Tony Konomanyi: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 31 July 2022:

There’s never a dull moment in Sierra Leone, under this SLPP regime. In just seven days, we’ve gone from youths and journalists raising the alarm on the unusual movements of a shipping container suspected of holding drugs, weapons and forex, to a press release from government agencies and the police, denying any such contraband.

We then witnessed an interesting charade put up by the police at the “unveiling of contents” of the container in the full glare of the press. (I dare not mention the ignominious exchange which ensued between the Minister of information, Mohamed Rhaman Swaray and the recently sacked IG, Sovula, when the latter unapologetically arrived late at the staged opening of the container, without apologies.)

Now it has finally ended in predictable scapegoating, and we have  dismissals/demotions/reassignments of several names mentioned in the original exposé.

Out of breath already? Don’t be, there’s a lot more to come.

So, we were expected to believe that the container which left water quay and was apprehended at Cline Town, is the same to have arrived at Kingtom police mess, under military and Police escort, after the alarm had been raised by the public.

However, the truth has finally been revealed. First of all, the container which was opened at Kingtom Police mess was not the original, it had been swapped, and the actual container filled with drugs and contraband remained at the TRUST paint factory in Cline town, Freetown.

It was at the TRUST factory that the contents were emptied by the Lebanese and Ghanian smugglers.

When the police took the “fake”  container to Kingtom and finally disclosed the contents a few days later, they deliberately misled the public.

However, in their rush to exchange the original container for one filled with perishable foodstuffs like chicken and fish, they forgot an important detail.

The replacement “fake” container was not a refrigerated one. Frozen items would never have been shipped all the way from Brazil in an unrefrigerated container; everything would have rotted.

The owner of TRUST paint factory is a  Lebanese man called AYAD EL MUKH who works in partnership with the Transport Minister Kabineh Kallon ,  who is also the brother of the Bank Governor Kelfala Kallon, (who last week left Sierra Leone surreptitiously, amidst a national uproar over his announcement that NL800 million, approximately US$57m, had gone missing in the system.)

Since then, several highly placed heads have rolled, because of the mishandling of the smuggling deal.

The ADC to President Bio,  AIG SYLVESTER M KOROMA, whose official Vehicle registration plate was fraudulently used on the lorry which hauled the container to Cline Town, has been dismissed as ADC to the President and reposted to Police headquarters.

The then Inspector General of Police, AMBROSE SOVULA has been removed from his post as head of Sierra Leone Police, because he blew the cover-up by his exuberance and incompetence.

Both the then second and third in command in Sierra Leone Police hierarchy have also been demoted/reassigned.

Mr KEKETOMA SANDY who was Presidential spokesman and press secretary has had his responsibilities halved, and he’s now only Press secretary. This is because he was out of his depth and overwhelmed by the negative publicity.

This is by no means the end of this matter, there’ll be more names to come. But they are the sacred cows.

In the meantime, our President, clearly unperturbed by all this scandal, financial mess, and the suffering of our people, has gone on a luxury holiday to the UK , Italy, and the South of France with his wife, who some say has a stake in all of these deals.

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I personally believe that this container news that was hatched from the social media is just to DISTRACT the nation from the IMPLOSION that is unfolding within the APC. The “wind of change” that Chairman Alfred Peter Conteh ( Mr. APC) started within his party is now unstoppable. Some members of the “ Some Peoples Congress Party” that belongs to the defunct and disgraced former executive members are now undermining the authority of the current Chairman of the “All Peoples Congress Party”. Propaganda and Lies have been the foundation of the APC, but fortunately, the current Chairman is trying to change that narrative by focusing on the current issues within his party rather than commenting on this distraction. The Statehouse can treat this DISTRACTION from the social media just like the way they have treated the “Mammy Cusses” from the puppy of the former lifetime chairman for the past 4 years. What is important at the moment is REAL NEWS about the arrival of hundreds of road construction and agricultural equipments for the military, and the tons of rice which will be used to transform the lives of our citizens. Most of our citizens are excited about the recent appointments and to see the president and his beautiful wife having a well deserved vacation, hopefully he will return with another surprise “goodies” for the development of our nation.

It seems you are the disingenuous one here. You SLPP guys are desperately doing everything to save the bad reputation of your corrupt and crime ridden SLPP government. This story has been out here in Freetown for the past week – long before it was published by the Sierra Leone Telegraph, yet neither the police, Kabineh Kallon, nor State House have issued a statement denying those allegations. What does that tell you. Are you not reading the papers here in Sierra Leone? Because if you are, you will see that those allegations are nothing new and irrefutable.

Thanks to the Sierra Leone Telegraph, the whole world is seeing the Bio government for what they are – criminals. This is no different to what the Sierra Leone Telegraph did when the corrupt APC were in power. This is why I am still a lifelong reader of the Sierra Leone Telegraph, they are friends of no government. They report what needs to be reported and it is up to the government to refute the allegations in the interest of the public.

Your lazy, corrupt and criminalised SLPP government officials are too busy here enjoying the loot while journalists are doing their work unearthing their criminal behaviour. So if you have anyone to blame for this story, please go to State House and speak with your corrupt president and his wife aka – Grace Mugabe. Lol. The sun will continue to shine!

It is said that liars believe that telling the same lies repeatedly will make it true. Some lies are easy to dismiss, and this is just one of them. The writer of this article is attempting to ginger the negative action of the gullible population against the current ruling class. This is sometime akin to what philosophers refers to as hermeneutic phenomenology. By using so many unsupported claims he thinks he can paint some hardworking people in a negative way by instigating the people to think negatively of the government of President Bio. What this writer and his ilk need to know is that Drug trafficking is an international crime. Both Professor Kelfala Kallon and his Brother Kabineh Kallon had US residencies before they took up positions in the current government. They know what can be done to drug traffickers. The last time a drug trafficking gang in collaboration with some unscrupulous government officials used Sierra Leone as a conduit route, the intelligence, planning and their arrest was facilitated by the USA intelligence at the USA Embassy in Freetown. The culprits, Gilbril Bangura will spend the rest of his life in prison in the USA. His collaborators, the Kemoh Sesay and brother Ahmed Sesay we know what happened to them. So for wishful opposition thinkers to write so many innuendoes without making any effort to back it up with evidence is disingenuous to their audience. Unfortunately this is the state that we find ourselves- Pull him down syndromes (if I can borrow from the Late President Tejan Kabba).

I wish that the great man we all knew and loved your father,” the late F.D. Konomanyi”, was alive today. He was a great man of truth, and diehard APC man and supporter, but I never see him lies, may his soul rests in peace. We all believed APC trying by all routes to sink ” Bio” SLPP gov’t comes 2023 with any price and cost, but you have to remember that; we are all here in Kono Koidu town Sefadu, what the APC did to us we the voters, would never forget it, and we are ready to punish them for a numbers of years to come. The late year 2015 after “Alhaji Samuel Sam Sumana” was unconstitutionally removed from office as our elected Vice President through the actions of EBK, we were expecting true patriotic men like your kind to come out and speak. But unfortunately, your half sister Ms.Diana K. was on the list of becoming Koroma’s next Vice pres. with a remote silence, but everyone witnessed the protest and the threats we promised the APC party, that’s why H.E. back-down and replaced him with a convicted felon, Victor Foh. Well, I hope that you could bring some relevant evidence to the public eyes let’s see not just allegations, as this brother, Michael Kanyako have requested. There are a lot to say, stay tune. May God protects our home land. I am right here small Sefadu. Thank you

I have been reading the Sierra Leone Telegraph online news for quite awhile now only because I find it most of the time unbiased in publishing articles. But this article about drugs, contraband and dismissals is shocking to read due to the fact that the writer’s findings reference to the container is beggar’s belief to trust his story lines. I have few questions for the writer to clarify, firstly about the swapped container. Certainly you mentioned and I quote ” it had been swapped, and the actual container filled with drugs and contraband remained at the TRUST paint factory in Cline town, Freetown”. Having this first hand information prior to the opening of the container at Kingtom Police mess, why didn’t you and the press voice your point of concern about the swap prior to the opening of the container but you rather witnessed the opening of the container and afterwards came up with an untrue story lines just because what you were expecting turns out to be false.

Secondly, you mentioned the location of the actual container and even disclosed those that emptied it. I quote “It was at the TRUST factory that the contents were emptied by the Lebanese and Ghanian smugglers. I guess you were there at the TRUST factory or if not, whosoever relayed this to you must have at least taken a photo to prove as a piece of an evidence to the public. We can only make Sierra Leone a better place if we say the truth and facts to our people.

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