Freetown — The victory of the All Peoples Congress (APC) in the last presidential and parliamentary elections seems to have contaminated the refrigerator housing our fragile democracy. The spate of human right violations, political intimidation, flouting of constitutional clauses and toying with the rule of law, has left political pundits diagnosing the country's new born democracy with cancer and HIV.

At this initial stage, it is expected that civil society will carefully follow the political trend and take appropriate stands.

There has been a whole lot of misunderstanding on political governance, equality before the law and the notion of fostering unity and cohesion among citizenry. The political tensions that have been leading to skirmishes with the law enforcement body are like nightmares.

Can one say the political drive to modernity has taken a nose dive? The police force was a creation of the colonialists to perpetrate their ill-conceived ideals in Africa and to harass Africans, coarsing them into submission. Since then, it has been used as a tool by every government to instill fear into the civil society thus negating their role as protectors of lives and property.

It has posed a real threat to the realization of justice, infringing on peoples' rights at will and constantly collaborating with ill-refined individuals to put the nation into disrepute.

Modern democracy suggests that the police should be impartial in the discharge of their duties but the Salone police have allowed it to be used against the people whose taxes they take home to provide bread and butter for their families.

The police force took a backward drive in their duties immediately election results were aired after the last democratically-conducted elections in the country. Some police officers have been recklessly misusing peoples' rights thus reminding the people of the old reign of the APC (but old and new are all the same).

After all the resources spent to build their capacity, they still failed to meet the expectations of any civilized society. The Inspector General of Police has denied the nation of his wealth of experience because of his selfishness. He knows law and order have degenerated and this is worrisome.

The recent criminal activities permeating the APC government rule is a clear pointer that the police force has neglected their obligation to the state. But where in this last ten years were the police neglected? After all, the police institution is one of the many institutions that benefited tremendously in the democratization drive which started in 1996.

Today, the police have thrown their lot with the APC government to pillage democracy to the level that this precious material may again elude the nation. The values of democracy are at stake in the country.

Frustrating was the humiliation and molestation journalists encountered with the police in the name of protecting the APC government. But this clearly tells the shallow-mindedness of some police officers. Who said journalists are against the APC government? The journalists that were beaten and kicked at the State House entrance on that fateful day were just doing sincere service to the nation by compiling everyday happenings for people to discern.

The sight of security guards at the State House dragging Alima Fofana of the Exclusive Newspaper on the streets of state house left chill running down my spine. It reminded me of the war days when ECOMOG soldiers got hold of one of the rebels or AFRC junta, or when men of the AFRC junta handled a collaborator.

For me, such a scene is a case to grapple with. I had a sleepless night thinking of the excruciating pain my colleague endured in the hands of ruthless policemen at the State House. It weakened me to practice the art of journalism in such a dispensation for fear of my life.

The police have not understood that a journalist represents a nation and is entitled to his or her civic rights. They have only succeeded in putting APC in disrepute.

At a recent public lecture titled 'Challenges of Good Governance in Post Conflict Democracies' organized by Concord Times Communications in memory of a one-time editor, James Oguoguo, guest speaker who is a former President of Liberia, Professor Amos Sawyer, elucidated on the importance of the media in any post-conflict situation.

To the chagrin of the chairman of the event, former President Tejan Kabba, policy makers didn't attend the event. When have our governors become reluctant to pitch tent with apologists for the maintenance of democratic principles?

Prof. Amos Sawyer touched on consultations with the locals for their local knowledge upon which political participation hinges. He went further to say that political tolerance is a weapon for unity in a fragile democracy. The theory of the winner takes it all should not be part of the vocabulary of any government in Africa. He said people should be mindful of the dictions used in political circles such as referring to opposition as enemy.

He said most political victors may only take 60% of the votes in an election while the remaining 40% is for the opposition which he advised not to be of concern to the winner especially in post-conflict democracies.

He reiterated the importance of resettling youths especially in giving education and capacity building and emphasized on the concerns of women and the girl child as it will reflect on the nation.

He also reminded African politicians to check on the Contemporary African Political Systems before considering, hook, line and sinker, the theories proposed by western proponents of democracy.

Some people are certain that the current APC regime will never heed to such practices. The nation may reverse to the dark old political days of economic deprivation, political harassment and journalists constantly manhandled for divulging information. Who will take this cancer out again?

The institution of the Commission of Enquiry has been viewed as an orchestrated device by the APC to bury democracy. It is surely targeting opposition groups. This is so because immediately he was declared winner last year, President Koroma had told Hon. Solomon Berewa that he will not be after the ministers of the out gone government as he was impressed and that the manner in which he won the elections deserved patching any cleavage that might lead to instability.

In this drive, President Koroma sent the transition report to the ACC for investigations. He has reversed that which is like undermining the works of the ACC. The President's friends lured him into believing that he should nail his political opponents. But the President should be mindful that he won the elections with a narrow margin after the stronghold of the current opposition was nullified.

Over 400 polling stations were unaccounted for by the National Electoral Commission. This clearly shows that the country is protracted. The President should know that to lead is to organize which most people believe the President should embark on. Targeting opposition with the intent of killing democracy is caustic.

It will be sad for the APC party to express vendetta against John Benjamin and John Karimu for being part of the NPRC which overthrew the then demonic APC. President Koroma should be glad because if the status quo had remained the same, where in this world will Ernest Koroma lead APC? Before the Abdul Karim Koromas, the Hassan Gbessay Kanus, the Moses Sesays, the Philipson Kamaras, the ML Banguras and the Jengo Stevens? No way! The old APC had entrenched itself just like the communist party of Russia.

The last regime indeed harbored unscrupulous elements that needed to be shamed and show-cased as an attempt to weed out corruption. The worry is that the APC government is bent on revenge; shutting down people who may have genuinely dispensed their energy for the development of the country but will be punished for associating with the political party in opposition today.

APC has the ability to manipulate and fabricate stories with false evidences to wipe off all those they may look as potential threat for power. Such a move by the APC government is like diagnosing democracy with HIV. It is no surprise to most people as they have strongly believed that Ernest Koroma and his people will surely reverse the trend of our admired democracy in the sub-region.