By Foday Moriba Conteh
This medium received intelligence that a Sierra Leonean by the name of Mamadu Wurie Barrie has been declared wanted on the 23rd February 2021 by the Sierra Leone Police for leading a demonstration in the Northern District in 2016 that led to the loss of lives and destruction of properties.
This was during the period when the All People’s Congress (APC) Party, under the leadership of erstwhile President Ernest Bai Koroma was in State Governance. It all started with the Government’s decision to relocate the construction of a Youth Village to another district when in actual fact the original plan was that it should be constructed in the township of Kabala. This infuriated the youth and they therefore decided to peacefully protest which later turned out to be become violent leading to the death of three people, some sustaining serious injuries and properties worth millions of Leones looted.
It was alleged that Mamadu Wurie Barrie was the ring leader of the demonstrators and as a result he was declared wanted. He, however, fled the township for safety.
A special Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the issues that led to the demonstration, those involved and proffer recommendations. What came out glaringly of the Commission’s findings was that Mamadu was found wanting and it was recommended that he must be sentenced to jail.
When political power changed hands in 2018, after the Presidential and Parliamentary elections and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) formed a new Government individuals close to Mamadu advised him to surface in the public. However, it was a precarious decision for Mamadu to adhere to simply because it was not certain that the SLPP Government will guarantee him his freedom because it was learnt that though he was the Public Relations Officer of the SLPP Koinadugu Branch he was not an ardent supporter of the then SLPP flagbearer, Julius Maada Bio, but rather was supporting another Presidential aspirant that hail from that part of the country, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (KKY) of National Grand Coalition that participated in that election.
It is against such a backdrop that it must be reiterated that even though the SLPP is currently in governance he cannot walk as a free man because the fact remains that he was not supporting the current President, Julius Maada Bio during the 2018 Presidential election.
As we go to Press the two children of Mamadu Wurie Barrie and his family are currently seeking refuge in neighboring Guinea after several intimidations and harassment by the Sierra Leone Police in order for them get respite and freedom from the psychological trauma that they have been subjected to.
According to a close Police source, who spoke to this medium on the condition of anonymity, the SLP is ready to offer an appreciable sum of money to anyone who will disclose Mamadu’s whereabouts, adding that if he ventures to surface in public he will be immediately arrested and sent to prison or clandestinely murdered in a manner that will leave no room for Police investigation.
