FIGHTING INDISCIPLINE
Prior to the 2018 Presidential elections, I developed some serious admiration for President Julius Maada Bio especially the time he shared the New Direction manifesto with civil society and the media at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel. By then I was serving as deputy Editor of Concord Times and since I was interested in the document, I had to attend the program, although I was not present till the end of the session, after being replaced by a colleague.
The program was set for 10am and I was there by 9:45 am. On my arrival, I met President Bio, First Lady Fatima Jabi Bio, Dr.Prince Harding, Umaru Napoleon Koroma and a few others in the hall where the program took place. The time I got there the hall was half empty as many invited guests were not present. But when I saw Bio and other executive members of the SLPP, I came to the conclusion that, indeed our President has a thorough military background.
I said so because practising as a journalist over the years, I have come to realise that the military is the only institution that has respect for time in Sierra Leone. If you are to cover a press conference or any other function at the Ministry of Defense (MOD), you have to be there earlier or you will not be allowed entry into the hall because the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) will be there before time.
The door to the hall will be closed and the military personnel manning the door will tell you that ‘the pa dae insai en we nor dae allow porsin for go insai’ ( our boss is already seated and we cannot allow any other person to enter).Those who have experienced such know exactly what I am saying-he who feels it knows it! That culture of respect for time is deeply embedded in each and every member of the military and President Bio is no exception.
One of the biggest problems we have as Sierra Leoneans, and probably one among many other reasons for the country’s backwardness, is the lack of respect for time. We have devised our own time schedule, and instead of the Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT), we believe in the Black Man Time’ (BMT).We are completely at variance with others as if we are living in a separate world.
My admiration for President Bio grew more stature after he was elected President in 2018. He started on a good footing when he paid an unannounced visit to Youyi Building which almost houses all government Ministries and other Departments. His visit inspired workers to be reporting early for work, moreso when a Memo was issued for all workers to be reporting for work at 8am daily. But the lack of consistency in the leadership style of President Bio has slowly slaughtered that particular inspiration.
What was expected of President Bio is that he should have been emphasising that message in all cabinet meetings so that the message would go deeper and deeper. Lateness is a norm among public officials who are being paid by tax payers’ money.While on 98.1, President Bio noted that he was expecting head of MDAs to enforce the policy, not knowing they are the worst.
What is so disgusting is that you hardly attend a public function in which organisers would not say ‘sorry for starting late’-we are waiting for so, so and so-probably a government minister or a director. Pity! In Sierra Leone, public officials consider themselves as demi gods, they would be on bed for up to 11am, get up at 12midday, take birth at 12:30 and report for work at 1pm. Do you expect the country to move forward when those who are supposed to be making viable decision have no respect for time and never treat their job seriously? We will continue in a complete mess with a total stagnation if corrective measures are not taken.
Under the watch of President, we have witnessed serious indiscipline attitude of youth who aligned themselves with the ruling SLPP, but none of them have ever been arrested. When rat in the form of human called ‘Arata’ of the SLPP and a government minister vandalised a whole polling station in the presence of the police during the Constituency 110 by-election, they were never arrested, but rather some members of the opposition were arrested and detained at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Freetown.
When the Mayor of the Freetown City Council was severally attacked by SLPP party youth resident at the party headquarters, nobody say a word about the issue-they went scot free. This administration is openly characterised with selective justice and that particular phenomenon is seriously undermining the fight against indiscipline. Never have you allowed party boys to do you any harm because they are protected by the system.
Even with commercial bike riders, the police would only arrest motorbikes that have no connection with the police. How do you think discipline will be achieved when those who are to enforce the law are the ones breaking it?
As a country and as a government, we need serious introspection into our daily activities or else things will continue to worsen.For President Bio, indiscipline is when people protest for things they feel aggrieved about. He described the Makeni riot where six innocent youth were killed as lawlessness-that they were incited by opposition politicians. To him, even the riot at Tombo where youth went berserk because they were deprived of their livelihood, was lawlessness and one machinated by his political opponents.
To a certain extent, some of us were not happy with the behaviour of the irate youth –destroying property including a health centre, but protest is part of democracy. You cannot govern a country with a paranoiac attitude because you will always judge people wrongly, even if they have genuine intention to protest for things they feel aggrieved about.
We are expecting President Bio to lead the country with an open mind and stop being paranoid. As a president, he has a social contract with the people who don’t have direct contact with him and the only available means they could communicate their grievances for his attention is through protest. Do you call that lawlessness and political incitement?
While taking oath at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel during the swearing-in ceremony, President Bio promised to be president for all Sierra Leoneans, irrespective of political, ethnic and regional background, but over the years things have naturally proven otherwise.
DECEPTION
Do I hear President Bio on Radio Democracy 98.1 calling on people to lower their expectations? He emphatically told the public that development is a process and that issues of the nation cannot be fixed overnight. Almost, everybody including the Presidential Press Secretary, Yusuf Keketoma Sandy, trying to defend the frailties of the New Direction administration, keeps telling people that ‘development is a process’. Yes, development is a process! A child is not expected to walk, talk or do anything independently on the day of birth-it involves a process from the physical, cognitive to psychosocial.
But the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) under the New Direction administration never knew all that before they assumed power, they promised us heavens, they told us that the All People’s Congress had failed and that they have the required solutions to the country’s predicaments. When in opposition, the SLPP never told us that they did not know the problems of the country; we voted them because they were able to convince us that they can fix the problems.
Practising as a journalist over the years, I have observed that most African politicians, especially ours in Sierra Leone, are very much deceitful. As time goes by, we keep experiencing that the trend continues with our politicians playing with our minds, thinking that we are all fools and that they can easily prey on us with their big fat lies. In my quiet moment, I always say to myself that if I would have opted to be a serial killer, my main targets would have been politicians. They would lie with impunity, thinking that everybody is a fool.
In Sierra Leone, I could safely say that Dr.Samura Kamara is the only honest politician we have, perhaps the reason could be his experience over the years working in reputable international institutions like the IMF and World Bank where honesty is a watch-word.
During the Presidential debate at the Bintumani International Conference centre before the elections, Dr.Samura Kamara did argue that development of a country cannot take place overnight and that it involves a process. He was referred to as a fool for saying the truth and the SLPP used that as a campaign message to convince gullible voters who were hoodwinked into voting the party.
President Bio promised to fix the economy by tightening leakages, but end up opening a reservoir of reckless spending through meaningless travels and places the country in a wilderness of economic hardship. Three years down the line President Bio has created more offices with party boys enjoying lucrative salaries while the country is suffering economic hard-hit.
Sierra Leone politicians would continue deceiving the gullible public by promising them the heavens, but at the of the day concentrate on their pockets at the expense of the poor masses.
