By When he was a child, Sahr Laminnever imagined life without feet. He pictured himself growing up into a young man, married, raising children, and loving life. But when the civil war broke out in 1991, and all these simple dreams were cut off.
Sahr Lamin was a young boy in diamond-rich Tongo, Kailahun District,when rebels stormed his community, shooting, mutilating, and raping. He and some family members tried to escape, but Lamin did not make it far. “When the rebels attacked Tongo, I and some of my family members were trying to flee when I landed on [explosive] mines that cut off my feet,” Lamintold Awoko with deep grief.
Rebel soldiers disabled tens of thousands of civilians in a campaign of terror during Sierra Leone’s civil war, chopping off hands, feet, and other body parts. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were also killed, including pregnant women, the elderly, and children. Cutlasses, which were supposed to be used for agricultural purposes, were turned into weapons of torture. The word amputee became popular in the country.
After the war, data shows that People with Disabilities (PWD) made up about 10% of the country’s population, mainly victims of the civil war. But twenty years later, many have perished abandoned and forgotten. According to the Sierra Leone 2015 Housing Census, there were 3,829 remaining war survivors with disabilities, representing 4.1% of the total number of People with Disabilities (PWDs). Of these, 1,347 were amputees, just like Lamin.
The Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was established shortly after the civil war primarily to find out what caused the violence, also made recommendations to the government to distribute reparations to certain categories of war survivors. The TRC proposed a long term support scheme for the more severely-affected victims, such as war amputees. This care included free physical and mental healthcare for the rest of their lives, and a monthly pension paid to all adult amputees, among others. TheNational Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) were to establish the amount of the monthly pension. Lamin recalls that a few years ago the government provided “some” reparations to war victims, but he said that most of those who qualified for reparations were not included.
Mohamed Tarawallie, President of the War Wounded Association, said that he and his colleagues who were wounded in the war never received any form of pension from the government. A few years ago, however, some war wounded received a lump sum of money of 6 million old Leones from the government, but nothing since.
After his amputation, Lamin was taken to the amputee camp in Freetown, at Aberdeen. He claims that ever since he arrived in Freetown, he never received sufficient support to enable him to survive. “I have been subjected to begging from some of my friends to take care of my wife and two children,” he said.
Lamin hopes that the current government will turn their attention to the few still surviving war victims and make the changes that the TRC recommended. In the meantime, other war wounded whose degree of disability was less severe, tried to build back their lives as best they could. Such was the case of Mohamed Tarawallie, who took on agricultural projects, such as cashew nut production, cassava, and cocoa, supported by Solidaridad West Africa, an international organization based in the Netherlands.
“I and my colleagues decided to venture into agriculture after we realized that the Government of Sierra Leone turned a blind eye to our plight,” Tarawalli said. He is now hopeful that after harvest, he and his colleagues will be able to provide for themselves and their respective families. Tarawallie said that right now there are 2,888 war wounded and amputees registered with the Ministry of Social Welfare, and they have a certificate to show that they are war wounded and amputees.
When drafting the recommendations, the TRC wrote that when setting up pensions for the war amputees and other severely impacted survivors, “[…]NaCSA must take into consideration the basic living scale for Sierra Leone as set by the United Nations Development Programme. […] The Ministry of Finance, in particular, the Accountant General’s Department, should be entrusted with coordinating the distribution of pension payment,” the TRC report shows.
Director of Media & External Relation for theNational Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), Osman Koroma, noted that, as per the NASSIT Act, it is the Government of Sierra Leone that pays –or should pay– pensions to the war wounded, as well as Members of Parliament, Judges, etc. Koroma explained that the Government of Sierra Leone provides the money necessary for the payments of the pensions, andNASSIT distributes these pensions.
“It is not that we are segregated, but the truth is that those who do not receive pension are not entitled to it, but that one is determine by the government, and not NASSIT,” Koroma stated. He explained that it is the Government of Sierra Leone that sends a list of people eligible to receive pensions to NASSIT and NASSIT distributes the pensions according to the list. NASSIT also pays invalidity pensions to persons who become incapable of engaging in any meaningful economic activity because of disabilities.
Executive Director, Center for Electoral and Civic Education (CECE), Macksood Gibril Sesay, opined that Government may not have the required resources to pay pensions to all of the war wounded.
In its 2018 New Direction Manifesto, the SLPP leadership promised to consider if it is necessary to file a claim for international reparations arising out of the Civil War. The Manifesto acknowledged that the most disadvantaged group in Sierra Leone is the physically challenged, such as Lamin. The major challenges that the PWD face include “limited access to food, shelter, clothing, jobs, education, and health care. […] Their coping strategies include begging to earn a living and sleeping in public places. They are also marginalized in public life,” the SLPP Manifesto stated.
Four years later, Lamin has seen nothing changed. In fact, nothing changed for him in good for the past 20 years. At 45 years old, a wife and two children,
President Bio gifted a three-bedroom house to the former Head of State and Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council, Valentine Strasser, who led a military coup in 1992 and established a military junta. President Bio also paid all medical expenses for Strasser during his surgery in Ghana. But while President Bio showed kindness to Strasser, war victims continue to agonize due to complete government abandonment and failure of the social services. This article is produced with support from the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), through ATJLF Project on engaging the media and communities to change the narrative on transitional justice issues in Sierra Leone.
