Survivors of Makeni Generator Saga Sue Sierra Leone Government to ECOWAS Court

A total of eight survivors and deceased victims relatives of the July, 2020 Makeni Generator saga have teamed up with the institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa-( HIRDA), a Gambian based Pan-African Non-governmental Organization to seek for justice at the court of the Economic Community of West Africa-(ECOWAS)

According to the surving victims and relatives of others that lost their lives to the alleged police shooting during the public protest in the northern region city of Makeni they’ve collaborated with the Africa Union Human Rights Prize Recepient HRDA to sue the government of Sierra Leone and the ECOWAS Court for accountability.

The suite was filled on Tuesday, 9th August, 2022 by the counsel for the plaintiffs, IHRDA on the grounds that: “in July, 2022, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Energy decided to relocate an electricity generating Power Plant from Makeni in the northern Part of Sierra Leone, to the Lungi International Airport. In a bid to stop the transfer fearing it would jeopardize their electricity supply in Makeni, hundreds of people took to the streets and set up barricades, in response, police officers opened fire on Protesters and persons thought to be protesters. This led to the death of Six (6) persons and caused injuries to others.

The suit will also alleged that, due to lack of effective Investigation and prosecution, Sierra Leone has violated the Victims right to remedy and access to Justice, and has failed in its obligations enshrined in several treaties to which Sierra Leone is party , notably the African Charter on Human band Peoples’ Right.