I have listened with keen interest to a massage where the government through the Minister of Information and Communications appealed to the parents of the arrested children ranging from 12 to 17 years old to come forward and get back their children after having a discussion regarding the issues.

According to the minister, these kids were arrested in Kamakwie, Lungi, and Makeni and were used as human shields during the August 10th, 2022 deadly protest.

It is clear that these kids are in government protective custody, but sadly their parents have not shown up to identify and pick them up from the government authorities or police.

However, this writer believes one of the reasons why the parents of these arrested kids are afraid to come forward is the fear of being arrested and prosecuted for their children’s actions since government officials and agents had strongly promised that all those involved either by planning, financing, and participating in the violent and deadly protest would be dealt with accordingly.

The only thing investigations may unravel is whether the parents of these kids were aware of their children’s action to partake in the riot and who authorized the children to take part.

But the government should also be very careful not to profile the parents because their kids were involved in the protest.

Further, this writer is tempted to ask if the kids are arrested in a far way Kamakwie, Makeni, and Lungi, why can’t the authorities transfer them to the chiefdom headquarter towns, and work with the Local Authorities there, if they genuinely want to hand over the kids to their parents?

These kids know exactly where they came from and know the names and locations of their villages as these are 12 to 17-year-old children.

Those arrested kids are old enough to identify their villages and towns and they know who asked them to take part in the protest.

So if you say they were used as human shields, they know who was using them as such.

This writer is of the view that the government through the relevant ministry should work with the local authorities in the named districts to identify the relatives, or parents of the children and if they(the government) are serious about handing them over to their parents.

But for now, the parents would not come forward because of the carnage that resulted from the violent protest on that day and the subsequent government reactions.

The arrested kids know the names of their parents or guardians so there shouldn’t be any difficulty in tracking down their parents.

It may intrigue you to note that some of the parents of these arrested kids might have not traveled to Freetown before even in normal times, let alone after their children’s involvement in bloody riotous conduct.

Therefore, don’t you think they can identify their homes and villages where they were arrested or where they came from?
I rest my case.