Memuna’s Excessive Excesses!!! By Abdul Fonti Let me start this article with the popular adage: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This is so true in our modern society wherein people in authority take pleasure in abusing their titles and offices after convincing themselves that the rule of law is a respecter of age, gender, title and office. The fact that even some of those tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the very rule of law are on record to have violated those very laws with total impunity is worrisome, to put it moderately. With the aforementioned reality, the poor and non influential citizens continue to suffer in silence in the hands of the very people that are supposed to protect them. The wounds of the brutal civil war that resulted in these acts of impunity are still fresh in the minds of several Sierra Leoneans as even the killing and maiming of thousands of innocent citizens did nothing to purify the sick attitude of wicked people in high offices. The good news however is the fact that posterity always has a way of forcing such people to account for their wickedness. This now brings us to the unacceptable excesses of a certain female police officer that seems to be taking pleasure in abusing the very law she has sworn an oath to uphold. Without going into her past records of alleged acts of abuse of office, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Memuna, has launched an unjustifiable attack on media personnel. It started with her reported instruction to forcefully retrieve the camera of a female journalist working for the Africa Young Voices (AYV); and this act left the lady journalist seriously manhandled by irate police officers that were so desperate to please their boss. Following the failure of the police to record the complaint of the female journalist against the female police AIG, the latter now graduated to insulting me simply because I published an article questioning her unrestrained behavior. The published satire piece was more of an enquiry demanding answers as to whether Memuna’s actions were in line with police mandate or thuggish behavior. As if to justify insinuations that the actions of Memuna could be easily identified with thugs, the AIG first telephoned me and rained all sorts of insults against me; there are records to the effect. Still not satisfied, she went on to type a very lengthy text message with a content deemed to be insulting, libelous, criminal and unlike a professional police officer. In her telephone ranting, AIG Memuna accused me of being an uneducated blackmailer. She refused me space to accordingly respond to her rudeness on grounds that she was the one that initiated the call, and that I should call her if I want to say anything. Shocked and wanting to ask her to substantiate her attack and allegations on me, I tried calling her back but she never responded. I therefore decided to send a text message to her that reads thus: “Obviously you will not pick up. Let me just remind you that your utterances to me on the phone justifies my article – police officers don’t behave in the manner you just did. Fonti”. As if this message caused her to completely and conveniently forget the fact that she is a public official to the rank of a very senior police officer, Memuna responded thus: “Sorry I did not pick up because I do not want to trade words with you, as you seem to be used to. You are a total disgrace and disappointment to your colleagues who are striving to make journalism take its honorable place in society. All the miserable years you have spent parading the streets of Freetown extorting from people whom you have first blackmailed, have not taught you to be ethical enough to cross-check your stories. I will surely make you have your day in court. I believe in the systems of redress in this our beloved country and I’ll manifest that, starting with you and your likes in the coming days. I am not a violent person as you are made to believe but a secured and responsible wife and mother and a police officer with a strong character, who was brought up to resist your sorts: liars, extortionists, blackmailers, and above all, haters of development. This country would be a better place if you could diligently exercise your profession. So many people are suffering in silence. Hope to see you in court. Do not bother to reply because I will never read your abusive messages. Regards.” To prove Memuna’s final sentence wrong, I immediately sent her another civil text message with the hope to also caution her on how to revert to becoming the police officer she is supposed to be. “Provocation to breach the peace huh! But guess what? I will remain calm and decent as that is how my mother and father brought me up. I am not sure about what police ethics dictate, but journalism teaches me how not to publish libelous and uncouth text messages as the one I am responding to now. What a police officer you are? As you rightly stated, the court of law is surely the right place to interpret our exchanges including your thuggish languages”. Could you imagine a police officer making such unsubstantiated claims against a journalist? Of course I have fitting adjectives for AIG Memuna; but my respect for the provisions of the National Constitution will not permit me. The law court might just be the best place to teach Memuna how to be a police officer. She should be prepared to justify to the world through the court that I am indeed a blackmailer, liar, extortionist, and hater of development, among other adjectives that emanated from her vocal cavity. For the records, let me just state here that the description or perception of Memuna about me is a complete case of mistaken identity. How I wish the lady police officer had resisted the urge to publish such ‘libelous’ and ‘slanderous’ message against me. But for now, my only option is to openly and legally challenge allegations of me being a blackmailer, extortionist, liar and a hater of development. If Memuna truly respects legal means of redress, she would not have mocked the police force or law courts with her negative actions. Indeed Sierra Leone will be a better place if everybody diligently serve her profession, and it is high time we started teaching police officers to be protectors of lives and properties. Maybe Memuna has just reached her waterloo. The time to halt her immoderation is now or never.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 21:59:34 +0000