In a customary New Year’s Day gesture, Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, exercised his constitutional powers to pardon 352 inmates nationwide.
Among those granted clemency at Pademba Road prison was the well-known musician Alhaji Ahmadu Bah, popularly known as Boss LAJ.
This annual Presidential pardon, a manifestation of the prerogative of mercy, is extended to well-behaved prisoners as part of a long-standing tradition.
Of the 352 pardoned eleven 11 are female.
The Minister of Information and Civil Education Chernor Bah was one of the government officials that came out to receive Boss LAJ outside Pademba Road Correctional Centre in Freetown.
Minister Bah addressed the gathering that every Sierra Leonean has a duty to perform for the progress of our beloved Nation.