Section Chief and Town Headman in Police Custody Over Alleged Local Tax Receipt Fraud in Bombali Shebora Chieftaincy Elections

By Abdul M. Jalloh

232news –

Alhaji Abdulai Koroma, alias Pa Nico, the Section Chief of Matotoka Section, and Alhaji Tholley of One House Village have been arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, 1st April 2026. Their arrest follows serious allegations of confiscating local tax receipts belonging to 30 Tribal Authorities (TAs) in Matotoka Section, as well as committing electoral offences and causing insecurity within the communities.

The Public Elections Act of 2022, under its electoral offences provisions, prohibits any person from buying or offering to buy a voter registration card, either directly or on behalf of another person. Violations carry a penalty of a fine of NLe 20,000, five years’ imprisonment, or both. Similarly, the Chieftaincy Act of 2009 prohibits administering secret oaths to Chiefdom Councillors to influence voting or making false statements. Offenders are liable to a fine of 5,000,000 old leones or two years’ imprisonment.

Speaking to this medium, some of the aggrieved individuals, including Fatmata Jalloh and Abdulai Tholley, expressed disappointment over what they described as the unexpected behaviour of the Section Chief and the Town Headman. They alleged that their local tax receipts were unlawfully withheld and later handed over to Mr. Usif Kamara, one of the candidates in the Bombali Shebora Chieftaincy Elections.

According to them, after several attempts to retrieve their receipts, they were taken to Mr. Kamara’s residence. There, the Section Chief and other elders reportedly informed them that the receipts would be kept safely until election day, when they would be gathered and provided with care by the candidate.

At the Senior District Officer’s office in Mena Hills, the aggrieved individuals called for urgent intervention, stating that their human rights had been violated and that they were seeking justice.

In response, Mr. Augustine Fartoma, the Senior District Officer for Bombali District, stated that his office is responsible for monitoring all chieftaincy elections and related affairs. He noted that both he and the Provincial Secretary have engaged candidates, chiefs, and stakeholders on the need to maintain peaceful, free, fair, and transparent elections. Upon receiving the complaints, he summoned the Section Chief and the Town Headman for questioning, which led to their arrest and detention.

Madam Isatu Kamara, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Officer at the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board, commended the proactive role of the Senior District Officer and other stakeholders in ensuring that the alleged perpetrators are brought to justice. She explained that the aggrieved individuals had approached the Legal Aid Board seeking redress for alleged human rights violations. Due to the urgency of the matter, she accompanied them to the SDO’s office for further investigation, which resulted in the arrests.

During interrogation, Ibrahim Tholley, the Town Headman, disclosed that after receiving the local tax receipts from the Section Chief, he was instructed to hand them over to Mr. Usif Kamara. He further admitted that he later told the people the receipts were needed for verification purposes. According to him, when pressure mounted, they went to Mr. Kamara’s house, where he allegedly asked them to leave the receipts with him, promising to return them on election day along with “surprises.” He added that the public protest did not surprise him, as he also wishes to retrieve the receipts from Mr. Kamara.

However, the Section Chief, Alhaji Abdulai Koroma, denied any knowledge of the receipts being handed over to Mr. Kamara. He claimed their visit to Mr. Kamara’s residence was coincidental and maintained that the receipts he collected were meant for general distribution, not for any particular candidate.

Efforts to obtain a response from Mr. Usif Kamara through phone calls and WhatsApp messages were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations.

More details will follow as the situation develops.