Arrests (Hansard, 16 March 1961)

§ 10. Mr. R. Edwards
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the state of unrest in Sierra Leone and the arrest of the executive committee of the All People's Congress; whether he is aware that elected members of the House of Representatives have been arrested by the police and their homes searched; and whether he will make a statement on the present situation in Sierra Leone.

§ Mr. Iain Macleod
Recently a campaign has developed under the auspices of the All People's Congress in favour of a general election before independence. In the course of demonstrations organised by the party, a number of arrests were made and certain people, including some leaders of the party, have been charged before the Sierra Leone courts with certain offences.
These events in no way imply a general state of unrest or any change in the general support of the country for independence on 27th April, 1961.

§ Mr. Edwards
Is the Minister aware that I have in my hands, received today, a resolution carried by the Sierra Leone Council of Labour, a non-political, moderate body representing 30,000 trade unionists in Sierra Leone, threatening passive resistance because of an anti-trade union law which is now before the House of Representatives? Is he aware also that the Member of Parliament for Kono, one of the two opposition Members of the House of Representatives, has been sentenced to six months imprisonment merely for criticising a Paramount Chief. Further, is the Minister aware that Wallace Johnson, a well-known African figure, who was on his way to London, has been arrested and has been compelled to put down bail of £700? Is he aware also that the Constitution has not been published—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman's question is out of order because of its inordinate length and composition. Will the hon. Member deal with it in this way? Will he stop there and allow the Minister to answer at this point whatever the question is?

§ Mr. Macleod
Taking the question up as best I can, the resolution from a labour movement to which the hon. Member has referred is obviously a very different matter from the Question which he has put down, but if he would care to send me details about it I will, of course, look into it.
It is true, as I said, that certain leading members of the All People's Congress have been charged, but the charges have been made in accordance with the ordinary processes of law and they mill be dealt with by the courts in accordance with the ordinary procedure.
As regards the Constitution, there has been close consultation, of course, between Her Majesty's Government and the Sierra Leone Government. As a matter of fact, the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth this morning unanimously gave informal agreement to Sierra Leone becoming a member of the Commonwealth after independence.

§ Mr. Marquand
Does the Minister realise that some of the disquiet which does exist to a certain extent in Sierra Leone is caused by the absence of a copy of the Constitution which citizens may study? Will he accelerate the laying of the order, or whatever the required formality is, in order that copies of the Constitution can be available for study in Sierra Leone? How long have we to wait for the Bill?

§ Mr. Macleod
That is a very good point, and it is something about which I have been in correspondence with the Sierra Leone Government. Obviously, it would not be appropriate to publish a draft Order. The Order in Council will be published very soon. I believe that it is intended to present the Bill tomorrow to the House of Commons.