Former Sierra Leone president stripped of all power trappings

Capt. (rtd) Valentine Strasser, who seized power in a coup in 1992 and was ousted in another coup in 1996, now lives with his mother in a slum.

Monitor Correspondent
Freetown.

Once upon a time, there was a 25-year-old Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser, who took power in Sierra Leone in 1992. He became the world’s youngest head of state and was respected in his country and beyond. Since he lost power in 1996, however, the world has treated him like a nobody, leading him into depression.

Today, Strasser lives with his mother in a slum, as a very depressed man who spends his days drinking gin by the roadside in deplorable conditions.
Strasser is unlike other African leaders who retire to expensive villas in resort cities.

His situation is so desperate that some of his relatives are imploring the government to provide him with urgent medicare and financial support. However, analysts say this might not happen soon since he ousted the old All People’s Congress (APC) regime, thus they are reluctant to embrace him after they swung back to power.

Strasser is credited for setting the path to Sierra Leone’s democracy by removing a brutal, one party state government. He also introduced general cleaning every last Saturday of the month, and the national soccer team made it to the Africa Nations Cup tournament for the first and so far, the only time. According to Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, various regimes had failed to give him support.

Mr Kargbo said the current government of President Ernest Bai Koroma was aware of Mr Strasser’s situation and was working to assist him. “The President met him two weeks ago and they discussed modalities on how his situation can be addressed,” he said.

Mr Kargbo added: “We want to correct the past, while we were in opposition, we raised this issue with the former regime, but they said coup plotters should not be encouraged. Moreover, as things stand now, it depends on the goodwill of the President, as the law does not provide comfort for retired military officials. Initially, a coup plotter would be executed, but this has since changed.” Born on April 26, 1967, in Freetown, Strasser attended the Church Missionary Society Grammar School up to Form Six before joining the Sierra Leone army at the age of 18.

Coup
He rose to the rank of Captain before seizing power in 1992, and staying at the helm for four years. As a young military officer, he was posted to the eastern region to crush insurgency against government of Joseph Momoh. That rebellion later resulted to the formation of Revolutionary United Forces, a rebel army that fought an 11-year war in Sierra Leone. According to Roland Marke in his Harvest of Shame, published in Worldpress.org, Strasser’s battalion front was ill-equipped to win the battle.

The report states that the soldiers’ welfare was completely neglected by Momoh’s regime and at times they were not paid for several months. The soldiers complained about their situation several times, but they were ignored until one day they decided to march to State House in the capital, Freetown to protest.

Momoh thought the soldiers wanted to overthrow his regime, so he decided to flee before listening to what they had to say. That power vacuum prompted Strasser and his comrades to ascend to the throne, forming the National Provisional Ruling Council.

Analysts argu that Strasser was too young and naïve when he seized power and did not posses governance skills. However, his takeover was cheered, mostly by youths who felt one of their own was at the throne to voice their plights. But their hopes were short-lived as his second in command Julius Madda Bio staged a coup that sent him packing, ending in exile in Guinea. The latter is the current opposition leader, heading Sierra Leone Peoples Party.

The UN then sponsored Strasser to study law at the University of Warwick in the UK, but he was forced to drop out after his scholarship was withdrawn without notice after one year, for unclear reasons. Some hold the UN succumbed to pressure from lobbyists who blamed the Strasser regime for extra-judicial killings. Strasser was left jobless and homeless in the UK.

Soon after, people learnt of his past courtesy of British newspapers and rights groups. Headlines like: “Butcher of Sierra Leone on the dole”, appeared, prompting people to start treating him with hatred and rejection. At times, Strasser was physically assaulted on the streets of UK, although authorities were quick to refer to such as ‘incidences of racism’. And with his seemingly unending woes, his wife left him.

Lobbyists were also on his case with Amnesty International calling on the UK to investigate allegations of torture, and arbitrary killings of unarmed civilians by his troops, allegations he denies. “How can you say the claims Amnesty International is making are justified?” Strasser asked. “They know it is the Revolutionary United Front that has been responsible for those abuses and violations,” Marke quoted him as saying to the Sunday Times.

Deportation
UK then deported him in 2000 after his student visa had expired and he ended up in Gambia, before being given asylum by the government led by Ahmed Tejan Kabba.
The regime extended him some warmth, but his woes soon resurfaced after Kabba’s party was voted out of power.