By Emperor Bailor Bah, Freetown
The Independent Police Complaints Board ( IPCB) of Sierra Leone is an independent civilian oversight body for the police, established by the Sierra Leone Police Council under section 158 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991- Act N. 6 of 1991 to protect people from abusive police practices and the public to hold the police accountable for any misconduct or violation of human rights.
It has a mandate to receive, investigate and monitor complaints from the community about the Sierra Leone Police such as the death of a person in police custody, a shooting incident involving the use by a police officer of a firearm or the death of a person as a result of a police shooting.
In an exclusive interview on Tuesday October 16 with this medium in his office at his IPCB official New England Ville West of Freetown, IPCB Communications Officer Amadu Femoh Sesay (photo) confirmed that they are currently investigating two alleged deaths by police of a 29 year-old young man in Mateboi village near Mile 91, Yonibana Chiefdom, Tonkolili District, North of the country and another small boy in the Thonko community, Kambia District, North- West of the country.
The IPCB Communications Officer further explained that on Sunday September 9 this year the IPCB received a call from a Member of Parliament alleging that a group of police officers have raided Mateboi village and Massengbeh village in Yoniibana Chiefdom, people were beaten and one Kombay Kamara was killed.
And on Monday September 10 IPCB dispatched a team of three people to those two villages in question to identity evidence materials, key witnesses and obtain statements from them. He also said that they forwarded a letter to the Inspector General of the Sierra Leone Police to supply them with the names of the suspected police officers of the incident in question and the IG complied. They then dispatched again a team to Mateboi and Massengbeh villages to verify the information the have gathered so far.
The above incident response by IPCB was also replicated in Kambia where a small boy was allegedly killed by police during a Councilor Bye Election in Ward 196 on Saturday September 29 this year.
Sesay continued that IPCB was able to complete the investigation of 51 cases between 2014 and 2018 respectively and 44 cases are being investigated.
He added that IPCB has also introduced the Rwanda Guidelines model of the African Commission on Peoples Rights basically on how police should arrest and detain suspects and related human rights issues. IPCB, he went on, is currently organising an essay competition for 80 Senior Secondary Schools across the country, five schools in each District and the competitions are expected to last till October ending.
Speaking on IPCB challenges, Sesay highlighted that they have inadequate human resources, inadequate funding,mobility and restrictions from implementing their recommendations.
IPCB, according to him, has contacted the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to allow them to implement their recommendations instead of other institutions doing the implementation.
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