By: Mohamed Juma Jalloh & James Kamara-Manneh
When lawlessness is at its peak, the immediate consequences to society are easily palpable and glaring to all and sundry including the police who are the preeminent law enforcement institution.
More destructive is when lawlessness is accepted as a norm which could lead to more disastrous impacts to humanity in the immediate long-term.
A case in point under the journalistic radar of A-Z newspaper is the Fa-JOX entertainment Spot at Adelaide Street located immediately after the Western Police Station (also called Adelaide Street Police station).
A total incomprehension to A-Z newspaper is the profound lawlessness generated by FA-JOX which is in close proximity to a law enforcement institution of the state. The sound pollution caused by the music serenade which emanates from outer positioned speakers is akin to slow poisoning to the elderly and for people with ailments that are allergic to noise uproar.
Apart from insomnia (sleeplessness) hearing and cognitive impairment activated by the music clatter, the blatant nuisance could trigger a preparatory conveyance to the grave for patients with cardio vascular diseases (heart attack), high and low blood pressure, tinnitus and paracusis.
The regale from the dancing people and the music serenade is irritating, disturbing and annoying to school going pupils and university students who wake up in the nocturnal to burn the night candle. Moreover, the disgusting situation at FA-JOX is also infuriating, disquieting and nauseating to civil servants, lawyers and journalists etc whose job description demand further reading, meditation, construing and concentration in the twilight for better performance at the workplace.
No one is against entertainment, but the unsavory situation at FA-JOX could be ameliorated by instituting an indoor sound system akin to what obtains in other night clubs across the country.
It should also be noted that the same spot where FA-JOX is housed has witnessed maimings and stabbings which has resulted in cases of murders that shocked the public psyche including the popular homicide perpetrated by “Baggio” on “Bone”.
Furthermore, FA-JOX has fastly become the epicenter where the most destructive drug (KUSH) to the future of our youths is bought and sold.
When KUSH is consumed alongside cheap and deadly alcohol sold by the side lines, the resultant episode would be the inundation of crime at the vicinity. At this juncture, clique rivalry and prostitute jealousy could take the worst dimension often resulting to stabbings that normally culminate into loss of property (phone, necklace, bracelets, cash) and deaths.
Another unsightly scene at FA-JOX is the culture of prostitution performed by young girls of school going age (otherwise called Pekito’s).
It’s as if hell has let lose, if only one could witness the lawlessness and promiscuous activities at FA-JOX during the night.
The centre is also engaged in night shows where our youths will be intoxicated and lured into competing for minimum sum of money. While that is not enough the disc jockey (DJ) with loud microphone will engaged the contestants with uncivilized language in a form of rap at odd hours of the night.
Engaging the Western Area Police Division (Adelaide Street) this medium made to understand that they have gone weary about the issue, because anytime the owner (Mr. Jox) face the police, someone in higher authority will intervene.
The Officer in Charge intimated the writers that she had advised Mr. Jox to sound prove his place and to control the volume of the musical set, all to no avail.
Mr. Jox seems untouchable, uncontrollable and could easily get his way around the Police. The situation presented is that Jox is above the Law and our police cannot control the situation at hand.
While the police are mandated to protect life and properties, they are seen on daily basis giving security to the centre at the detriments of age old citizens, sick patient, school going pupils, students and the entire community.
The Laws of Sierra Leone gives no right for citizens to infringe upon the human rights of fellow citizens. But what is happening at odd hours in central business district of the country (Adelaide street) is an embarrassment to a civilize nation where a citizen is reluctantly expected to accept what others cannot accept.
The young generations who are supposed to take over the responsibility of nation building are wasting their useful energies by engaging in societal condemned practices.
Social disorder is further heightened and vehicular traffic is also obstructed with the convening of multitudes on the middle of the road albeit in the name of entertainment. Any case of ambulance emergency could be thwarted by the people who are assembled at the middle of the road.
Ignoring the fact that the Adelaide Street is a strategic route that connects the Central Business District to the western part of Freetown.
As a result of incessant complaints from members of the public, A-Z newspaper decided to take up the issue with the police leadership at the Adelaide street police station.
Deducing from what we are told by the police it`s as if the owner of FA-JOX entertainment is above the law. The police confided that the owner of FA-JOX is intermittently arrested but orders from above will always get him released. A junior police officer at the station who preferred anonymity stated it bluntly. “Whenever money changes hands the owner of FA-JOX is released”.
The paralysis of the police in better handing the situation could be easily fathomed. The police have prioritized the commercialization of the law and justice at the expense of the public good.
It should be noted that FA-JOX entertainment is operating in what amounts to a flagrant contravention of the 1965 Public Order Act that out rightly outlaws public disorder and public immorality. We rest our case because this is SIERRA LEONE!!!