Sierra Leone: Politicians Plan on Seeking Trump Administration’s Support to Silence Critics

By Matthew Anderson and Mark Feldman

 Few days ago, we reported in the Africanist Press that Sierra Leonean politicians have created a new anti-terrorism law that contains unconstitutional provisions designed to curtail citizens’ fundamental civil rights. The proposed legislation would have been voted into law on Thursday morning (January 23), but the vote has been deferred to Tuesday morning (January 28).

As indicated in our previous report, the newly developed Counter Terrorism Bill has already gone through first and second reading and endorsed by Members of Parliament without any real debate. Worse, the majority of Sierra Leoneans have not even seen or heard of the proposed legislation or its deep implications for their freedoms.

Once enacted, the law would criminalize free speech and expression in any way the state deems appropriate. It also gives the state authority to designate any published material, including media, books, pamphlets, video, and audio content as “acts of terrorism” if the state suspects or believes that the published material directly or indirectly constitutes activities, views, and opinions that would incite or instigate an individual or group to commit a “terrorist act.” 

On the whole, the proposed legislation contradicts the 1991 Sierra Leone Constitution, especially provisions relating to civil liberties and fundamental rights, including the existence of a free press. Chapter 3, Sections 15–30 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone makes freedom of the press an entrenched part of the constitution; protecting citizens against violations of their fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and freedom of assembly.

The anti-terrorism law is not the only anti-democratic legislation that Sierra Leonean politicians have secretly enacted in recent years. A new investigation by Africanist Press uncovered that more than 100 legislations and investment agreements have been enacted and signed by the Bio administration in the last five years without public consultation and in complete violation of stipulated legal rules.

Few weeks ago, for instance, the Bio administration similarly tried to hurriedly vote an Abortion Bill into law, also without public consultation and input. The Abortion legislation was stopped halfway through Parliament by protests from religious leaders and other activists, citing lack of consultation and debate.

The protests attracted the attention of United States Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the House Global Health and Global Human Rights Subcommittee, who issued a statement denouncing reported “US involvement with efforts to expand abortion in Sierra Leone,” promising to “work with the incoming Trump Administration to conduct a thorough review of actions by all US agencies to determine whether U.S. laws were violated by U.S. government staff through misallocation—or threat of misallocation—of U.S. funding.”

The Bio administration had since remained silent about its plans to legalize abortion in Sierra Leone. The Bill is still in Parliament and has not been scheduled for any further debate. With the new Trump administration’s “pro-life and anti-abortion policies,” civil society activists interviewed by Africanist Press suggest that Bio is abandoning Biden-Harris era policies, choosing instead to realign the country’s domestic and foreign policies to win sympathy from the new administration in Washington.

“Sierra Leone’s new counter terrorism law could be part of the Bio administration’s shifting policy effort designed to win support from the Trump administration,” they said, adding, “they want to develop an anti-terrorism narrative so they could exploit sympathy from Washington.”

Civil servant Micheal Berewa told Africanist Press that the Bio administration does not “want to be seen as a regime that awarded corrupt energy, infrastructure, and service related contracts to several multinational corporations during the four years of the Biden administration.”

Although many Sierra Leoneans are still unaware of the pending law, some also believe that the introduction of a new anti-terrorism law in Sierra Leone is aimed directly at a few journalists and academics, including staff of the Africanist Press.

For five years now, Sierra Leone’s Office of National Security (ONS) has embarked on a state-sponsored program to criminalize the Africanist Press, describing  its investigative publications on financial crimes and corruption in Sierra Leone as “threat to national security.”  The principal target of Sierra Leonean authorities anti-democratic campaign is Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah.

Dr. Bah is a historian and investigative journalist specializing in West Africa’s economic and public health history. He received his PhD in History from Northwestern University where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Service at the Chabraja Center for Historical Studies (CCHS). A co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Africanist Press, Dr. Bah has been the target of death threats and cyber harassment for the past five years because of his public  interest investigations into government corruption, including financial scandals involving Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio and the country’s first lady, Fatima Maada Bio. The reports also included revelations relating to misappropriation of public election funds by the country’s electoral commission, and how opposition parties and parliament compromised the June 2023 Sierra Leone elections.

Bah’s investigative reports sparked a far-reaching conversation on issues of democratic governance and financial corruption in Sierra Leone and beyond. In retaliation, Bah was targeted by Sierra Leonean government officials and their allied groups, receiving death threats and cyber harassment from known government operatives ever since Africanist Press commenced publication of the investigative reports in March 2020

In April 2021, Africanist Press learned that Sierra Leonean politicians hired foreign agents who helped stage several violent incidents in the country  between April 2021 and August 2022 with an intent to associate such violence with Africanist Press and falsely stated that the press organization is an outfit run by dissident elements.

These acts of violence included a pseudo-strike by a supposed splinter group of teachers who claimed they were inspired by Africanist Press reports to demand better wages from government, and a similar protest in August 2022 over alleged cost of living difficulties. An Africanist Press investigation discovered that both events, and subsequent incidents of violence that occurred in Sierra Leone in late 2023, were orchestrated by state actors and allied opposition groups, mostly to implicate Bah and other Africanist Press writers.    

In the last two years, international human rights groups and press freedom organizations have continuously raised concerns for Bah’s safety; calling on US diplomats and Sierra Leonean authorities to stop the organized harassment and threats against Bah.

One such organization that defended Bah, and has been advocating for his safety is the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS). Founded in 1972 in the US, CCS is an independent international organization devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars facing persecution around the world. Since the 1970s, the Committee has continuously lobbied international governments on behalf of oppressed scholars. CCS has also provided moral and financial support to scholars facing persecution around the world, including dissident scholars in eastern Europe and China.

The Committee is currently co-chaired by five eminent scientists, including mathematical physicist Joel Lebowitz at Rutgers University, physicist Eugene Chudnovsky at Lehman College, psychiatrist Walter Reich of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and chemist Alexander Greer at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Last year,  CCS sent two letters asking former US Secretary of State, Antony John Blinken, to use the power of the State Department to urge the government of Sierra Leone to improve its human rights record and stop their targeted harassment of Bah. In July 2024, the Committee specifically requested Secretary Blinken to intervene in Dr. Bah’s situation and “use the friendly relationship, including financial support, between Sierra Leone and the United States to obtain guarantee that Dr. Bah’s life would not be in danger if he returned to his country.”

In a second letter to Secretary Blinken in October 2024, the Committee echoed its concern that harassment and death threats from Sierra Leone continue to prevent Dr. Bah from safely returning to West Africa in pursuit of his archival and oral history research.

“We are writing once again in regard to Dr. Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Africa Initiative of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, where he specializes in the history of medicine in colonial West Africa. He has also led the Africanist Press for 20 years, publishing frequently on corruption and human rights issues, including in Sierra Leone, for which he has been subjected to death threats and harassment. He is still unable to safely return to West Africa,” the Committee said in a letter to Secretary Blinken.

It is unclear what action Secretary Blinken and State Department officials took, if any, in response to the Committee’s request. However, in September 2024, the US Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced it has signed a US$480 million compact agreement with Sierra Leone’s government to support the country’s debt-strapped economy.

Following MCC’s announcement, Secretary Blinken said the US government is committed to supporting democracy and accountability in Sierra Leone. But the Committee of Concerned Scientists demanded that the US government’s financial commitment to Sierra Leone must be coupled with a requirement that the country respect human rights, including guaranteeing Dr. Bah’s safety and right to travel to Sierra Leone to pursue research.

“With the recent signing of a $480 million United States Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement with Sierra Leone, the US has an additional responsibility and ability to push the government there to improve its human rights record. These improvements must include allowing Dr. Bah and other scholars to return to Sierra Leone and other parts of West Africa without fear of reprisal for reporting on the government’s alleged actions, not to mention visiting family and friends,” the Committee noted, whilst urging Secretary Blinken to “use the power of the State Department to make a difference in this matter.”

To date, Africanist Press is still uncertain whether any action was taken by Secretary Blinken in response to the request. However, CCS was not the only organization to express concern for the safety of Dr. Bah.

The American Historical Association (AHA), the largest organization of professional historians in the world, also sent a letter in September 2024 to Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio urging the “government to cease threatening Bah and protect him from harassment and violence as it would any other citizen.”

Africanist Press learned that Sierra Leonean authorities failed to respond to the AHA’s letter. The government had likewise ignored previous statements and requests from other international organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW), the Network of Concerned Historians (NCH), the Royal Netherlands Historical Society, and Historians Without Borders (HWB).

Earlier in 2024, about 200 academics from universities in Europe, the US, Africa, and Asia also signed an open letter of support denouncing death threats and harassment orchestrated against Bah. The academics say the attacks “constitute a clear assault on journalistic freedom [and] go to the heart of principles of academic freedom.”

Foreign observers, including some among the humanitarian community in Freetown, believe Sierra Leonean authorities have ignored the appeals of international human rights groups because of the strong political and economic ties that exist between the US and Bio’s administration.

In the four years of the Biden-Harris administration, Sierra Leonean politicians enjoyed unparalleled support from Washington, including endorsing incumbent president, Julius Maada Bio’s second term despite questions surrounding the disputed June 2023 elections.

During the period of the Biden-Harris administration, US-financed corporations acquired strategic control of critical infrastructure and service-related contracts in Sierra Leone’s energy, telecommunication, mining, health, and transportation sectors. Between June 2021 and July 2023, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) alone approved over US$750 million in debt financing for Sierra Leone mostly for unvetted infrastructure contracts awarded to US-financed corporations registered in Turkey, Lebanon, London, and Kenya. In early May 2024, for instance, DFC announced a US$412 million loan to the US-backed company, Milele Energy and its corporate partner, TCQ Power Limited to supposedly “boost Sierra Leone’s energy sector.” DFC also provided US$150 million loan in support of a non-advertised infrastructure contract awarded to the Turkish-based Summa Group to expand and privately operate Sierra Leone’s only international airport on 25-year concession. 

Anti-corruption activists say most US-financed contracts in Sierra Leone were acquired without compliance with the country’s finance and transparency laws, including the fulfillment of competitive bidding and public tender processes and procedures. Yet, their concerns and evidence were ignored by USAID, and other agencies.

In addition to vested economic interests, Sierra Leone was also a critical part of US security operations in West Africa in the four years of the Biden-Harris administration. A few months ago, the Michigan National Guard signed a State Partnership Program (SPP) with Sierra Leone’s Armed Forces as part of an ongoing US regional security and intelligence program in the subregion. 

Deputy mission chief of the US Embassy in Freetown,  Jared Yancey, recently described the US security partnership with Sierra Leone as “groundbreaking,” saying it is “specifically tailored to the unique environment and doctrine of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces.”

In August 2023, Dr. Bah sent a letter to the State Department underlining the US obligation to ensure its continuous economic and security engagement with Sierra Leone include the protection of human rights, including the right to free speech and academic freedom.

“The United States, as a leading partner of the government of Sierra Leone, has an obligation to ensure that its continuous engagement with the government of Sierra Leone involves safeguarding the fundamental rights of Sierra Leonean citizens, including the right to free speech and freedom of the press,” Dr. Bah noted in a letter to the State Department.

Bah also met with State Department officials on a few occasions in Washington to discuss his concerns, but they took no active steps to stop the escalating harassment from Sierra Leonean authorities. The lobbying effort and transnational outreach of Sierra Leonean authorities included a number of organizations and highly placed individuals enlisted to help prevent the harassment and threats faced by Bah and Africanist Press from becoming a serious human rights concern.

“We sent numerous appeals to US State Department officials calling on them to intervene and help stop the continuous harassment we’ve endured from Sierra Leone government officials and their allied groups. Despite these appeals, the harassment and threats have not stopped and they have, instead, escalated. To date, we are not aware of any steps taken by the State Department in response to these appeals and statements,” Bah recently wrote.

For four years, Africanist Press editors continuously submitted appeals to several human rights organizations asking them to impress upon US State Department officials in charge of US-Sierra Leone relations the need to protect free speech and academic freedom in Sierra Leone.

“We would continue to seek your help in asking  your elected representatives and diplomats to denounce the ongoing threats to free speech and academic freedom in Sierra Leone,” they said.  

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