BRITAIN AND U.S, BEWARE : YOU ARE GIVING UNDESERVED CREDENCE TO A TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE

BRITAIN AND U.S, BEWARE : YOU ARE GIVING UNDESERVED CREDENCE TO A TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE

November 19, 2021

By KABS KANU
Publisher, Cocorioko Newspaper

The United States and Britain do not seem to care any longer about human rights violations , blatant corruption and political oppression in countries like Sierra Leone. We make bold to say so, without equivocation, because these two countries are presently busy sucking up to a serial dictator in Sierra Leone . The smell of the horrendous human rights ,oppression and corruption scandals exploding around the presidency reeks to the high heavens and why does it seem like Britain and the U.S do not know ?

Sierra Leoneans think that America and Britain do not care anymore about corrupt and human rights abusing leaders because right under our noses, these two countries that once set the pace in fighting these evils around the world are busy propping up a president who has reversed all the progress these very countries helped Sierra Leone achieve after its bloody civil war. He has killed dozens of people with impunity in Sierra Leone —at Tombo, Mile 91, Lunsar, Tonko Limba, Makeni and the Pademba Road Prisons ( Where over a hundred prisoners were massacred ) but we have heard no condemnation from these two countries who hold the flag as the policemen of the world.

No doubt about it. Sierra Leoneans have lost respect for and trust in both America and Britain not only because they have remained silent and unconcerned about the horrific human rights abuses President Maada Bio has committed since he came to power in 2018 and the disregard for the constitution and the rule of law and bombshell corruption scandals exploding all around him, his flamboyant wife and government. Sierra Leoneans are also very disappointed in America and Britain because even as President Bio waxes worse everyday, these so-called moral guarantors of good governance, respect for the law and the constitution and human rights , peace and stability in Sierra Leone are flashing unmistakable signals that they endorse the atrocities and lawless governance of President Bio.

The goodwill and support President Bio seems to be enjoying from these two countries are very irritating to Sierra Leoneans because it is not as if these countries do not see and know the facts about what is going on in Sierra Leone. The very America’s State Department, in its 2020 Country Report , indicted President Bio for his horrible human rights record and financial crimes against the people of Sierra Leone.

If the U.S. State Department could meticulously highlight all the crimes President has committed since he came to power , how come the very US’ Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC ) awarded President Bio passes in two crucial area —-Fighting corruption and granting citizens political rights —and calling on his government to continue developing a Compact which would see the MCC giving the government a whooping grant of U.S $ 400 million ? Is the MCC serious ? How did the MCC come by these pass grades for a President who is the archetypal replica of the heinous dictators and human rights abusers these very countries fought out of power in the 70s, 80s and 90s ? Why such a comical disparity between the reports of the U.S State Department and the MCC ? Can you give pass grades for granting political rights to a government whose brutal police officers beat 10 MPs on the floor of Parliament and then unlawfully make them lose their seats , crimes highlighted by the State Department and EU reports ?

As for Britain, only few weeks ago, the European Union ( EU) Elections Observer team gave its findings on the performance of President Bio, and damned his government for its lawless governance and violation of the constitution and in no uncertain terms , the EU expressed total lack of confidence in the SLPP’s judiciary , Elections Commission and Parliament. It was only one week after this report that the MCC released its scorecard which contradicted everything in the U. S State Department and EU reports.

And yesterday praises by the British High Commissioner , Mrs. Lisa Chesney for President Bio ‘s judiciary —the very judiciary whose credibility the U.S. State Department and E.U reports impeached — left many Sierra Leoneans wondering whether the High Commissioner knew what she was saying.

According to the Judiciary Communications Unit, the British High Commissioner said she was impressed with the progress that the Sierra Leone judiciary has made under the present Chief Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards . Progress ? What progress ? Right now, opposition politician, Mohamed Kamarainba , is dying in prison, the courts refusing to grant him bail for two years now for alleged rape, a bailable offence, while the ruling SLPP Chairman, Dr. Prince Harding , is enjoying his liberty, though he was recently arrested and is under criminal investigation by the Police for allegedly killing his driver. Is that what the British High Commissioner calls progress ? And then today, the former President of the Sierra Leone Bar Association , Mrs. Bastia Michael, resigned because she felt that the judiciary has lost its independence and integrity in the matter involving the illegal suspension of the auditor General who was removed by President Bio for allegedly questioning overinflated travel vouchers and to stop her from tabling in Parliament the 2020 Audit Report ,which has very worrying and shameful financial crimes committed by this government . Is that what you call progress, Madam High Commissioner ?

With such hypocrisy and double standards by the U.S and Britain, Sierra Leoneans have every right to suspect that either these two countries do not care about how President Bio and his SLPP government are busy flouting the law and the constitution and making a charade of democracy or they are giving undue credence to his bloody and lawless governance.

It is as a result of these contradictions that we want to strongly warn both countries to desist from interfering in favor of President Bio in our presidential elections in 2023 , as Britain did in 2018 when they helped to effect regime change. Sierra Leoneans are beginning to fear, based on what the MCC is doing and praises the U.S Ambassador and British High Commissioner are showering on this president that they might tilt the election in his favor in 2023.

The people of Sierra Leone are tired with President Bio . They have seen no progress since he came to power. Under him, Sierra Leone has regressed in everything that counts. Quality of life has plunged precipitously for every Sierra Leonean since President Bio came to power. Cost of living has gone through the roof and a bag of rice has increased to Le 500,000 . President Bio has no respect for the constitution or the law. He is the most unpopular and despised president this country has ever had He is a very tribalistic man and only appoints Mendes to government and public service positions. He has divided our country along tribal lines. All Sierra Leoneans have experienced since Bio became President in 2018 is pain and extreme suffering.

Sierra Leoneans want a change of government in 2023, though there are widespread fears among Sierra Leoneans and the international community that President Bio will try to rig the elections in 2023. They would therefore not take kindly to any support for a Bio victory by Britain and the U.S.

We hope these two countries will keep their tacit support for Bio within the walls of their diplomatic missions. Any interference in our elections in 2023 will be resisted. Nobody will impose President Bio on Sierra Leoneans after all the pain and agony he has inflicted on our people. Bio has to go in 2023 in the supreme interest of the nation. Our people plan to vote him out . All we want from the U.S and Britain is that we are allowed to determine the destiny of our country because we feel the pain of the government’s lawless , undemocratic, unconstitutional and lawless governance in Sierra Leone.