PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 25 August 2020
As a right based organization, we have noticed and documented with keen concern the proliferation of inciting audios and hate speeches through social media by some pro political party publicists popularly known as Adebayor and Gentle which tends to create mayhem in the country. Adebayor’s audios have triggered violence across the country including Lunsar, Tombo, Makeni among others.
It could be recalled on the 18th of August 2020, Adebayor also called on the people of Sierra Leone to take to the street with civil unrest and unseat a democratically elected government, while also an immediate response was made by Gentle (political hot goose) calling on the membership of erstwhile Kamajor’s to be on stand-by for any attempt by any group to stage demonstration or civil unrest in the country which has laid so much fear and panic in the lives of many Sierra Leoneans. In our view, such call has the potency to lead this country into disrepute. Therefore, we are calling on all citizens of this country to desist from such horrendous calls by both Adebayor and Gentle as it is against international best practices.
Furthermore, we are also calling on the leadership of the two major political parties i.e. the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPPj and the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) to strongly condemn, disassociate, and denounce such indecent behavior of pro-political party social media publicists from sharing hate speeches and unbearable call for civil unrest that tends to undermine our fragile peace and democracy in Sierra Leone.
As an organization, we are also concerned about the over silent of the government on the issue of frightening called by pro-political party social media publicists and the sharing of hate speeches on social media. Therefore, the people of this country demand an answer from the government on what they have done or their plans to address the issues of hate speeches on social media platforms.
We want to commend the security apparatus for their swift response in providing security for the people of this country, while we also encourage the Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide more professional training and oversight for police personnel to reduce the high rate of killing innocent people during protests or riots in the country.
As an organization promoting human rights, democracy, and good governance in Sierra Leone, we are in total support of freedom of speech while also condemning any form of hate speech that undermines state security.
– Abdul Karim Habib, Executive Director, NMDHR