According to the Awoko Newspaper, Civil Society organisations AdvocAid have taken the government of Sierra Leone to the Ecowas Community Court of Justice seeking the repeal of Sierra Leone’s loitering laws, alleging that instances while “enforcing the law ” forcefully have sex with women against their will” and in many cases without protection.

Joined by the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), AdvocAid alleges in it’s press release that “Loitering laws are enforced in a discriminatory manner and frequently result in arbitrary and unlawful arrests targeting the poor and marginalized groups in Society particularly those who work in the economy.’

They claimed that simply the act of being in a place and not giving a good account of himself/herself (as Subjectively judged by a police officer provides a basis for an arrest.” In a damning allegation, the release alleges that ” I’m many cases of women who do not have money when arrested, the police officers demand for sexual intercourse before the women can be released .” In some instances, Police officers forcefully have sex against these women against their will.

Reacting to the Press Release, through the Whatsapp Messaging app, Head of Police Brima Kamara wrote” They are allegations.Theh are alleging for which they have obligation to prove and they must discharge it.As far as the SLP is concerned, we have no such reports( in )our stations or offices neither are we ware of any lawsuit against our personnel in respect to the same, other than this we are seeing. In effect, the allegations remain to be unproven allegations.”

No date has been given for the hearing of the case which was filed on the 21st April 2022. The government of Sierra Leone will definitely spend millions of leones in defending the law suit.