By Hassan I. Conteh

“Police have a role to play in every aspect of life,” says a senior police officer.

The high-ranking police officer was addressing a group of youth at Hamilton, in west of Freetown, on preventing violence by youth in Sierra Leone.

Inspector Foday Bangura told Youth for Hope Sierra Leone, an advocacy organization in Sierra Leone whose founder is based in the United States, that youthful members of the organization must be “ambassadors of peace.”

“You are ambassadors of peace and so you should streamline peaceful messages in your respective communities,” he told the youth.

Hope for Youth Sierra Leone has been campaigning against the consumption of the deadly and rapidly disturbing narcotic by youth in Sierra Leone, Kush Drug.

The harmful drug has killed over a hundred and a hundred more youth in Sierra Leone since it surfaced in the country almost around 2022.

Inspector Bangura remarked: “As youth we need to be responsible.”

He said the fight, that is, the fight against Kush to end in Sierra Leone, is a fight, he said “is necessary for the country to survive.”

The experienced police officer had traveled to many countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, on peace- keeping missions representing Sierra Leone.

His words to young people were: “Be ambassador of peace, preach peace, and as a man you have to be peaceful to your family. That is where peace starts.

Let’s encourage ourselves to be peaceful,” he told Hope Youth who were about 200, coming from Kono, Bo, Kenema, Moyamba, Port Loko, Pujehun, and those in Freetown, at an annual youth conference held at Christian Brothers Retreat Centre at Hamilton on Saturday 14th June, 2025.

He said most often youth are the ones who are often “manipulated” by politicians, something he said is too bad for young people who he believes the peaceful ones only make up 5% in the country.

Bangura was speaking on the topic Violence and Food Security as a guest speaker during Youth for Hope Sierra Leone’s 5th Anniversary since its existence 2020.

He said young people need to have a focus mind to be able to become self-reliant.

He drew an example from Europe on the stability of their economics and good standard of living by their citizens.

“You see Europe.They have social security [schemes] for the [aged] .That [achievement] was not done in a day, their forefathers had worked for it,” he said.

He re-ecoed the dominant phrase in his speech: “Don’t only be an ambassador of peace, be a partner of peace.”