The appointment of Ambrose M Sovula former AIG and Western Region commander into the position of Inspector General of Police (IG) and Elizabeth Turay as Deputy Inspector general (DIG) came as surprise to many Sierra Leoneans who were of the opinion that the erstwhile Deputy Inspector General Mohamed Fuad Daboh would have been the likely successor of the outgone Richard Moigbeh.
What miraculously catapulted Mr. Sovula to the height of an inspector general, in the midst of many more competent and qualified police officers in the police force, has been a heated debate in commercial vehicles, ataya bases and many other public places in the country.
Some shades opined that Mr. Sovula has been in the good books of president Bio because of the vigorous roles he has been performing in orchestrating government machinated strategies against the opposition as many cited the incidence of electoral boxes being destroyed by the youth of the ruling party at Goodrich bye-elections in the front of the police for which no action was taken by him.
It is interesting that appointments to senior positions into the police hierarchy are gradually drifting away from merit to political sycophancy which to us in the covenant newspaper is not a good development because the police force should dispense its duty independently from government and should not in any way work with the dictates of the powers that be.
Therefore the covenant newspaper is of the strong notion that appointments to such a delicate position should be devoid of any political sentiment or affiliation as the mandate of the police is crucial to protect the lives and properties of its citizens and not to promote and protect the egocentric interest of their political demi-gods.
That the Sierra Leone police force is structured in a form that is provided for a singular Deputy Inspector General, the covenant newspaper is in a complete state of conundrum and quandary as to what will be the next position of the devastated onetime Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Daboh in the police hierarchy. We in the covenant are worry to know whether it a ploy to indirectly request his resignation from a force he has served diligently for a number of years without any form of appreciation? As we are of the take that the above question is a brilliant one that requires a pensive deliberation and answer from the Maada Bio government.
Many other political critics are of the critical opinion that the H E Bio’s administration is appointing party loyalist to strategic positions in a bid of erecting fences surrounding him and his party in a form of preparedness for the 2023 general elections which he envisages to be a tight contest between him and any other person that is to fly the presidential ticket of the All People’s Congress party due to the current economic waddle and the myriad of human rights abuses the nation is grappling with.
However, the covenant newspaper is of the strong view that the only means by which the Bio led SLPP government will retain political power come 2023 elections is by mitigating the incessant human right abuses and by aiming at the development of the country and its people rather than engaging in political deceits in this contemporary democratic dispensation.
Therefore the covenant newspaper is calling on the leadership of the SLPP to desist from concentrating on political ruses but rather focusing on the provision of the bread and butter and other needed facilities for the citizenry of this nation which is enshrined in the manifesto of president Bio as the people of Sierra Leone are weary of suffering in abject poverty.
