By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo
Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police William Fayia Sellu has been appointed as the new police chief in the Southern region of Sierra Leone.
AIG Sellu was redeployed as part of ongoing restructuring within the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) under new Inspector General Ambrose Sovula.
Sellu had served in Bo in 2016 and 2017 as a Local Unit Commander. He now replaces AIG Kapri Saidu Kamara, who spent just over a year as the Police boss in the region.
AIG Sellu comes with decades of experience, having served for 11 years as Chief Security Officer for President Ahmad Tejan Kabba (late) and, until recently, as head of the Presidential Guards under current President Julius Maada Bio.
Sellu also has significant experience in intelligence gathering.
He took over his new post just days before the second nationwide lockdown from May 3 to 5. The development comes at a time when the region, especially Bo, is having challenges enforcing COVID-19 regulations and dealing with armed robbery.
"I have a responsibility to come and live up to expectations. Recently we heard about issues of violent crimes been committed at Bo. We at the SLP, we made some strategic changes and the change came administratively. So, I came to Bo,” he explained to Politico in an interview.
He said he would focus on cooperation to prevent crime in the district and region.
“The key to fighting crime is cooperation and working together with the people you are protecting,” he said.
During the three days lockdown, the new regional police chief went personally across the region to assess the security arrangement at checkpoints. Security officers have been stretched thin whiles trying to deploy and enforce the COVID-19 regulations.
In the last week, he has visited the media and engaged senior police officers in Bo, the regional headquarters.
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