By: Mohamed Bailor Bah
The family of Alpha Para Kanu resident of No. 40 Miseri Street in the Makeni municipality in the Northern Judicial District of the Republic of Sierra Leone is worried about the mysterious disappearance of their son, his wife and their two children who has been at large to an unknown destination since July 18, 2020.
It could be recalled that the 27-year-old Kanu, a father of two was respected for his active involvement as a youth in the politics of his country at grassroots level.
He was a member of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) advance team which is charged with the responsibility to pre-inspect visitation sites before the arrival of top dignitaries of his political party including executive members and flag bearers.
Despite being born and raised in Makeni, a city perceived as the stronghold of the All People’s Congress (APC) Party, Alpha Para Kanu showed strong resilience, commitment and dedication to severing his political party (SLPP), and at the climax of the campaign for the 2018 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council Elections, his party’s flag bearer, Julius Maada Bio and his campaign team were attacked at Kamalo town, the birthplace of his main contender Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara.
The attacked was waged by political thugs alleged to be supporters of the APC party, who succeeded to disperse the SLPP campaign gathering and made further attempts to get hold of the SLPP presidential aspirant who narrowly escaped and sought temporal refuge in Makeni city with the support of Alpha and his vigilant colleagues.
After the Kamalo political chaos, Kanu and other advance team members were hailed for their bravery and they became trusted frontrunners of their party, and they eventually won the 2018 general election.
Unfortunately for Kanu, his prominence in the SLPP despite being the ruling, he became a victim of the aftermaths of the July, 2020 standoff between security troops and some irate youths of the northern regional capital of Makeni.
The said standoff, did claim lives of civilians, leaving some disabled while a number of properties were being destroyed, countless number of residents especially, youth and some members of the ruling party including Alpha Para Kanu were hunted and declared wanted by aggrieved supporters of the main opposition All People’s Congress party who saw the shooting to death of five civilians in the city perceived as their stronghold where the main opposition regional headquarters is also situated.
Alpha’s family emerging concerns over their son and his family safety refreshes the memories of the famous open firing by a joint security force consisting of personnel of both the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) which continue to hurt bereaved families as well as friends, and other loved ones of victims that were injured as well as some being hunted over wide range of allegations regarding the Makeni thermal generation saga between youth and security men.
After the bloody standoff, the country’s Minister of Information and Communication Mohamed Rahman Swaray told journalists that: “the demonstration over the temporal relocation of one of the generators of the Makeni power grid to the Freetown International Airport which was due to reopen on July 22, 2020 after it operations were halted due to power outages was proposed to be “short-lived,” but “only the protesters can explain why they had to demonstrate bloodily over decisions taking for the good of the country?
He further termed the demonstration which occurred at the birthplace of the former statesman as “politically motivated,” citing the silence of the elected officials of the city on the day of the standoff, whose phones were also all switched off, as a testament to his assertion.
Largely, it was eventually being established that it was the aftermath of “miscommunication and local authorities’ failure to efficiently communicate to their subjects over the rational of the Government of Sierra Leone’s agenda to temporarily relocate one of the power plants in Makeni, in a bid to cushion power outages at Freetown International Airport in Lungi which is the country’s only international airport,” that led to escalating resistance championed by some angry youth and other locals of the northern region’s largest city (Makeni) which is perceived as one of the political strongholds of the main opposition party, (All People’s Congress, APC) being the birthplace of Sierra Leone’s earliest president Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma.
Nonetheless, the aforementioned negligence on the part of the elected officials of the city as well as those manning the affairs of the district (Bombali) and the region where it’s found precisely, the Mayor, District Council Chairperson and Resident Minister that gave rise to the unhealthy demonstration that saw five persons being confirmed dead by the Sierra Leone Police media department as of July 19, 2020.
Defending the shooting to death, the police said their men supported by armed military officers were trying to disperse to the crowd of the demonstrators who had took the laws into their own hands at the time and became violent and harmful towards the joint security force forcing some of them to pull the trigger as the last resort to protect themselves and prevent further damage being caused on innocent civilians who were literally being forced to stay indoor after normalcy was being cut short.
However, family members of Alpha Para Kanu who’s respected for his pivotal role played during the camping and electioneering period of the 2018 general local councils, parliamentary and presidential elections of Sierra Leone to converse votes for the then main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in Makeni, was hugely rewarded with recognition by top members of the SLPP and when his party won the 2018 general elections, Kanu received further honor by members of his party in Bombali District who apart from their previous support while in opposition to him during his wedding with his beloved wife Hadizatu Abdul Muhmin in 2017, continued to support him financially through the influence of his friend Edward Saffa, a key member of the SLPP in Makeni.
However, Kanu’s affiliations and support for the SLPP ignited anger and hatred for him from members of the APC who called him a betrayal citing that “He’s a Temne and was supporting a political party dominated by the Mendes their main political contenders.”
The envy grew wild as death threats were directed at Alpha Para Kanu, and his wife and when he explained his ordeal to his SLPP members they decided to exempt him from attending their meetings after some SLPP members deemed him to be a spy,” his family member told this medium.
Another member of the Kanu family as well as neighbors of Alpha Para Kanu explained that they have not seen him, nor his wife or their two children for over 30 months now since his house was being surrounded by some of the protesters among whom were some youth supporting the APC that wanted to kill Kanu as “a way of teaching him a lesson for supporting their political rivals in their own base which they deemed insulting and hurtful.”
“Our son was hardworking and his beautiful wife was humble and their two children who brought us joy were promising but they are no were to be found today and we’ve not even heard from them for years now, this situation has troubled us because we don’t even know whether our son and his family are alive or dead and what pains us most are the death threats APC supporters continue to resound for him and some of them are even attacking us secretly to produce him or his family members when we don’t know their whereabouts, haven’t heard from him and remain worried about their safety,” his parents told this medium in solemn voices praying for God’s rescue over their painful situation.
Further investigation revealed that Alpha Para Kanu and his family might have been secretly murdered for his active involvement to support their political rivals who they perceived are making live very difficult for some of their members who have been axed from their various work places since they took over the reign of governance.
In his own account, Pa. Mohamed Kapr, one of the ceremonial chiefs and leader of the “Poro secret society” disclosed that Para Kanu is one of their members who previously took an oath from one of their shrines, vowing to serve the APC party diligently but when he resolved to become a forerunner of the SLPP years after his oath, means he has circumvented their secret society laws and must dance to the tune for his betrayal of oath whenever he is seen by any of his society men.
He stressed that there is no compromise to strike when anyone tests the waters of their “treasured poro-society, and body mutilation with no pathological evidence at the same shrine where such oaths were taken remains the only punishment for victims in other to appease the gods as tradition demands.”
As pressure continue to mount for Kanu to face both political and traditional justice for what is perceived as betrayal by his tribe men, its remains unclear to this medium whether Alpha Para Kanu has been apprehended or not.
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