Commentary

Amara Tamba Kamara, the youth leader and successor of the traditional leader of the disputed border village of Yenga, Chief Tamba Nyumah, has been declared wanted by the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) for allegedly organising a protest against the government that led to the loss of lives of two protesters and one security personnel between 15th - 16th March, 2025.
According to eyewitness accounts, it all started when more Guinean troops were deployed in the disputed village of Yenga on the Sierra Leone territory, which had been occupied by the foreign troops since the eleven-year-long rebel war in the country. This latest deployment of more Guinean troops in Yenga and the forceful removal residents who own the settlement, despite agreement between the Sierra Leone Government and the Guinea Government that Yenga belongs to Sierra Leone, ignited the protest which Amara Tamba Kamara organised against the government.
An indigene of Yenga, Sahr Fayia Lamin, told our reporter that after they were forcefully removed from their settlement by the Guinean troops, they took refuge in nearby communities, adding that they went through untold suffering without the government coming to their rescue.

He said as displaced people, they felt that the government had abandoned them and their basic needs, stressing that it was against the backdrop of their suffering that Amara Tamba Kamara successfully persuaded the Yenga youths and sympathisers in neighbouring villages and towns to protest against the government for its inaction and insensitivity to their plight as displaced people.
Sahr Fayia Lamin said the protest attracted hundreds of protesters that took to the streets in Koindu, the chiefdom headquarters of Kissi Teng in the Kailahun District, adding that many protesters were arrested and detained in police cells.
According to the police spokesman, Inspector Joseph Kamanda, the two-day protest unfortunately led to the loss of lives of two protesters and a security personnel.
The police spokesman vehemently condemned the protest, saying it was illegal because the organiser of the protest failed to obtain permission from the police as stipulated by the Public Order Act of 1965.
Inspector Joseph Kamanda disclosed that James Tengbeh, 26, and David Sellu, 25, were the protesters who lost their lives during the protest, as well as Police Constable John Amadu Bangura, who he said was brutally murdered by the irate protesters.
The police spokesman further disclosed that they initially arrested and detained the youth leader for organising the protest, but he and a few other suspects escaped from the police cells during odd hours.
"The police authorities have therefore declared Amara Tamba Kamara wanted for bearing the greatest responsibility in the death of those three unsuspecting Sierra Leoneans," Inspector Joseph Kamanda declared.
When contacted for his reaction, Chief Tamba Nyumah of Yenga in Kissi Teng Chiefdom conceded that Amara Tamba Kamara was his biological son despite he was carrying the surname of his stepfather who schooled him at secondary level in his mother's home - Bamoi in Kambia District, Northwest Region.
The traditional leader further conceded that he was aware of the fact that his heir to the thrown has been declared wanted by the government, but he insisted that he was not his son's keeper, who he said was matured enough to make decisions on his own.
Meanwhile, the manhunt for Amara Tamba Kamara by security personnel has been intensified nationwide, while the three victims of the protest have already been laid to rest.