WILL THE BURNT CHILD DREAD THE FIRE ?
By Kabs Kanu
When I see the number of SLPP people backing up Umaru Fofana for his slanted ,pro- SLPP BBC reports, I shake my head in disgust. When I see the multitudes of SLPP people supporting President Bio’s corruption, bad governance, wastefulness of our economic resources through needless travels, human rights abuses and the wickedness of the Police and army, I want to cry for my nation.
When I see how SLPP have tribally and regionally divided our country and set our nation on the trajectory for a possible tribal war, if we do not pray for our country, I cry and I reflect on how we, Sierra Leoneans, found ourselves in this present predicament .
FORMER PRESIDENT ERNEST KOROMA
1. The first thing that landed us in this serious problem we are in today is the last APC government. They disregarded or underrated the penchant for tribal and regional hegemony , insane corruption, hatefulness, wickedness and vindictiveness of MAADA BIO and the SLPP and offered them too much goodwill and opportunities , virtually helping them to gain power . APC did not understand that while we were thinking NATION and NATIONAL INTEREST , the other side ,as always, were thinking only about TRIBE and REGION. APC behaved like there was nothing at stake, like national interest . APC helped SLPP win the 2018 elections, thinking they will be liberal, democratic, nationalistic and full of goodwill like us and this is the price the nation is paying today for the APC sellout. We sold our nation by our naivety and impotence.
2. The second thing is that APC lost civil society, governance institutions, our Foreign service, the traditional media ( Even the BBC ) and social media to the SLPP long before 2018 . This was how we lost Sierra Leone. How APC sat down and allowed SLPP to overcome and outnumber them in all these institutions is perplexing and still very difficult to understand . Almost every civil society activist and journalist is SLPP. We started suffering while we were in power . If you do not believe, ask the foreign ministers , ambassadors and diplomats who worked with us in the SLPP – controlled foreign service ( Though some of these ministers immaturely contributed to the outnumbering and tribal and regional inbalance ). I pause for now on this matter.
3. Thirdly, our people are easy to buy–Too cheap, no integrity, no loyalty to their own. Southeasterners are more united behind their tribalistic, hegemonic bandwagon and more loyal to their cause than the APC .We have a more nationalistic outlook but we are not loyal to our own cause like the SLPP. Whenever they gain power, they show us this side of their character but APC never learns . We continue to lose power to them carelessly and in the process hurt our nation. Look at the atrocities caused by the NPRC and Kabbah SLPP. Because APC people are so pliable ( Easy to use ) and lack integrity, love for their own and loyalty, Maada Bio stepped in to capitalize on our divisions and problems and today the APC is being held hostage and crippled even as the sounds of elections bells draw nearer.
4. Britain effected regime change in Sierra Leone and succeeded because we were busy fighting for flagbearership. Those who wanted to be flagbearers fought each other to a standstill and when Dr. Samura Kamara and Chericoco were chosen, it angered them and they are still fighting the party to bring it down.Some of them tell people that they got angry because they received lofty promises and assurances that went unfulfilled. APC should have blocked Infa Allie from announcing the compromised elections results through the courts. There were too many irregularities for the court to have upheld our objections and ordered a recount or cancelled results where over- voting took place. But because everybody had some dissatisfaction or the other, nobody took the initiative and with Britain behind the scenes, orchestrating regime change , they found it so easy to succeed because APC had no stomach to fight for their own rights. If APC thinks SLPP will cede power to them that cheaply, they must have their heads examined. We have the grassroots support but Bio will do whatever it takes to rig the elections and give himself an undeserved second term.
Now, look at the mess in which our nation has been landed. The nationalistic political party , the grassroots party that , despite all its own problems, stood for the nation, gave power to a tribalistic and regionalistic political party that does not care for the nation . Look at all the human rights abuses being committed by President Bio and his Kamajor Police and army and the cacophony of partisan and mindless support these human rights abuses are receiving from multitudes of SLPP fanatics and even on BBC. Look at the tribal, ethnic and regional hatred the SLPP have created in our nation , to the extent that social media is now being used to fuel it.
As a nation, Sierra Leone does not deserve all this and the situation must be reversed in 2023. Another five years of Maada Bio will take our country to the cleaners. Bio is not able to rule Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans will not permit and endure this ongoing tribal and regional hegemony for another five years. But are the APC and progressive forces up to the task of dislodging the nebulous Maada Bio and his Kamajor junta from power and saving our nation ?
TO BE CONTINUED
