The Special Investigating Committee appointed by His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio to investigate the circumstances that led to the August 8th to 10th protests in some parts of the country, has discovered that the protests were an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
The key findings are:-
The August 8th-10th incidents, as insidious as they were, did not occur in isolation and were not extemporaneous, as suggested by multiple pieces of evidence collated from existing literature and, clues gleaned from observations and interviews and narratives assembled from public and in-camera engagements.
Therefore, the events of 8th-10th August 2022 can be conclusively regarded as an insurrection against the central government. The insurrection was planned, well-orchestrated, timed, and geared towards destroying public property provided by the state with the aim of undermining the governmentโs authority.
The general clarion call for the democratically elected President to go in words like โMaada Bio Must Go!โ indicates that the protests were a deliberate attempt by the organizers to overthrow the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Additionally, in Lungi in particular, the Committee found that protesters attempted to enter the airport (critical national infrastructure) to dig out the runway to prevent the President from returning home from his overseas travel.
