By Mohamed Vandi in Kenema
Chairman of the Kailahun District Council has challenged the president of the Local Councils’ Association in Sierra Leone for ignoring their request to issue a press release on the arrest of the Mayor of Bo City. Alex Bonafa told Eastern Radio in Kenema that the arrest and detention of their member, Mayor Harold Tucker of Bo, should be condemned. He expressed dissatisfaction “over the refusal of the president of LOCASL to issue a press release on behalf of the association”. The Kailahun district council chairman warned that “a week-long grace period will be given to the president and if he fails to come up with the release the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) councils will come out with theirs”. He added that the release would seek to attract attention from the international community. Bonafa said the Bo Mayor was arrested in Bo over the alleged “coup” and taken to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department in Freetown where the Inspector General of Police denied any knowledge of it. The development, he said, did not go down well with members of the association serving in other councils. He further said that the association ought to come out with a statement condemning the act since. Meanwhile, president of LOCASL and chairman of the Port Loko district council, Ahmid Fofana, told Politico that it was sometimes important for people to know their responsibilities. He said state security had nothing to do with the operations of the councils, adding that the association was there to solely coordinate the activities of the local councils of Sierra Leone and not serve individual purposes or interests. He said the arrest of their colleague in Bo was purely a state security matter and therefore did not fall within the mandate of LOCASL. On the issue of SLPP Councils coming up with a release if the association failed to do so, the president said “it is not a party association, but one that caters for all councils”. He denied knowledge of the threat to issue any such press release, saying nobody ever told him about that. Politico 03/08/13
