Between Koroma’s prosperity & Sam Sumana’s apprenticeship

By John Pa Baimba Sesay :

After spending slightly over two months in Sierra Leone, I have arrived in Beijing with a sense of pride, that there is a mission accomplished. Re-electing President Koroma and Sam Sumana was a great mission for those of us who believe in their ideologies, principles and philosophies. I left Sierra Leone on the night of the 10th December, for Beijing, with a very satisfied mind, that we did what we could, to move Sierra Leone top the apex of development, through the election of President Koroma.

I am also practically impressed, that after months and years of explaining to the people of Sierra Leone and the world over what President Koroma has been doing to transform the lives of his people, (through my articles and articulating such views on radio) the people saw the need to renew his political contract to govern them for another five years. Ernest is indeed the political ‘world’s best’, as was seen in each and every corner of Sierra Leone he went to campaign. Sam Sumana has been the best number eight Sierra Leone has been given thus far. His efforts to deliver Kono, was well beyond commendation. Forget about my proverbial night lives I gave to Sam, Sumana few months to elections, let the point be made, also that the SLPP were very jumpy with the selection of Sam Sumana as running mate to the President. They knew, he was going to politically murder them in the east, especially Kono. And we saw what they did in trying to bring him down, but they failed.

PRESIDENT KOROMA AND VP SUMANA DISPLAYING TO THE WORLD THE APC’S WINNING MANIFESTO

Kono gave some 587.2% of total vote cast to President Koro9ma and the APC party, whilst Julius Bio got 37.1% vote casts in the same place. Now, from the overall national results, President Koroma got 58.7% whilst Julius Bio got 37.4%. So you will realize, that the elections were determined by the vote casts in Kono, which, before now, was assumed to be a stronghold of SLPP. But that stronghold tradition was broken by the support and hard apprenticeship of Sam Sumana, a man that as well came from Kono. That said, I am also of the view, that there was no match to President Koroma during the recently concluded elections, given how the people voted and even how Kailahun, another strategically located district in Sierra Leone’s geo-political arrangement, cast their votes this time round. If President Koroma could win a parliamentary seat in Kailahun, in a constituency that was once occupied by the most vocal but a woefully rejected and defeated publicity secretary of the opposition, it tells you the national character of the President. Coupled with the failure by Tamba Sam to go and make a case for another term, due to his unending love for the TV and radio stations in Freetown at the time, there was also the desire on the part of the people to Kailahun to teach some politicians a lesson. But have they leant any?

President Koroma’s vote cast did not only come from the north or the western area, but he performed exemplary well in the south-east that one is left to wonder what awaits the SLPP ahead of the next Presidential and Parliamentary elections, in five years time. President Koroma was chased out of Kailahun, but today, he is like the political Christ in that part of Sierra Leone. The victory by President Koroma and Sam Sumana tells a lot about Sierra Leone’s progress in her democratic governance; when you perform, you will be voted; that if you have a baggage, you will be thrown into the political wilderness. Having done extremely well during his first years in governance, through the Agenda for Change, President Koroma and team campaigned on the platform of taking the country to prosperity. And this process of taking Sierra Leone to prosperity shall be fulfilled with the collective efforts of all Sierra Leoneans.
In a foreword, as contained in the Agendas for Change, President Koroma highlighted that in five years, Sierra Leone has been turned around, as the country is practically stable and at peace. In 2007, he ran on a ticket of change; five years later the change he promised came and it has visibly changed the quality of life of Sierra Leoneans. President Koroma has an ambition of ensuring that Sierra Leoneans benefit from the endowments which God gave us and he has a goal of providing a healthier nation; building better schools, better hospitals, and better roads; providing greater prosperity; and giving power to the people. In fact during the launch of his 2012 party manifesto prior to the elections, he spoke of his commitment to his pledge of developing Sierra Leone, thus saying, “…the election is not just about winning; it is about the future of this country…” It was with this message that he kept calling on Sierra Leoneans to give him their votes for “a second term to change our collective dreams to a national reality…”

As we have often stated, and even as President Koroma once said, we still have those people who in spite of the progress we are experiencing as a country, still continue to preach sermons of doom. But the decision taken by the people of Sierra Leone to return President Koroma and Sam Sumana into governance indicates that such messages of doom will not be accommodated. The election of the President and his Vice will therefore be an underpinning factor that will help in scaling up the gains we have made in just five years and bring prosperity to all Sierra Leoneans. The President and his Vice were voted to ensure continuity of the march from the inaction of intentions, which had once paralyzed such a great nation of ours in the past, to the forward thinking action-better-than-intention philosophy that is bringing change we can see and feel and spearheaded by President Ko0roma and Chief Sam Sumana.

President Koroma and Sam Sumana were re-elected into office because the people wanted to ensure that those who mortgaged the integrity of this nation and used the bullet to force their will on the people will never be rewarded with the highest office in the land. It was also done in the view of trying to stop those who think that road networks and free health care are a waste; the people have spoken, that such people should not be given a chance to take us back to the broken past of broken roads, of broken health care and of broken hopes. The alternative to President Koroma, as presented us by a selected few, during the 2012 elections was a true replica of an alternative that belongs to the broken nation of the past and not the new Sierra Leone that we are today trying to build up. And as we move, let it be known that work is in progress and President Koroma and Sam, Sumana are in a hurry to develop Sierra Leone and no one should be allowed to bring us back. With the political commitment on the part of government, especially in line with the national efforts to re-brand Sierra Leone, Lungi airport is currently undergoing a facelift, with the Peoples’ Republic of China working on plans for the construction of a new international airport in the Port Loko District. The twenty one km Tokeh-Lumley road is ongoing; the first 9 km stretch of the road from Lumley to Tokeh is being expanded to four lanes. The construction of the 87 km Kenema- Pendembu section of the Kenema Kailahun Highway has commenced. Funding for the Pendembu-Kailahun and Sefadu-Matotoka Highways has been secured, with work on the Regent-Jui Road is ongoing, amongst other development initiatives.

We are now in an era of moving towards prosperity, through an Agenda for Prosperity, led by Sam Sumana and his Boss, my President and your President, Ernest Bai Koroma. For Sierra Leone’s development, time is running out like a burning candle. In the next five years, Sierra Leone will strengthen her macroeconomic and financial management, improving and expanding road infrastructure, expanding energy generation and distribution, promoting job creation and self employment and scaling up agricultural productivity amongst others. Sam Sumana d and President Koroma have taken the lead in this direction and we are should now be moving towards prosperity. With an effective apprenticeship having been provided by Sam Sumana to President Koroma, coupled with the ambitious Agenda for Prosperity, we are, as a country bound to make progress, we are bound to grow economically and we are bound to be what we should be, in the coming decades. When we blend the Prosperity Agenda and the apprenticeship provided by Sam Sumana thus far, all I can argue is, they are both positive combinations foir Sierra Leone’s growth.