SLPP Quacks Like Old APC
Posted by Jimmy D. Kandeh on Sep 5, 2007, 17:20
It’s the mode of governance, stupid! That’s why our country is so retarded and at the bottom of world development rankings. Voters are rejecting the SLPP in large numbers (re. parliamentary results and first round presidential results) for some of the same reasons the old APC and NPRC, not to mention the atrocious AFRC and RUF, were rejected. Not surprisingly, most of the politically degenerate elements of the APC and NPRC have resurfaced in the SLPP and are among those threatening both the survival of that party and the country’s peace and stability.
It makes no difference whether it is the ‘Binkolo Mafia’ (Momoh’s APC) or the ‘Segbwema Mafia’ (NPRC and current SLPP) that is raping our country and terrorizing our people; these cabals represent little more than criminal syndicates whose interests are incompatible with social progress and the popularization of political authority. While the Binkolo predators may have been less violent than the Segbwema fraudsters, both groups are essentially ethnic variations of the same destructive governance logic. But just as the ‘Segbwema mafia’ (Benjamin, Karimu, et. al) failed in 1996 with their joke of a political party, the National Unity Party (NUP), they will again fail in their sinister efforts to impose themselves on our people.
I never thought the day would come, as it has, when I’d prefer the APC in an electoral contest of enormous historical significance. This is because my student political activism was rooted in opposition to APC corruption and repression. I was rusticated from Fourah Bay College in 1985 and literally hounded out of my country by the APC in the same year. But whatever bitterness I may have felt toward the APC has receded with the passage of time and certainly pales in comparison to my abhorrence of the SLPP’s current rogue leadership. The SLPP squandered the goodwill of the public by woefully failing to disavow the discredited governance practices of the old APC. At a time when even the ‘new APC’ is distancing itself (at least rhetorically) from its past, the current SLPP cannot help but look like the APC of yesteryears, especially Momoh’s version of the ‘red shirts.’ Momoh was soft on corruption but so are Kabba and Berewa; it is virtually impossible for Berewa to tackle the problem of malfeasance among public officials because he is the poster child of corruption in contemporary Sierra Leone. Reminiscent of the Momoh years, our country has been served up as “Gbogbo” (free for all) by Kabba/Berewa and some of the individuals who asset-stripped the state in the past are back at their old games in a corrupt-friendly SLPP.
A cursory glance at the disparate assortment of former APC personalities who are now ensconced in the SLPP – J. B Dauda, Sama Banya, Sheku Sesay, Abass Bundu, Kadi Sesay, F. M Carew, Bobson Sesay, Kanja Sesay, Ali Bangura, Jobson Momoh, to name but a few – is enough to convince even the most casual observer that the SLPP, as presently constituted, does not mean well for our country. Popular wisdom had it right – the SLPP is like a watermelon (green on the outside, red on the inside) and if you scratch the surface of many a current SLPP leader, you’ll find an APC skeleton. So the old APC that the SLPP is campaigning against and demonizing already resides within the current SLPP. With a legion of discredited APC leaders in its ranks, how can the SLPP pretend to be any different from the old APC? If, as some SLPP partisans have argued, the old APC was ‘evil,’ does that mean most of the current SLPP leaders are malevolent? Are Banya, Dauda and Bundu evil because of their prior membership in the APC? Is it the party that is evil or the people who comprise its leadership? Parties and organizations are not inherently diabolical; it is the individuals who lead and operate them that are sometimes criminal. So when the current SLPP slams the old APC, it should first look at itself in a mirror if only to see the unsavory elements and discredited practices of the old APC splashed all over the political visage of the current SLPP.
It is not so much in terms of personnel continuity that the current SLPP resembles the old APC as in its mode of governance. This mode of governance is essentially predatory and based on the conversion of public offices and resources into private wealth. The SLPP is doing no worse than the old APC in shaking down the national treasury but the old APC had far less resources to play with and could at least point out a few public projects it completed. Not only has the current SLPP leadership embezzled donor funds on a massive scale, it can be argued that the old APC (especially under Siaka Stevens) did a better job with far less resources than the SLPP has done with more.
Given the generous infusion of donor funds in the past decade, it is inexcusable that our people have no better access to basic social amenities today than before the onset of armed insurgency in 1991. Funds that were supposed to help alleviate the suffering of our people and jumpstart our recovery have been serially converted to private use through the award of government contracts to business patrons, clients and cronies of political incumbents. I have never been able to understand why Gambia can boast of two CT scans and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines while Sierra Leone does not even have a kidney dialysis capability. How do we expect, for instance, to attract foreign investors when we cannot even provide them – not to mention our citizens who are no less deserving – with a reliable source of energy supply?
Voting for Solomon Berewa is analogous to voting for Joseph Momoh. Like Momoh, Berewa is a clueless politician who can only make a bad situation worse. A man whose everyday sleeping hours exceed his waking moments has no business seeking the presidency or any position of trust and responsibility. Our country did not progress under Momoh and will not move an inch forward under Berewa. The continuity represented by Berewa is at odds with the public’s demand for political change. In the end, the people will carry the day even in a fragile democracy like ours.
Individuals do matter in politics and leaders can either enhance or diminish the fortunes of their parties or the countries they lead. Kabba and Berewa destroyed the SLPP and shortchanged our country by misappropriating donor funds and recreating some of the very conditions that led to armed insurgency in the 1990s. While it remains to be seen whether the ‘new APC’ will be any different from its old incarnation, we already know that the current SLPP looks more like Momoh’s APC than the party that led our country to independence. Old APC and NPRC wolves masquerading in SLPP clothing cannot fool the people. Let us hope and pray for a new dawn in our country under the leadership of Ernest Bai Koroma. God bless Sierra Leone.
Subject: Re: For Sengbe,Saidu Bangura & Sheku Kallon:SLPP Quacks Like Ol
From: Sengbe
To: All
Date Posted: 14:22:13 09/06/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 198.85.62.16
Message:
Thanks Bra Jimmy, for the long campaign speech written on behalf of Ernest Koroma and your APC.
I have read the speech very carefully, and wonder if all the allegations you have made against Bra Solo and our SLPP consist of the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
As you may know, I, Sengbe, am neither a chameleon nor a watermelon when it comes to my politics relative to Sa Lon. Green is the color of my choice / preference no matter what. I never give up in the political fight. So I will stay and fight for progress within the SLPP and the nation. I do not like to take flight at the first disappointing setback, and I do not TRUST akartas with political power in governance, so I remain to be GREEN.
I agree with you when you state, and I quote:
“…It’s the mode of governance, stupid!…”
In your capacity, maybe you could come up with an alternative form of governance that is culturally more indigeneous, and acceptable to us than the western form of governance we are constantly struggling with.
How about a TRIBAL form of governance on a proportional basis?
We should not continue to run away from ourselves. We must accentuate what we are, and sell it to the rest of the world. This is the only way our development as a nation will be accelerated.
I pray that the people of Bonthe and the rest of the country will NOT follow you and Charles in elevating Koroma to the throne. It will be to their detriment if Koroma is elected, no matter what the current rhetoric he is spouting. Once an akarta, always an akarta, and I do not trust them.
The people voted against Pa Kabba in the first round. They will now vote for the GOP, SLPP, in the second round. I pray.
So long, Bra!!
Subject: Re: For Sengbe,Saidu Bangura & Sheku Kallon:SLPP Quacks Like Ol
From: Tamba Moiwo
To: All
Date Posted: 09:39:30 09/06/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: gateway-303.energis.gsi.gov.uk at 62.25.109.196
Message:
Jimmy,very surprised that you will pander to illiterate talks of ‘generous infusion’ of donor money.My friend, if you knewq anything about international finance,your analysis will be a tad different.
Bo you were always APC.Don’t pretend you have just fallen in love now.Your friend and mentor Hindolo Tyre and others sold that Country down the river longest time.
After much Tafi,man kin afford to labo incoherently.Bra you cannot deny that the core values of the parties remain the same.Your piece reveals how ignorant you are on the campaign trail.Perhaps its all ‘rhetoric’ when Koroma professes to ‘walk in the footsteps of Stevens and Momoh’.
Man your warped logic is only surpassed by your hatered for others.
You are very disingenious when you make this remark:Like Momoh, Berewa is a clueless politician who can only make a bad situation worse.”How will you categorise Koroma?
Tamba
Subject: Re: For Rt. Hon. Tamba Moiwo
From: Jimmy Kandeh
To: All
Date Posted: 10:08:03 09/06/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: ppp065045.richmond.edu at 141.166.65.45
Message:
Tamba:
I don’t know you from Adam and have never met you but I was inclined to take you seriously irrespective of our political differences. But it seems like you want to drag what should be a polite and decent exchange into the gutter where some of you folks rightly belong. I know you have completely lost it if you can call me APC. You are becoming fiendish, rudderless and libelous in your desperation but I will not trade insults with you my brother and I wish you and your party well. After all, the country needs a stong SLPP opposition.
Subject: Re: For Rt. Hon. Tamba Moiwo
From: Imran Silla
To: All
Date Posted: 11:11:53 09/06/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-134-64-57.range86-134.btcentralplus.com at 86.134.64.57
Message:
Well said Jimmy, certain comments are not worth responding to. For those trading insults, it is a reflection of their upbringing or character. ‘Liquids’ like Moiwo will eventually find their level.
Moiwo like myself belong to the SLPP. The difference is, he is like Berewa and the rest an ‘angry SLPP’.
The SLPP has done nothing wrong in their view which the polls do not suggest; so all they are doing is to concoct a long list of conspiracy theories and scapegoats as being responsible for our present predicament.
Let them continue to dream on the results after Saturday’s run-off will say it all.
Subject: Re: For Rt. Hon. Tamba Moiwo
From: Jimmy Kandeh
To: All
Date Posted: 11:33:42 09/06/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: ppp065045.richmond.edu at 141.166.65.45
Message:
Thanks Imran for your intervention. I had people like you in mind when I briefly joined the SLPP. I thought I could join forces with others to help shake up the party from within and come up with a popular candidate to succeed Kabba. What I encountered instead was a patronage outfit that is undemocratic and intolerant of self-criticism. How can a party grow and propsper when it devours the best of its children? The Norman thing really shook me but there are many others. Folks like you give me hope that not all is lost in the SLPP. Have a good day, my brother.
Subject: Re: For Rt. Hon. Jimmy Kandeh
From: Tamba Moiwo
To: All
Date Posted: 10:21:54 09/06/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: gateway-303.energis.gsi.gov.uk at 62.25.109.196
Message:
Jimmy,the feeling is mutual never met or known you from Adam and Eve.It is not my intention to disparage your views nor is it my desire to drag you into any gutter real or imagined.Perhaps your new-found party and ‘internet politicians’ must wallow in the mire.
Your adjectival references are jaw-droppingly uncomplimentary but I shall refrain from ‘moses-law’.My party,like the eagle,will rise to higher heights.Apologies for insituating your previous political alliance,but it is a fact that you are now APC or at the very least prefer them to us whose motto:ONE COUNTRY,ONE PEOPLE is timeless.Waiting for the day and hour when you will have to literally eat your words and heart out.
Stay well my brother.
Tamba
Subject: Re: For Tamba Moiwo
From: Jimmy Kandeh
To: All
Date Posted: 11:15:37 09/06/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: ppp065045.richmond.edu at 141.166.65.45
Message:
Tamba:
You can support a party without joining it. I supported the SLPP in 1996 and 2002 (not the APC) but I was never a member until 2004. I never attended any SLPP meeting and I resigned from the party in 2006 after the contrived Makeni convention and in the aftermath of JJ Blood’s attempt to lynch me at Stop Press.
My party in these elections is the PMDC, of which I am not an official member. That did not stop me from sending money to help the PMDC defeat the SLPP in Bonthe, a feat that will be repeated by the APC come Saturday.
So I don’t have to join the APC to support their presidential candidate. Should the SLPP come up with a dynamic and electable presidential candidate in the future, I’ll support that candidate without becoming a member of the party. For me, our country is more important than party, ethnic group or region of origin. I may not always be right (no one is) but I try to base my politics on what I believe is in the best interest of our country. Had you guys fielded a better presidential candidate, we may likely not be having this exchange. There are still some good people in the SLPP but they have been marginalized by those who only recently joined the party. I am sure you will concede in your quiet moments that those in charge of your party today are not authentic SLPP. The APC did not earn our votes but the SLPP surely lost them. Have a good day.
Subject: Re: For Tamba Moiwo
From: M. Alieu iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 11:33:37 09/06/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198
Message:
For me, our country is more important than party, ethnic group or region of origin.
Jimmy you truely exemplify the thinking of our age. Thanks for the btreath pof fresh air. This place is getting very stuffy.
Subject: Re: For Sengbe,Saidu Bangura & Sheku Kallon:SLPP Quacks Like
From: KotorMali
To: All
Date Posted: 00:37:35 09/06/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cpe-74-66-236-48.nyc.res.rr.com at 74.66.236.48
Message:
I personally think that you have neither exaggerated the known truths,nor pandered in the consequent deductions you made in your analysis.
Kudos Jimmy! You Bobor im Peti Day Yar;
Subject: PLEASE I NEED TO GET SOME REST. TOO MUCH NOISE
From: Mohamed A. kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 23:04:35 09/05/07 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Entered From: ool-457951c4.dyn.optonline.net at 69.121.81.196
Message:
What the hell are Sierra leoneans yapping about. All this talk about elections, who should be or shouldn’t be president. The anxiety about the run-off in a country that is filthy, stinks; having an infrastucture that is an eye sore, with its population which haven’t amount to anything under self rule. The only significant role people from that part of the world had played in human history, is working as slaves in plantations overseas; to generate wealth for western societies. That said, what else are Sierra Leoneans really useful for? The educated ones among their lot (I called stupid intellectuals) tend to be more narrow minded than the so called illiterate citizens.
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