By Fasalie Sulaiman Kamara
Some ammunition, among them bullets and bombs, was discovered inside the compound of Services primary school at the Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown, leaving school authorities, parents and pupils panicked.
A senior teacher, Kelie Mansaray, told Politicothat “the ammunition was discovered when we contracted someone to rehabilitate the old toilet in the school compound that had not been used since the war”.
He said in the process of clearing around the old pit latrine, the contractor discovered a grenade and a small quantity of bullets in a plastic bag.
“The incident happened on Tuesday 26 November 2013. When the discovery was made people where running all around the compound, including pupils and teachers”, he explained, adding that immediately after that the school authorities informed some military personnel to see what they could do about it.
Mr. Mansaray said that the military personnel inspected the site and said “that is not their professional area and that they will get to the ammunition specialists at Murry Town Barracks to come and fix the situation”.
He said two classrooms had been declared “a no go area”, adding that they were appealing to the military to detonate any possible explosive.
One of the five head teachers, Kadiatu Fofanah, said “these are all relics of the war”,and added that the ammunition discovery was not as alarming as it seemed. She also said that where there was danger, they had prevented the pupils from going anywhere closer.
“We are expecting the military to move in fast on this issue”,she urged and said the talk of bombs or bullets was alarming.
One of the parents, Aie Kallon, said “we were at the market selling our wares when someone ran in to tell us about the incident and most of them had to rush to fetch their children.
When contacted the director of public relations of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Colonel Michael Samura, said he could not ascertain the specifics of the explosives found but that “there was a bomb and not ammunition”.
(C) Politico 28/11/13
