By Prince J Musa in Kenema
Officials of the Residual Special Court of Sierra Leone have urged students of the Eastern Technical University (ETU) in Kenema to dissociate themselves from hate and negative messages on social media prior to the June 24th General elections in the country.
The officials made this call during a Public Lecture with students and Lecturers of ETU in Kenema on the 20th of April 2023 in a bid to educate young people against violence before, during, and after the upcoming multitier elections.
The Outreach Coordinator of the Residual Special Court in Sierra Leone Sulaiman Jabati said the public lecture is designed for the entire country targeting all Universities and Colleges with the aim of discouraging students from circulating hate and negative messages that have the propensity to threaten the peace of the nation especially when the general elections are closer.
He stated that as an outreach officer for the court, they have realized that the influx of hate speeches on social media shows that people might have forgotten the civil insurgency that almost brought the country to its knees. He added that the public lecture is to remind the young people to know about the past history of the country which destroyed lives and prosperities while other people were amputated.
Jabaty added that they do not want the reoccurrence of such ugly incidents in the country.
‘’We are doing public lectures in public universities for the students to know that we don’t want anything that will break the peace of this nation,’’ he said.
The court’s outreach coordinator concluded that students who benefited from the public lecture should serve as ambassadors who will preach peace during the electioneering period.
One of the Senior lecturers of the university, Alpha Sei described the engagement as significant and timely for the students. He said most young people take pleasure in misusing social media, especially by posting negative hate messages for political parties which he said is not good for the peace of the nation.
He appealed for such engagement to continue in public institutions so that young people will not be allowed to be misdirected by ‘selfish’ politicians. He commended the team from Residual Special Court for such an initiative and appealed to the students to make good use of the knowledge they have gained as it is part of learning the history of the country.
Presentations on some of the sensitive issues that created the last civil unrest and questions and responses climaxed the lectures.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (24/04/23)
