Sierra Leone News: Court Martial: Brigadier General Explains Procedure for Requesting Ammunition
By Stephen V. Lansana
It is a criminal offense for personnel to collect ammunition for training when he/she is not attached to units where test firing is done, the Eighteenth Prosecution Witness (PW`18), Brigadier General Usman Turay said Tuesday during the cross-examination in the ongoing court martial presided by the Judge Advocate Aljahi Momoh-Jah Stevens and the Court Martial Board at the military headquarters, Cockerill in Freetown.
The court martial is constituted in Freetown to hear a case of three soldiers: Captain Patrick E. Kamara, 1st accused; Samuel Conteh, Warrant Officer Class 1, 2nd accused; and Abu Bakarr Jalloh, Warrant Officer Class 2, 3rd accused; are accused of willfully damaging service property; conspired to steal ammunition; and involved in a conduct prejudicial to the group order and military discipline.
Brigadier General is attached at the Ministry of Defense as the assistant Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) for support and logistics. He has served in that position since March 1, 2018. But prior to that, he said was working as assistant CDS for Public Relations and defense spokesman for two years. He added that prior to this position; he was the CDS at Joint Force Command Headquarters at Cockerill and also director of personnel at the Ministry of Defense.
Stating his duties as assistant CDS on logistics, he said, “I manage all the logistics, equipment support, advice procurement committee on logistics requirement and medical supplies, liaise with the deputy secretary of policy and procurement at Ministry of Defense to ensure that RSLAF receive logistics supplies on time. We also draft policy on logistics and equipment supply and cascade it through the chain of commands,” he stated. He stated that the logistics includes ammunition, uniforms, and food, among others.
He testified that there is a policy on how request are made for ammunition on training.
Explaining the procedure how request is made for ammunition for training purposes, he said that the unit will come up with the training requirement indicating the number of personnel doing the training, adding that the unit will also come up with the administrative instruction which deals the logistics requirement including the number of weapon, quantity of ammunition required and other logistics required for the training.
He added that they will send the request to their boss. “If it is a unit, we will send it to the brigade; the brigade commanding will look at it based on the logistics requirement and then send it to the Joint Force Headquarters. The Joint Force Headquarters will then send it to the Ministry of Defense, especially if it is dealing with ammunition, because we cannot use any rounds of ammunition without the approval of the CDS.”
He testified, “I will then send my recommendation to the CDS for approval. If the CDS approves or not, I will communicate it to the Joint Force Command; if the CDS approves, I will write to the Joint Force Command informing them about the approval. The Joint Force Command headquarters will command the Joint Logistics Unit (JLU) to give the ammunition to the training unit that has requested for the ammunition.”
“There are only two training locations in the western area: the firing range at Hastings and the other location at Benguma. For example, if the unit requesting for the ammunition indicated that they want to do the training at Benguma or Hastings, the ammunition will be issued to the Quarter Master at Benguma or Hastings, because these are training locations that have the entire expert as far as training is concern.”
He testified that whatever range, personnel may want to use in the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), it has to pass through authorization. He informed the court that the ammunition that personnel normally hold is the first line ammunition and the ones kept in store is the second line, adding that if the first line of ammunition is expended. “You will go to the second line, which is the fallback. But before using the second line, you have to explain how you are going to use it,” the witness said.
He recalled that on August 13, 2018, he was on duty when he received a memo from the CDS. “It was a letter written to him from the director of crime management at CID. I received a minutes from the CDS asking for the valuation of the set of ammunition: the ammunition[14.5mm of AA rounds and 12.7mm of AA rounds] discovered in the septic pit at the back of the Presidential Lounge; and the audit report from the JLU on missing ammunition at the Presidential Lounge.” He produced and tendered the letter and it was marked as exhibits R1.
“I write to the director of logistics and equipment support and I asked him to liaise with the procurement cell of the unit to come up with the cost of arms and ammunition of each contract sign. They came up with the cost. When I received the costing, I discuss it with the CDS because it was going out of our establishment.” He produced and tendered the costing as exhibits S1–2. He disclosed that the RSLAF have not recovered the cost.
During the cross-examination, defense counsel representing the 1st accused, Ady Macaulay asked, “Are you aware that ammunition has been given directly to unit?”
Brigadier General Turay said, “It is possible for ammunition to be issued to training unit provided that the unit has a firing range that have all the requirement,” adding that “that is why we have the Brigade Battle School which is responsible for training especially when the training include firing exercises.”
He disclosed that the Brigade battle school does all the trainings for the unit that is undertaking the training. The Brigade battle school also makes the same request for ammunition used for training.
He said that he is explaining policy regarding training. “It might be possible for someone to act outside the policy.”
Lawyer Macaulay asked, “If someone doesn’t follow the procedure, what administrative procedure have they breech or what offense have they committed? The witness said, “It is criminal for someone to sign for ammunition knowing full well that the ammunition is classified.”
He said during that cross-examination that “you cannot just use ammunition because it is available. The second line of ammunition is there in your store even when you are in battle field you cannot just take it. It has to pass through the commandant.”
The Nineteenth Prosecution Witness, Sergeant Sahr Johnny is attached at the Second Infantry Battalion. He said prior to this, he was attached at the Special Investigation Branch (SIB) as investigator.
He recalled on June 18, 2018, on duty at the SIB office at around 12:00 hours when his boss Officer Commanding Captain Sylvanus Sheriff instructed him to accompany him to the Presidential Lounge.
He testified that the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Joint Provost Unit, Major J. Conteh called and informed him that something has happened at Hill Station and we should meet him there. “Captain Sheriff and I went together at the State Lounge. On arrival, we met Major J. Conteh and other senior officers. The CO said one Nyakeh Bio was constructing a building and wanted to connect a pipe to the nearby septic tank. But he discovered that there was ammunition in the pit.
He testified that there were two types of ammunition. “The bigger round was a 3 barrel AA round known as 14.5mm amounting to 1606. The smaller one was one barrel AA rounds known as 12.7mm amounted to 178. They were placed in cement bags and then conveyed to the CID Headquarters. He identified exhibits “B and C” as the ammunition that they removed from the septic tank.
On that day, he said, “When we left CID, I was told by my boss that we are going to liaise with the CID in the investigation. The CID then informs us that we should report at the CID on the following morning. I reported at CID on June 19, 2019. Before we went at CID that morning, my Officer Commanding Captain Sheriff informed me that he was stepping down from the investigation and Major J. Koroma will replace him as investigator. So, Major J. Koroma took over him and we went to CID.
At CID, an investigation team was formed comprising myself, Major J. Koroma, Captain Kainesie from the Forces Intelligent Security Unit (FISU), Class Corporal Nyuma, Superintendent M. K. Alieu of CID and other police officers.
He said that the team called Nyakeh Bio and Sheku Swarray to make statement at CID concerning the discovering of the ammunition. “After their statement, the team visited Joint Logistics Unit (JLU) which is the custodian of RSLAF logistics in other to know if they have ever issued 14.5mm of AA rounds and 12.7mm of AA rounds ammunition to State Lounge,’ he said.
“We retrieved some document at JLU and the team also visited Third Brigade Headquarters at Murray Town relating to ammunition supplied. Because of this, CID requested the release of several military officers including the three accused persons for them to help with the investigation. Apart from the three accused, other personnel made statement regarding what they know about the ammunition,’ he said.
“I recalled the 24 June 2018; I was on duty at CID when the 1st accused reported there,” he said. We asked him to make statement relating to the ammunition discovered in the pit. Before he made statement, Major J. Koroma cautioned and questioned him in English which I recorded in English as the recorder. He then proceeds to make a statement.
The witness said, “During that statement, there was a cause for the interview to be suspended because the investigation team needed some documents for clarification and the accused was satisfied. The interview was commenced on the following morning but we had to suspend it again. We concluded the interview on June 23, 2018. I signed as a recorder and Major J. Koroma signed as a witness.”