AN OPEN LETTER TO MY SON : Monday May 3, 2021
—The 3 things spoiling our country now
Hey ma mehn, it’s Papay again. Thank you for responding yesterday and thank you for the beautiful conversation we had. That is the reason I love to talk with you always. You are one man who can understand issues .Hope you are doing fine this morning.
I just woke up, conducted the church morning prayer meeting and cannot get back to sleep , so I decided to write you. As we were discussing yesterday, many things are disturbing our country today. .
For this morning, I want to tell you about the three things that are spoiling Sierra Leone now, which if they do not address will put that country in serious trouble soon. They are Bad politicking, tribalism and greed.
As we both agreed yesterday, bad politics has really destroyed Sierra Leone. The politicians are no longer interested in promoting democracy and good governance, which are some of the reasons for which the people voted for them. All they are interested in now is how to outwit one another using criminal intrigues. All these things happening and the BOOK people, the clergy , that is the God people. those civil society people and the international community are saying nothing about it while politics is spoiling the country. The ruling SLPP Government is doing everything to stop the APC from returning to power. Greed for power has opened many new intrigues in our country. They are not waiting for the elections . They are fighting the opposition way before the elections.
One way they are frustrating the APC is by using Party renegades rebels and malcontents to sue the party and using the corrupt judiciary to delay the cases and later render bad judgements that stop the party from holding their convention , electing a flagbearer and preparing for the 2023 presidential elections. Ehn you remember the people I was telling you about—those NRM people who say they are reforming the APC. They had withdrawn their case from the court but now they are threatening new legal actions against the party but we know it is the SLPP secretly using them, capitalizing on the APC’s own mistakes and weaknesses like not being able to unite and having people within who do not have the love of the party at heart and are full of trouble and very ambitious for power. I will discuss that with you in another letter.
While this situation is festering, tribalism is running amok in the country. The level of tribalism in Sierra Leone has increased hundred fold since this government came to power and it is right now destroying the fabrics of national cohesion , national unity and peace. If these people don’t stop this tribalism, I am scared for my country, ma mehn.
When I worked at the UN for the past government, I served on the UN Peacebuilding Commission Sierra Leone Special Configuration and we worked very hard to change the mindset of the people towards political and tribal tolerance and national reconciliation and peace, using the media, civil society and political institutions that directly connect with the people. Though tribalism has always been in Sierra Leione, it was latent and did not go out of control has done since President Bio came to power.
I blame President Bio seriously for the upsurge of tribalism in Sierra Leone. When he assumed power, he stroke the flames of tribalism by making it seem like he only came to power to serve only the Mendes. All his ministerial and ambassadorial appointments as well as positions of directors of quasi-government institutions went to Mendes. He also engaged in systematic removal of Northwesterners and filling the vacancies with Mendes. The man is so crude and raw he has no conscience, no respect for laws, rules and the constitution. and as you can see people hate him so much they are not giving him much peace of mind to rule the country.
I have never seen a president that is so gated by the public like President Bio. They hate him so much that most people decided to stay home and did not partake in the 60th Independence Anniversary celebrations last week . One of the presidents he invited for the celebrations, the Ghanaian leader, Nana Akuffo Addo, in his speech warned this country about the dangers of tribalism, which shows that the world now knows about what is going on in the country. But the UN and international stakeholders who helped bring the last war to an end and facilitated peace in the country are sitting down and saying or doing nothing. They are waiting for the country to explode like RWANDA before coming hypocritically to try to save the situation.
Concurrently, greed is taking over the country. This president came to power promising to plug all the holes and control corruption, but he has ended up presiding over the most corrupt government ever in the history of our nation. They have a media called the AFRICANIST PRESS. They have infiltrated the government and have access to all the government’s documents and financial transactions and my mehn, the things those people are exposing about corruption are frightening.
The president, his flamboyant wife and officials are engaged in an orgy—this time, of corruption. Try to be reading the Africanist Press and other media reports to see how corruption is steadily spoiling our country. Even we too at COCORIOKO are exposing a lot. When LIBERIAN mehn used to say, “Freetown people dah so-so rogues,” it is now it is becoming manifestly indisputable.
This government is systematically being eaten away by greed and corruption. These are three of the many things spoiling our country now.Anyway, let me go have my breakfast. I have lots of paperwork to do this morning.
Please give Papay a shout when you have chance.
I hope you like my photo. I took it after church yesterday. Papay.( Pa Kabs )
