By Saio Marrah
A former RSLAF soldier has testified before Justice Komba Kamanda of the High Court in Freetown of how, according to him, he was manhandled by an OSD officer attached to the National Social Security and Insurance Trust, NASSIT headquarters in Freetown.
Dankawallie Mansaray who was wounded in action during this country’s civil war and is on invalidity benefit with NASSIT and a government pension, told the High Court on Monday 8th May 2023, that the OSD officer dragged him from the reception area of the NASSIT building down to the corridor on the orders of one Fanta, a staff member at NASSIT attached to the benefit department, who is also the third defendant in the case.
He said the incident occurred after he had gone to Rokel Commercial Bank on Friday 23 July 2021 to collect his pension but was told that NASSIT had not credited his account. He said on the same day he went to the benefits department to ascertain what might have gone wrong.
According to Mansaray, when he made enquiries at NASSIT, Fanta “started shouting at me saying I should stop disturbing her because it was not the time for the payment”. He said he then proceeded to the reception area to ask for the manager of the benefits section who was incidentally around and that as soon as he started explaining his concerns to the manager, Fanta interrupted their conversation and ordered the OSD officer to drag him out of the building.
Mansaray told the court that the OSD officer then grabbed him by the neck and dragged him forcefully out of the building, kicking me on the way. He said other staff members stood by as he was being manhandled.
The complainant said he was arrested and taken to Central Police Station where the police refused to listen to his complaint about his leg having been broken in the process of being dragged out of the NASSIT building.
He said in the morning, the police officers took him to the Military Hospital at Wilberforce when they realized that the foot was swollen from where he was referred to Life Care Hospital where he said an X-ray showed a fracture on the bone of the left foot.
During a cross examination by the NASSIT lawyer, Israel Jah, the complainant told the court that his pension is usually paid on the 24th and 25th of every month, but that if the 25th falls on a weekend, NASSIT would pay him on the 23rd.
The defendant, who said he is married with two kids, told the court he left the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) on the 18thSeptember 2008, after serving 14 years and 72 days with mental disability and a problem in his left eye.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (10/05/23)
