The Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr was pictured walking free in the streets of Freetown in a buoyant mood along with friends and supporters, after a long period of police interrogation at Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

This is according to a post shared by Team Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr on social media.

“After a long interview at the Criminal Investigation Department, Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr Mayor of Freetown works freely from the hands of the Police,” they stated.

It could be recalled that on Thursday 29 September 2022, the Sierra Leone police summoned the Mayor Aki-Sawyerr for questioning over allegedly obstructing police work and “disorderly behaviour.”

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The Mayor confirmed the police invitation and said she would attend the said questioning today, Monday 3 October 2022.

The letter, from the criminal investigations department, accused Aki-Sawyerr of “obstruction to police duties” and “disorderly behaviour”, without providing further details.

The summons is likely tied to an incident at the airport earlier this month.

On September 17, the mayor streamed a live video on social media from Freetown International Airport, on her way to New York for an event coinciding with the annual UN General Assembly.
She claimed in the video that a city councillor travelling with her had been escorted away by airport immigration officers and handed over to the police, who said they had an arrest warrant for him accusing him of incitement over deadly protests that rocked the country in August.

Aki-Sawyerr said in the video that they had been about to board their flight when they were told that Sheku Turay, the city councillor who also goes by Ice T, was needed at the immigration office.
“Half an hour later, I received a call that he had been arrested,” the mayor said in the video.

According to various reports, the mayor went to the police station where Turay had been taken and an altercation took place there, before she returned to the airport and posted the video.

It was also reported that the minister of local government on September 22 issued a separate summons to ask the mayor why she had travelled to New York without informing her “superiors” in advance.

The event she attended in New York was hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on September 20 and 21.

Elected mayor in 2018, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr has had a number of run-ins with authorities in recent months.

Earlier this year, she was fined by the anti-graft agency and ordered to refund travel expenses for an allegedly unauthorised staff member, but denied any wrongdoing.

Last month, she claimed the information minister and the presidential press secretary had falsely accused her of inciting the deadly August 10 protests.

“This deliberate and continued action of making false accusations publicly has already led to constant attacks of me on social media and attempts of physical attacks on (Freetown City Council) property”, she wrote on social media.