being misused.
Since the conduct of elections in 2024 in which Joseph Allieu Kamara emerged as the winner and president of SLUDI,the other faction, the Santigie Kargbo faction, which was in power before the said elections, refused to accept the outcome on the grounds that the elections were not conducted in line with the provisions of the Union’s constitution.
In another development, it was circulated on social media by Joseph Allieu that, he had submitted the names of four members of the Santigie Kargbo led faction of the Union to the Sierra Leone police (SLP) for possible arrest and detention.
He made the said confirmation while defending himself on the reasons he captured the office that was occupied by the Santigie led executive at Approved School in the East End of Freetown.
Although the Santigie led executives didn’t recognise the Allieu executive after the elections, the National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD) wrote a letter to the Santigie led executive to hand over the office to Joseph and his team. The request was turned down by Santigie and his team, which urged both NCPD and the Ministry of Social Welfare to know the boundaries between the operation of state actors and non-state actors.
In a swift move, Joseph on March 1st , together with the Sierra Leone Police, took possession of the SLUDI national headquarters, an action that triggered a sharp criticism from the disability community.
According to Allieu, he had submitted the names of the Secretary General, Abu Bakarr Koroma, former President of the Union, Kabba Franklyn Bangura, and two other members, Buyah Sesay, and Sylvanus Bundu as those he considered to be creating division in his administration.
Meanwhile, Santigie Kargbo described the operation to take over the office as an indication that government is allegedly determined to completely wipe independent disability advocates from the country.
He pointed out that, the state used the Sierra Leone police to intimidate his team and conducted an election contrary to the constitution, a joint communique and a court ruling that suggested democratic and constitutional election.
“Since then, our members have been locked up, raided in their homes, suffered degrading and inhuman treatment and cyber stocking,” he said.
Executive Director of Media Watch and a member of SLUDI, Francis Ndanema said he was surprised that the Sierra Leone Police could join Joseph to evict the Santigie led executive from the office without a court order.
“We are all aware that evictions can only happen through a court order even if someone in possession of a building does not maintenance it. We have been calling on the government and other stakeholders to stop such a crackdown on disability activists, but our cry has been falling on deaf ears. The police can beat us and lock us up as they did in November, 2024 to our colleagues who were begging at the cotton tree, in 2021 to us in Waterloo, to our Secretary General, Abu Bakarr Koroma in July, 2024,” he cited.
He pleaded that the police should at least be considerate and discountenances the list of names submitted to them by Joseph and urged their supporters to remain calm.
