By Kemo Cham
There has been an outpouring of condemnation over the detention of a Sierra Leonean civil society activist who called on parliament to be accountable.
Abdul Fatorma was detained in early february by agents of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sierra Leone Police on the orders of parliament which accused him of “fabrication and incitement”. He was released on bail after spending a night in a police cell, for "further investigation" by the House.
Fatorma’s Campaign for Human Rights Development International (CHRDI) ruffled feathers within parliament with a damning report last year exposing lack of accountability in the House over the use of community development funds.
CHRDI is registered both in Sierra Leone and the UK, from where Fatorma coordinates its activities as its Chief Executive.
The activist had flown into the country a few days earlier and was granting interviews to radio and TV stations on his work when he was detained. He was reportedly summoned to parliament that Tuesday morning shortly after a live radio talk show on the Freetown-based Radio Democracy in which he reiterated his call for accountability in parliament and the government at large.
The police would not give detail on the reason for his detention, which the rights campaign group Amnesty International described as tantamount to stifling freedom of expression.
"The government must allow human rights defenders to do their work without intimidation. The arrest of Abdul Fatorma is an attempt to reduce civic space and stop him and others questioning government actions," said Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty West Africa Researcher.
Locally there has been no shortage of condemnation among fellow activists either.
The Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone, a coalition of civil society organizations and individuals working in the field of human rights, said his detention demonstrated the government’s disregard for international rights instruments, notably the UN’s declaration on the protection of human rights defenders.
“The network condemns all forms of intimidation and threats on human rights defenders and calls on government to fulfill its obligation and safeguard the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression,” HRDN-SL said in a statement sent to Politico.
Mr Fatoma later appeared before the clerk of parliament.
A statement released by the House confirmed that he was fingered for his publication last year which accused MPs of failing to account for about Le120 billion (US$20million) of funding disbursed as part of the Constituency Development Funds designed for lawmakers to partake in the development of their constituencies.
The House has asked Mr Fatorma to produce evidence to substantiate the claims contained in that report. It also requested for documentary evidence proving the legality of his organisation.
His passport remains in the hands of the police.
Amnesty has called on the authorities to immediately lift that and desist from pursuing charges against him.
Supporters of the government have accused the activist of hiding behind civil society activism to achieve a political end.
The accusation was provoked by a photo distributed on social media which appeared to show Fatorma posing with the wife of opposition presidential hopeful Julius Madda Bio. Many supporters of the APC-led government conclude that he is supporter of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party.
But the activist is unperturbed. In his latest comments on his detention made on social media, he said he was “anxiously” looking forward to his parliament hearing on Monday, vowing never to “walk off the pitch” on his campaign for accountability.
“We want to assure the Sierra Leonean citizens and residents that we will not relent in our accountability campaign and we are prepared to sustain this fight with the poor people,” he said.
“No amount of intimidation will deter us,” he vowed.
(C) Politico 2017
