By Kabs Kanu
The President cannot afford to be silent when law and order are being disregarded and human rights abuses are being committed with impunity in his country.
Have we forgotten all too soon that one of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was that the 11 year brutal civil war was partly caused by the spirit of impunity which had been forstered in the country by subsequent and successive leaders after Independence?
While the security and welfare of the people and the safety of the nation are being jeopardized, President Bio’s SILENCE and INACTION are always noticeable , which is very surprising , coming from a man with military background , with the title of Brigadier. How can a military veteran have no interest in imposing law and order , safety and security i? Implausible as it is, it is even more puzzling when such a soldier is the head of state. Can a leader of a country sprung from the higher echelons of the military be so unconcerned about law, order and national security ? What kind of soldier is he ?
The conclusions of baffled Sierra Leone are not helpful to President MAADA BIO, unless he wants to leave a legacy as dishonorable as the bad reputation he already had as a killer and human rights abuser when he came to power.
Sierra Leoneans, who already consider him the worst leader they have ever had, are beginning to convince themselves that President Bio does not care for them. The President does not care for their safety and security in a world enmeshed in terrorism because , if he did, he would have spoken out against the lawlessness and chaos tightening their grips on the nation.
Sierra Leoneans are also beginning to believe that the reason President Bio is silent about the breakdown of law and order in the country is that he is the mastermind behind the violent behavior of his supporters who have been acting with impunity , attacking, beating , injuring and in some cases killing opponents of his Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ).
Worse still, President Bio has never pressed for action to be taken against supporters of his party caught on tape violating the law with impunity, launching attacks on opposition members or injuring or in some cases, killing them . His ministers and party officials were caught on tape trashing a polling station during a bye-election and vandalizing ballot boxes . No action was taken against the culprits ! ! ! Thugs in SLPP party colors were seen on tape, vandalizing market stalls, setting markets and homes on fire and inflicting injuries . No action was ever instituted against the vandals. Recently, SLPP supporters were seen attacking the opposition APC office and the Deputy Internal Affairs Minister brandishing an AK-47 at APC supporters in public. The nation heard nothing from the President. Nor were the perpetrators brought to justice.
President Bio is impervious of the shameful legacy he has been creating for himself and his SLPP party since he came to power in 2018. For President Bio, it was certainly power for power’s sake, not to do any job to address the welfare of the Sierra Leonean people .
Since he came to power, our nation has shockingly gone down in everything . Almost everybody is complaining of extreme hardship, with food prices intolerable as prices of basic commodities have gone through the roof, beyond the means of the people. Electricity has become very erratic with long and frequent blackouts . Petrol is scarce and prices at the pump have gone up twice since Bio came to power The value of the national currency, the Leone, against the American dollar and other international currencies, has plumetted so low that importing basic commodities has become a nightmare for business people . Commerce and investment are not coming in from abroad because of the state of insecurity in the nation since President Bio won power, controversially , in 2018.
Sierra Leone is approaching a state of economic disaster under President Bio and now because the President is doing nothing to address insecurity, lawlessness and impunity, some Sierra Leoneans are also fearing that their nation might be heading back to war.
The international community, especially Britain, our former colonial master, accused of imposing Bio on the nation, are sitting down supinely and also saying or doing nothing while Sierra Leone is being taken to the cleaners by President Bio
How much more unfortunate can a nation be ?
