Written by Mohamed Aziz Nabe
Monday, 13 April 2009
SLPP will forever continue to fight no matter what you do to teach them to accept the verdict of the ballot boxes. You know, these people are bitter, and are apt to do anything to derail the APC government as they are prone to have been doing over the years. There has never been anytime in the contemporary political history of Sierra Leone wherein the APC party leaders were found wanting in fighting to overthrow an SLPP government other than a legitimate general election.
AZIZ NABE
But at anytime the APC Party is in Power – never mind the olive branches given to the members of the SLPP – they will always fight to take power, none the less. The SLPP has a dubious history of political malpractice. I will endeavor in this article to give few examples to prove my point.
In the 1962 elections, the APC did extremely, considering the fact that it was a new party. The party had made significant inroads in the SLPP strongholds in the Northern Province, Kono and Freetown. The elections were so close to call; but they (SLPP) used the 12 Paramount Chief Representatives to maintain a convenient majority and thus stole the elections. Even Dr. John Karefa Smart had to lose his seat in Parliament and his Foreign Affairs Ministry, when he was petitioned by Pa Amadu Hassan of Magburaka whom he had only won through rigging. The court overturned the results through a petition filed by Pa Hassan, only to be compromised through the help of my Uncle Alhaji Mohamed Foday Sanusi Nabe of Masimu who had hired the Train to take people from all over Tonkolili District to go to Freetown to plead to Sir Milton Margai to overturn the Court’s decision. They refunded all the expenses of Pa Amadu Hassan, the only APC Candidate that was able to defeat the Popular Karefa Smart in 1962 elections in the Tonkolili South Constituency.
The results of the 1967 elections are an open discourse in Sierra Leone’s political history. That was the beginning of the end of democracy and the commencement of political retrogression in Sierra Leone. The sore losers, an enigma of political correctness, brought in the military, in their frenzied desire to retain power by all means necessary. This is where I will forever remember Chief Hinga Norman in the abstract for being the harbinger of political strife in Sierra Leone. If that miscalculation by Sir Albert Margai, through the insistence of Madam Ella Koblo Gulama the iron lady of the SLPP of that time, to misuse the Chief of the Army David Lansana and his surrogate Hinga Norman to thwart the swearing of Siaka Stevens Prime Minister had not taken place, Sierra Leone would have been a better country today in terms of democratic principles and state governance. At that time the Rule of Law was strictly adhered to. More so, the indecision by Sir Albert to use his astute intellect to accept the results of the elections betrayed the trust so many of us, though young at that time, had in him. He was a political firebrand and a capable orator equaled only to Sekou Toure of Guinea and Kwame Nkruma of Ghana. The international press called him Albert Margai of Africa. That fateful mistake lured by greed and arrogance of power gave birth to all the miseries endured by the people, and the retrogression of the country.
On his assumption of his duties as Prime Minister in 1968, Siaka Stevens created a government of national unity with the hope of curing the ills sustained by the intervention of the Military in the political process caused by them – the SLPP. Instead of cooperating with the APC leader in good faith and for the sake of the people and the country, they (SLPP) engaged in frantic irrational subterranean endeavors to create panic and insecurity in the country. So he had to get rid of them from the coalition.
The 1996 elections were a joke. The political machinery was a mess. The population was fraught with disgust and wanted to forget the war and gave a try to Pa. Tejan Kabbah, a renowned international figure to bring sanity in the lives of the people. He only succeeded to breed a cesspool of avaricious political vampires whose only desire was to wallop the country’s meager resources and cap in hand handouts from donors to satisfy their filthy and avaricious appetites.
The 2002 elections, known as the Wutehteh elections, were a sham. The SLPP took advantage of the war knowing fully well that there was no way the APC could venture into the South and East for fear of the dreaded Kamajors (civil defense force). The SLPP leaders also capitalized on the lack of cohesive political machinery by the APC Party. So their proportional representation was a ploy to entrench themselves in power. The international observers had to beg the APC flag bearer Dr. Ernest Koroma to accept the results as they were for the sake of peace and social well being of the downtrodden people. For the sake of peace, he wholeheartedly accepted and spoke to his supporters to accept and keep the peace. He became a very vibrant and articulate opposition leader. The only thing the SLPP can now boast to have done during their eleven years in government is bringing peace in the country. But is that true? The answer is a resounding No! The SLPP never brought peace to Sierra Leone; peace was imposed on them by the international community. Hon. Ernest Bai Koroma, former Minority Leader in the House of Parliament at that time brought a semblance of peace in the country by not fighting over time to disrupt the SLPP administrative agenda like they are now doing.
With all these reasons and advantages in their favor, they became complacent, avaricious, arrogant, deaf, dumb and blind to reality. Now they are making anger an enemy of reason; Rape a mere political platitude to galvanize international euphoria against the decent and legitimate government of the APC party.
And now the erudite Dr. Kadie Sesay, so subsumed in political incorrectness, has invented a new word in the Queen’s Language, “vandalisation” just to make a point. Like Madam Ella Koblo Gulama, she would soon ask John Benjamin to give her his pants and take her lappa in critical decision making if John is seen to cooperate with the President. She seemed to be angry at the Inspector General of Police who is an authority and head of civil security in the country. She is still using the buzzzzz word “alleged rape” to still convince the inconsolable women folk who by dint of hearing the word “RAPE” even if used in mendacious ploy to create discord and rancor in the communities, will spew fear in them. Even when it is an allegation, which could not be substantiated or proven beyond a reasonable doubt, Dr. Kadie Sesay of all people, whom much is expected from, is still angry at the Police Chief who had been a loyal Servant serving their government with all their whims and caprices, to the best of his ability. Because he is now showing the same commitment to his duties and saying the truth as it was found by investigative sources, the venerable Doctor is crying foul and singing Kumbaya, threatening to fight to kill to convince the people about the inconceivable lies spewed by their surrogates to besmear and tarnish the good name of the President and his government. The fact that they could not produce real pictures like the ones they had distributed on the night of March 13th. that depicted the morose faces of Lansana Fadika and others is indicative that the stigmatized word “alleged rape” is a mere political platitude to score points and tarnish the image of the country both at home and abroad. This, to me, is an assault on reason.
I would like to advice Aunty Kadie not to be fretful of the truth for bogus political reasons. She should not go the way Madam Ella Koblo Gulama used to go wherein she lost all her good reputation due to her forwardness in critical political settings. I would like to see her maintain her reputation of being the only functional Minister in their dysfunctional government that ditched the country into the abyss the APC is fighting to lift it from.
Just as truth exalts itself and exhorts those that say it, it is equally true that the love of power can overwhelm reason. The use of fear against reason always breeds incalculable loss of lives and property when pursued for irrational political ambitions. Equally true is the use of fear and hate to disseminate slanderous epithets against individuals or a group thereof, only breed contempt and rancor for each other, no matter one’s social status or political trimmings. By spewing mendacious propaganda against their fellow citizens by mischaracterized publications – both in print and online – leaves much to be desired. We should avoid making hate and lust for power the enemy of peace and progress in the country. After all is said and done, Sierra Leone belongs to all Sierra Leoneans. We are One Country and One People with One Destiny under GOD. The best amongst us in the sight of GOD are those that enjoined GOOD and forbid EVIL.
Let me conclude with these words of wisdom by Maya Angelou:
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage; need not be lived again.”
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