Monday May 18, 2015 - Rewarding evil in Sierra Leone as operatives of the RUF/AFRC are given top positions to lord it over their surviving victims. Kicking the victims of their atrocities in the teeth. The Judiciary now an arm of the Executive.

On Tuesday April 21, this year the authorities in Germany decided that one of the guards at the infamous concentrations camps must stand trial for complicity in the mass murders committed by those who gave the orders as well as those who actually carried out the physical elimination of their fellow human beings.

More than 70 years have passed since the liberation of the concentration camps by Allied forces and many of those who bore the greatest responsibility were either tried at the Nuremberg Tribunal (1945-1949) at the end of the war and those who managed to escape justice and later discovered were made to face the justice they so richly deserved given the horrors of the concentration camps and what was visited upon prisoners incarcerated at these death camps.

A former Nazi death camp guard, now 93 is facing justice - not because he himself was a member of the death squads but because under a new law in Germany he is charged with being an accessory to the murder of some three hundred thousand people. Groening, known as the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz", was allegedly responsible for counting banknotes confiscated from prisoners.

According to the BBC "Prosecutors in Lueneburg, northern Germany, also allege that he hid victims' luggage away from new arrivals, to disguise the victims' fate. Mr Groening, who began work at Auschwitz aged 21, admits witnessing the mass killing of Jews, but denies he was an "accomplice". He has spoken publicly about his role in the camp - and it is that aspect of his case that observers such as Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff say makes it particularly important. For about two years, Mr Groening allegedly counted money taken from the luggage of murdered Jews and sent it back to SS headquarters in Berlin. He also supervised luggage of prisoners being transported to the camp. Prosecutors say Oskar Groening knew that prisoners were murdered directly after their arrival at Auschwitz. He spoke of witnessing an SS soldier murdering a baby, and how the treatment of the prisoners had "horrified" him. But he said that at the time he believed that killing Jews - including children - was the "right" thing to do. "We were convinced by our world view that we had been betrayed... and that there was a great conspiracy of the Jews against us." However, Mr Groening says he did not take part directly in the killing, and described his role as "a small cog in the gears". "If you can describe that as guilt, then I am guilty, but not voluntarily. Legally speaking, I am innocent," he told Der Spiegel in 2005.

In Sierra Leone, despite the horrors visited on perceived opponents of the RUF/AFRC coalition of evil led by one Johnny Paul Koroma we now see those who took part directly or indirectly in the mass murder, rape and abduction of civilians given well-paying prominent roles in Sierra Leone. This is aimed at sending a message to surviving victims and the relations of those who were murdered in the most horrendous of circumstances that the thing which passes as a government in Sierra Leone is more interested in rewarding the perpetrators than compensating the survivors and the relations of the dead. Kindly read this testimony as recorded from one of the AFRC operatives, one Sesay during the attack against civilians while the rebel forces were retreating from Freetown.

"Gullit ordered a group of fighters to attack the Fourah Bay section of Freetown because an AFRC soldier had been killed there. The witness took part in the operation, which involved top commanders and members of the RUF, AFRC, and the Red Lion Brigade (a group that included Liberian former fighters of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia – NPFL). This group forced civilians from their homes and killed them, then burned their houses. Some civilians were locked in their houses while they were burned. Sesay said that he and the force could hear screaming from the houses, and that they made sure no one escaped. He could not say how many civilians were killed in Fourah Bay. After this operation, Sesay said the rebels faced continued attacks from ECOMOG and withdrew further. He said that at Upgun, Santigie Borbor Kanu (“Five-Five”) said the troops should start amputating the arms and hands of civilians. He demonstrated by amputating three captured civilians with a machete: one “short sleeve” (amputation at the wrist) and two “long sleeve” (amputation at the elbow). Other commanders followed suit, telling their victims to go to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah for new hands.

Retreating further from the city, Sesay testified that the advance force he was with burned many houses, some in which civilians were burned to death, and captured many civilians. Meanwhile, amputations continued... Sesay testified that while the group of around 3,000 rebels was based at Kissy Mental Home, Gullit ordered further attacks on civilians because he said these had betrayed them by welcoming ECOMOG soldiers. Sesay said he went with one group to Ferry Junction, where they shot everyone in a market, pulled people from their homes to kill them with guns and machetes, and burned others alive together with their houses. Another group was sent to an area called Low Cost Housing, where it killed and amputated civilians and burned houses.

The following day, Gullit said he had heard that people at a nearby mosque were sheltering ECOMOG forces who were out of uniform. He ordered a force led by Five-Five, and including the witness, to kill everyone in the mosque. Sesay said that a group of more than 100 fighters attacked the mosque, which was large and very full. Some civilians escaped, but most were killed. The victims included girls, boys, men and women of all ages."

We know that there were civilians who of their own free will welcomed the rebel forces when they got to Freetown in January 1999. They did because they were the main beneficiaries of RUF/AFRC largesse and were known to the murderous gang who protected them and told others that their houses should not be torched, nor should they be harmed.

When things got tough for them as the ECOMOG liberation forces put them under pressure, these supporters asked that they be taken along with the retreating rebels. They were quite distinct from the many civilians who were abducted to serve as sex slaves, looted goods carriers and potential recruits into the ranks of the rebels against their will.

We have in the past stated that the rat passing himself off as a democrat is a smoke and mirrors beast of no nation who has no respect for the rule of law believing that the use of bribes and intimidation would get him what he wants. The three arms of governance which the Constitution went to great pains to separate appears to be one entity with Parliament and the Judiciary compromised. This flies in the face of the APC party's own 2007 manifesto which in part states -

"The All Peoples Congress Party affirms its belief in the supremacy and inviolability of the constitution of Sierra Leone and the sovereignty of our people. As a government we are committed to the strict observance and enforcement of it provisions. We will therefore conform to the spirit and letter of the constitution."

This is what Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone were made to believe, not knowing that they were dealing with an evil and deceptive cabal whose only interest was to get into power after fifteen years of being denied access to the nation's purse strings.

Here's a party which states that it is committed to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and yet has its leader illegally sacking a Vice President who was elected by the people on the same ticket as the rat himself. Here's a part of the APC 2007 manifesto on the separation of powers.

"Under the principle of separation of powers as provided for in our national constitution, the Sierra Leone Parliament has, in the last ten years, clearly demonstrated an inability to exercise its functions as an institution distinct from the executive. Unfortunately, executive interference, coupled with the pursuit of political party interests have clearly undercut the constitutional role of the legislature."

Clearly, given the many instances witnessed in Sierra Leone under the rat, there's really no separation of powers as Parliament and more significantly, the Judiciary has been compromised. The latest excuse from the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court that they could not grant an injunction that would stop an illegally-appointed Vice President shames what vestiges of respectability and integrity the Judiciary can boast of - making a mockery of justice in Sierra Leone.

Here's a Judiciary that would put all the stumbling blocks before any legal challenge presented by the opposition, but would shamelessly order APC candidates who failed miserably in elections in Constituency 005 and 015 to sit in Parliament representing areas where results clearly showed they were not the popular choice of the people. Under normal circumstances, the Judiciary would declare such seats null and void and the National Electoral Commission would then hold a bye election. Not this time. The Judiciary represented by one Judge Showers serving under then Chief Justice Umu Hawa Jalloh ordered the APC candidates to sit in Parliament putting the judicial process at risk.

There's the case of the opposition SLPP wanting to have a new Minority Leader in Parliament to replace one Bernadette Lahai. Quick as a flash, she was advised to file an injunction against such an action - something which was shamelessly endorsed by the Judiciary.

There are instances of court cases deliberately ruled in favour of the ruling APC party. When former SLPP accused members declare for the APC while a matter was still in court, the court case would be dropped thus coercing the opposition into the ranks of the ruling party. It is a real shame and the latest move by the Supreme Court has dented the reputation of an organisation that was once the shining example to the rest of Africa and by extension, the world.

The country is now saddled with an illegal appointee whose reputation as a nation-wrecker, a thief and a man of ill-repute is well-known - and all because the Judiciary has now taken upon itself to, like a fawning dog, lap the milk provided for it by the rat at State House. What a shame - given this provision in the Constitution which states in Section 120 (3)

"In the exercise of its judicial functions, the Judiciary shall be subject to only this Constitution or any other law, and shall not be subject to the control or direction of any other person or authority."

And it was quite a surprise to see in the online news outlet of one of the advisers to the rat and who was a key member in the whole illegal shenanigan, one I B Kargbo this line - "The Judges quote several legal books and cited similar cases in Law and came to the conclusion that indeed 'there is a serious issue to be tried based on the Motion of summon and the affidavit in support of the said motion', but however restraining the current Vice President from performing his duties as stated in the 1991 Constitution would create more harm in society."

We have here a known supporter and spokesman of the human rights-abusing RUF/AFRC coalition of evil who was seen on national television defending the murderers, rapists and arsonists. A thing that should have been hauled before the Special Court for Sierra Leone, if not the ICC foisted upon the people by one of his ardent admirers during and after our dark days under the rule of the beasts. And here we have the highest court in the land stating such gibberish as - "restraining the current Vice President from performing his duties as stated in the 1991 Constitution would create more harm in society."

We would respectfully ask the Supreme Court to tell the people of Sierra Leone just what harm the restraining of this horror let loose upon the people would cause.

We fear that we have entered an era we thought and actually believed we would never experience again - judges in matters of treason and other serious offences being directed by the Executive to ensure that political opponents are sentenced to death and other heavy prison sentences. What a tragedy.

It is no secret that the rat now occupying the highest political office of the land had links with the murderers, arsonists and rapists - otherwise what would explain his affinity for those who brought so much misery and suffering on the people?

Is there a link somewhere that needs following given the fact that when Foday Sankoh was made a kind of State minister responsible for our diamonds stated that he was ready to pay the salaries of teachers in Makeni?

Who was the chief liaison between Foday Sankoh, his blood money and the teachers he promised to pay salaries?

We would therefore urge that though the Special Court for Sierra Leone tried those deemed to be most responsible for our troubles, there are within Sierra Leone society vermin like the bookkeeper of Auschwitz who are still feeding deep from the blood of the dead.

They have to be brought to account by charging them with complicity in the deaths, rape, abduction and sexual slavery of thousands of Sierra Leoneans in their own God-given land.

Sierra Leone needs that court now.