The Inspector -General of Police, Francis Munu, on Friday, disclosed that for the Police, November 17 is not an extra-ordinary day, but just as any other day in the year.
He made this declaration at the Integrated Election Security Communication Strategy press briefing organized by the Office of the National Security (ONS) at the Conference Hall, at Tower Hill, Freetown.
The briefing was to inform the media about the modalities that have been put in place to ensure that security sector practitioners understand their specific service delivery, so that the desired effective security climate is assured and sustained before, during and after the elections.
I.G. Munu maintained that people have been concerned about how ready is the police, as if they were ready to fight a battle, which according to him is not true. He maintained that they will just do what they use to do on a day-to-day basis, ensuring that the National Electoral Officers, Election materials are safe and to even ensure that people cast their vote peacefully.
He said that the police is very neutral as they are entitled to only one vote a person. The IG also maintained that the Sierra Leone Police is one national police force drawn from every chiefdom, district, region and tribe, believers and non-believers alike, adding that there is no way, no forum where they can call people and ask them to support a particular party.
According to the Chief of Staff at ONS, Hamid Sannoh, the security sector is expected constitutionally, to play the kind of role that will enable the elections to have a credible outcome by providing the necessary support to NEC, which has the sole responsibility of conducting elections in the country, as a result called other stakeholders to talk about the state of preparedness of the security sector and individual support to NEC.
Francis Langumba Keili, Director of Research and Planning at ONS, and also Chairman Integrated Elections Security Planning Committee, states that the security sector has been planning in earnest for this election since 2010 and that by National security council coordinator group decisions, January 2011, the Integrated Elections Security Planning Committee was formed, as a multi-sectoral body that encompasses the Sierra Leone Police, RSLAF, Prison, ONS, National Fire Force, NEC, PPRC and NEW.
He maintained that whatever strategy that they would have developed was predicated on the requirements of NEC, as they would not develop a security sector in vacuum or one which goes differently with NEC requirements, they would not be able to implement it, as a result the Director of Operations at NEC was able to indentify 13 different areas, where NEC needs security attention.
“Whatever we are doing is police-led, as they have primacy over internal security; so whatever all the other sectors are doing, they are just acting as an auxiliary of the SLP” he said, disclosing that members of the group have been undergoing series of elections training in order to capacitate themselves to ensure peaceful election, as the Prisons have already set aside 520 personnel for the operation.
Chief Superintendent of Police, Mustapha S. Kambeh who is the Head of operations, Policy and Planning department, states that 14,000 personnel have been undergoing training with 2,225 trained on Public Order, adding that they were faced with the problem of ration for the personnel.
Colonel S.N. Sheriff maintained that the military will be out to assist the police in ensuring security, as they have set aside 1,500 personnel to be deployed and 6,599 will be on stand-by, adding that while looking at the elections in the country, they will also be paying attention on international duty, as they have been receiving threats from abroad.
Madam Christiana Thorpe states that the media should be mindful in their reporting, as they should put the country first, in terms of security and refrain from reporting information that is not true.
By Alhaji M. Kamara
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