By Amin Kef (Ranger)
It is a fact that the man who is at the helm of the Security Sector Coordination Unit – Office of National Security (ONS) in Sierra Leone, Abdulai Caulker is seldom heard.
Even when there are critical insecurity issues which need his input, or at least for him to say a few words, he delegates that to another staff or at most times, it is the Director of Communications that walks the gauntlet.
That said, the ONS under the auspices of its National Security Coordinator (NSCoord) ,Abdulai Caulker, recently invited journalists to inform them of his plans for a secured and peaceful conduct of the coming elections and to also speak on other matters.
Amongst several pertinent issues he raised was the one about the Social Media being the tool used by ill-motivated and unscrupulous Sierra Leoneans, especially those living abroad, to spread hate, mistrust for Government institutions and other propaganda aimed at distorting the peace, creating confusion and eventually causing dysfunctions in the State Governance apparatus.
He mentioned that the ONS is well-prepared and thoroughly equipped to snuff out those ill-motivated people out there who take pleasure in fuelling disinformation and misinformation to hapless youths in the country who believe what they tell them and act on what they are told to do.
It is good to note that the warnings coming from the ONS Boss are coming at a time when the June 24 General Elections are a couple of months away. He warned also that those that stand in the way of Sierra Leone conducting a peaceful election will only have themselves to blame when they are caught doing anything and everything that goes against electoral laws of the land including the cybercrime and security laws.
Also, good is the fact that the ONS boss did not only have warnings for citizens. He also had words of caution for politicians who are in the habit of treating election matters as if it is their personal property to be treated as they wish. He used the opportunity to prevail on all politicians in every political party to go strictly by the electoral calendar and by the electoral laws or have him or herself to blame.
A word for the wise…
I do not think that Mr. Caulker should be in that office. He has no intelligence background, and this is evidence in the fact that under his watch, several security breaches have taken place in the country which has resulted to dealt to Sierra Leoneans and security forces. Had it been in other countries, he should have resigned since the first security breach which happened when hoodlums raided and set ablaze the residence of the Paramount Chief in Lunsar on the flimsy allegation that he was walking with the ruling government against the interest of the opposition that considers Lunsar as it strong hold. It took the late intervention of the police to save the lives of the Paramount Chief and members of his household. One of the attackers lost his life. The ONS had no clue or intelligence on ugly incidence before it happened.