What any reasonable person would perceive as a dangerous spectre of tribalism in Sierra Leone has been laid nakedly bare before everybody’s eyes through a circulation in the social media of a comprehensive list of all the tribal appointments President Bio has made since he came to power in 2018 . As shown below by the list , which was made available to COCORIOKO, every ministry, department, agency and diplomatic mission has been saturated with Mendes —an ethnic group that constitutes only 30% of the population of Sierra Leone.
The list was compiled by political activists and citizen journalists trying to demonstrate that President Maada Bio is an incurable bigot and tribalist , who has turned a whole nation into a tribal hegemonic state of only one ethnic group–Memdes . This updated list in possession of COCORIOKO and other newspapers and published at Facebook and Whatsapp Forums, was released to counter supporters of the ruling Mende-dominated Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP), who recently went on the offensive to condemn the 2018 Presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress ( APC ), Dr. Samura Kamara, who publicly complained that President Bio has turned Sierra Leone into a Mende country and one could not get a job anymore in Sierra Leone if he could not speak Mende.
Sierra Leone has 16 ethnic groups , each with its own unique language and culture. The CIA World Factbook, updated in September last year, indicate that Mendes constitute 30.8 % of the population of Sierra Leone . Yet, as the list below shows, in President Bio’s government, Mendes dominate every Ministry, department, agency and diplomatic mission.
Since President Maada Bio came to power in 2018, Sierra Leoneans from all walks of life have been complaining bitterly that President Bio , in his appointments, was sidelining and marginalizing other ethnic groups and appointing only Mendes , as if they were the only ethnic group in the country. But President Bio being a man that seems to get away with everything , backed on the social media by a very loquacious choir of sycophants and bootlickers , who defend his every action stoutly, whether good or evil, the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Even yesterday, President sacked his Mende Inspector General of Police and replaced him with another man of mixed Mende/ Kissi heritage.
Image Courtesy : Judson Road Church of Christ
Whenever Sierra Leoneans complain that Bio is appointing only Mendes , SLPP supporters on the social media turn around and threaten them and accuse them of tribalism . Yet, evidence from this compiled list of appointments does not indicate any false accusation.
Yesterday, the usually cautious SIERRA LEONE TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER took up the issue and in an article titled, Presidential aspirant Dr Samura Kamara accused of tribalism – but is President Bio not tribalistic? the newspaper published this same updated list of tribal appointments and remarked : “President Bio himself is not denying the fact that he is making appointments based on who and what he knows. He said clearly in a radio interview last year that he only appoints those he knows into his government.” This statement by President Bio, being quoted by the Telegraph, is a clear case of nepotism being conceded by the President.
President Bio’s tribalism is very bad news not only for Sierra Leone but for the Africa, which has seen deadly and bloody tribal and ethnic conflicts in Liberia , Rwanda, Central African Republic and Congo Democratic Republic that spilled into neighboring countries, resulting in massive human casualties and tremendous refugee and displacement problems that tasked the resources of AU member states and the international community. Ethnic rivalries also caused the Nigeria-Biafran war of the 1970s that killed over one million people. So, the end-game of President Bio’s tribalism is more than obvious to Sierra Leoneans and Nigerians.
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Ethnic groups: Temne 35.4%, Mende 30.8%, Limba 8.8%, Kono 4.3%, Korankoh 4%, Fullah 3.8%, Mandingo 2.8%, Loko 2%, Sherbro 1.9%, Creole 1.2% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century; also known as Krio), other 5% (2019 est.)
Definition: This entry provides an ordered listing of ethnic groups starting with the largest and normally includes the percent of total population.
Source: CIA World Factbook – This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
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