WHAT PATRIOTIC CITIZENS DEMAND FROM INTERNATIONAL MORAL GUARANTORS
By Kabs Kanu
The job of moral guarantors is not to preside over the modernity and lack thereof of parties, otherwise you may need to also consider the bush and uncivilized politics of the SLPP. Their duty is to look squarely and passionately at the issues in contention and help resolve them. The appointment of the electoral commissioner , for instance, was not done through the stipulated and agreed legal process. It needs to be addressed .
In the opinion of many people , the problems of the APC leadership are cowardice, opportunism , “easy believism “ and lack of a sense of direction. These are the public perceptions of today’s APC. This has been criminally exploited by the criminals in the SLPP , including President Maada Bio. But that does not mean that where their rights are violated, they must not be addressed.
The APC is a very patient and compliant party and these are some of the problems the SLPP has been exploiting to bully the APC and deny them their fundamental political rights, though you would also like to ask when such a behemoth of a political party as the APC became suddenly spineless.
If everything the SLPP has done to the APC were perpetrated by the APC In power, there would have been war in Sierra Leone because the SLPP is very impatient and lawless. For moral guarantors, their action should be like a dutiful father who does not allow a lawless brother to take advantage of the lweakness and complacency of the other brother .
My opinion is that the biggest problem of the APC is weak leadership. I was already grown up when politics began becoming nasty in Sierra Leone around the mid- 1960s when the SLPP, under Sir Albert Margai began their lawless rule . Sir Albert violated every imaginable constitution norm and sought to bully the resurgent APC . But though the SLPP had the power of incumbency , including the support of the criminal Force Commander of the Army , Brigadier David Lansana, and the Police, the APC then did not allow itself to be bullied, thanks to the fearless, powerful, uncompromising and vibrant leadership of Messers Siaka P. Stevens , S. I. koroma, C. A. Camara Taylor, Borbor Kamara, S. B. Kawusu Konte , Muctarr Kallay , Ibrahim Taqi, Mohamed Bash Taqi, Sahr Fillie Faboe, and strong and serious women like Nancy Steele, Mammy Kainday , Regina James and others. They were ready to die for the APC and the nation.
These 1960s APC leaders were not easy to be cowed and driven into submission. When they said something, they stood by it. They were not fighting among themselves and greed for money did not become their preoccupation. They were very stalwart and robust politicians, not charlatans or hypocrites or sugar ants like Mohamed Bangura , for instance . Because of this, the SLPP was no match for them . They conquered the SLPP at every turn of the needle. When the Army seized power after the APC won the 1967 elections, the APC did not sign any political pact with them or the SLPP. They went to Guinea and began training a military force to come and reclaim power. Siaka Stevens was a man in every sense of the word. He did not fear any painted devil.
Moral guarantors should not be quick to ask the opposition party to concede. This is very unfair. And this is another thing the SLPP is exploiting and they also allegedly make it easier for the opposition to cave in by bribing the unscrupulous MPs. The amount of dollars President Bio is inclined to dish out to unprincipled opposition members is often responsible for the APC quickly agreeing to surrender their rights and uncritically decide to cooperate with the criminal SLPP, though they know that President Bio never respects anything and will eventually fail to follow on implantation of recommendations and reforms.
If there must be concessions, it must be across the board. The opposition should not be the ones conceding all the time.
We, the patriotic citizens of Sierra Leone , demand fairness to both the SLPP and the APC from moral guarantors.
TO BE CONTINUED
Leave a Reply