Personnel of the Sierra Leone police attached to Makeni and Kabala division respectively have expressed their frustration and disappointment over the way and manner they were treated during the entire elections process.
The personnel include 76 from Makeni and 71 from Kabala police division who are alleging that their senior officers have not given them their Le15,000 per personnel for five days of covering the General elections in the north of the country.
In an exclusive interview conducted by Awoko, a cross-section of police in Makeni and Kabala said that, before they were deployed for the elections, they were told that Le15,000 will be given to them as allowances.
The money, they say, was provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP ) for all security Personnel.
It all started on the eve of the elections, when deployments of police officers and their counterparts became very difficult as a result of the availability of their allowance on that night. Many officers raised concerns that, they were very strange to their deployments areas and that they do not have money and this will make their assignments very straineous.
The Policemen especially those in the Criminal Investigation Deprtment (CID) told our reporter that, all their colleagues in the other three divisions in the north have received their allowances except they who are in Makeni and Kabala.
They alleged that they have raised these concerns with their senior officers but not much attention was given to them.
They however threatened that if their money is not given to them, they will ‘not report for duty’ and will go on strike.
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police north-east division, AIG Suluku Conteh, said originally there where discrepancies on the number of personnel to be attached to the north.
He said during the elections, deployments exercise of security personnel, 1,392 police personnel were deployed in the north, for whom Le91,507,000 was sent as allowances for them.
AIG Suluku Conteh said on calculation of the supposed Le. 15,000 per day, they realized that the money will be enough to pay 2,245 security personnel. “On advice from our IGP, we paid only those that were sent to the north, while the remaining 147 personnel await their money.
The document in the entire deployments reached my division on 14th November and measures to pay the others are in place, as at the 19th November 2012, I personally sent the additional payment letter to police headquarters for process and approval. The moment the documents are prepared and approved, we will definitely pay them. It is just a matter of time, as we are aware of their efforts and role in the elections,” AIG Suluku Conteh, confirmed.
By Mohamed Kabba
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