By Nelson Manneh
The National Assembly Member for Foni Jarol Constituency Honourable Kebba Toumanding Sanneh has said he is awaiting the National Assembly’s decision on the teargas incident involving Police and lawmakers from the renegade wing of the APRC dubbed ‘No to Alliance’.
He said the Assembly pledged it will engage the Inspector General of Police on the matter.
“I will never let go of this case, if the Assembly picks it up and does not address it well; I will take it up on my own even if it requires me to go to court,” Honourable Sanneh told Foroyaa.
The National Assembly Member for Foni Jarol Constituency alleged that he was tear gassed by personnel of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) during a brawl involving the police and deserters of the APRC No to Alliance’ Movement. The incident happened during the Movement’s fund-raising programme in Tallinding.
“When the incident occurred, the Majority and Minority Leader of the current National Assembly were informed about it. They even came to Bundung police station and they promised to take up the matter with the police high command. The speaker was also informed and we were supposed to form a committee that was going to invite the IGP for us to discuss the issue,” he said.
Honourable Sanneh said the Assembly was not able to sit on the issue yesterday because some of the members were absent and the IGP was busy.
“I am now waiting for the outcome of that meeting, if I am not satisfied I will take legal action on my own,” he said.
Honourable Sanneh said it is not correct for any security officer to fire teargas on lawmakers after they identified themselves.
“I will not take it lightly with them, if I let go of this case the police will continue to be brutal to the public,” he said.
Honourable Sanneh said there was no political party logo or flag used during the event and that the police can confirm that.
He said the allegations suggesting that the programme was a political gathering and the Alliance was using another party’s logo and flag are false.
Readers could recall that members of the ‘APRC No to Alliance’ were raided by PIU officers during their fund-raising activity in Tallinding.
The police initially issued permit to the Alliance to go ahead with their programme, but they waited until the eleventh hour and decided to call-off the event, urging them to disperse.
