Supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) have mounted a desperate manhunt for a petty trader and staunch supporter of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Anthony Swaliho Koroma, for his alleged involvement in violence during a parliamentary by-election in Constituency 110, Goderich on August 24, 2019 which was cancelled.
Anthony Swaliho Koroma who served as polling agent for his party is said to have resisted the attempt by some SLPP members to manipulate the ballots which resulted to a serious commotion between supporters of the two parties. He was reportedly grabbed by furious SLPP members who beat the hell out of him leaving him in severe pains.
Nonetheless, Anthony miraculously escaped from the desperate SLPP mob and ran away from the polling station. As if the beating was not enough, Anthony’s perpetrators also promised to do him more harm any time they lay hands on him and even threatened to burn down his 57B Leicester Road residence in Freetown. Since his disappearance, Anthony’s parents have been under persistent harassment, insisting that they will continue to harass them until they produce their son. Anthony’s parents now live in constant fear and their trouble has even worsened with the quit notice they have been given by their landlord to prevent his house being burnt down by the angry SLPP supporters.
Young Anthony is a notorious APC party supporter and always finds himself in trouble in defence of his party. At one point he had an issue with police at their party national headquarters at Brookfields in Freetown when the latter had gone there to arrest one of their senior executive members for violent conduct but he was lucky to have escaped arrest.
Since his disappearance after the Goderich by-election incident, his whereabouts remain unknown which has worried his family members.