PHOTO COURTESY OF A WHATSAPP GROUP : SPELLING SHOULD BE FREEDOM
By Kabs kanu
Independence from Britain in 1961 brought Sierra Leone nothing but bitter frustration, shame, disappointment, sorrow and enslavement and now the cries for redemption and freedom ring around the nation as SLPP’s President Maada Bio makes matters worse than ever for the people.
What a day of pride, optimism and joy it was on April 27, 1961 when the British colonial Union Jack flag was lowered and up went the proud green-white -and blue national flag of independent Sierra Leone. The nation choked on the expectations and hope of a better lot for the people, who perceived Independence as the dawn of a new dispensation of prosperity . But it did not even take long for Sierra Leoneans to experience that Independence was just a hoax and a sellout.
There is no denial of the fact that all the governments that have ruled us since Independence betrayed our hopes and dreams . It is a fact that both the Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) and the All people’s Congress ( APC ) , as well as the military juntas that ruled during different interregnums in Sierra Leone all have a case to answer for the betrayal of the aspirations of the people.
However, whilst conceding that no government would ever escape blame for what happened to Sierra Leone, people who want to be honest would admit that Sierra Leoneans have never had it so bad and so worse as the situation in Sierra Leone today under the catastrophic, dangerous, calamitous and tragic presidency of retired Brig. Julius Maada bio of the SLPP. In the past, whatever could be said of the governments that ruled Sierra Leone, there was always that chink of light shining at the end of the tunnel. There was optimism that if the president and his government tweaked something around, the bigger picture would at least experience some changes . BUT THIS IS NOT THE CASE TODAY. Sierra Leone has fallen into the deepest and most murky slough, swamp, morass and mire that anybody ever expected under the presidency of Julius Maada Bio. Sierra leoneans have become chained and shackled worse than it ever happened to them .under Bio. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel as long as the sadist and masochist Maada Bio keeps his satanic fingers on the levers of power.
Under Maada Bio, every chain that has bound Sierra Leoneans since Independence has tightened faster and hasher than ever on the people—Tribalism, regionalism, corruption, poverty, human rights abuses, Intimidation, wastefulness and profligacy in the handling of our natural resources, youth rejection and marginalization, thuggery, violence, bold and shameless elections robbery, impunity, destruction of an independent judiciary and legislature, totalitarian leadership, unlawful and extrajudicial killings by the security forces and government thugs. Additionally, more chains than ever have been fastened around the necks of Sierra Leoneans by the repressive Bio government. Our citizens , 63 years after independence, are in chains.
Everyday, Sierra leoneans are crying to Britain, our former colonial masters, to come and unfasten the chains Bio has clamped on them 63 YEARS after they granted us independence. Everyday, Sierra leoneans are crying out to America and the international community to unchain them from Maaada Bio’s shackles.
We hope they will move faster to do so before it is too late. Sierra Leoneans are getting more and more desperate. Britain and America must move faster to remove our nation from Maada Bio’s chains. WE want peace in Sierra Leone. Delays are dangerous.
Britain and America can wait too long.
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