A mischievous SLPP spin doctor going by the name of Eddie Momoh has
published widely in the local tabloids an opinionated piece captioned:
‘Politics of the old guard’, in which in many ways he seeks to throw
elements of doubt on the integrity of the leadership of the APC party
when for instance he wrote: “The problem with the APC leadership is
their collective lack of sincerity and little interest in political
dialogue.”

HE IS A REAL WINNER

Having set the stage for espousing his prejudices, he goes on to
indirectly establish that the SLPP has no appetite to wine and dine
with the APC because the APC leadership has not encouraged them with
talk of inclusive government; the main reason why the SLPP NEC had
tried to hold President Koroma to ransom by declaring that their MPs
and councilors w2oyuld not take their seats until negotiations with
the APC.

To buttress the SLPP’s reluctance to be part of the governance
process, Like their mentor Dr. Banya too is fond of proclaiming, Eddie
Momoh also falsely states that the APC did not win the 2007 elections;
and also this one – and that on both occasions, the SLPP leadership
only reluctantly congratulated President Koroma. How can the SLPP be
so stubbornly uncivil?

The 2007 scenario evoked by Eddie Momoh is reminiscent of Maada Bio’s
reluctance to do the gentlemanly thing after the 2012 presidential and
parliamentary election results had been pronounced by the NEC
Chairperson.

However, it gets a little boring when regularly the SLPP depicts
itself as a crying baby looking for sympathy where there is none to be
found.

Like most SLPP supporters who find it hard to face up to reality as it
is, instead of selling their party’s ideology to be able to gain
grounds for 2017, Eddie takes offense at just about everything
constructive that President Koroma’s government has worked so hard to
achieve in the last five years on behalf of the people of this
country.

For example, he paints a gloomy picture of current demand for iron ore
mined by African Minerals; stating that there is no market for it.
He does not stop there; he goes on to say that the Bumbuna hydro dam
is in danger of collapse because, as he wrote, it is full of cracks,
will take a long time to repair, will cost millions of dollars and
that, “This development does not bode well for investors’ confidence”.
Definitely, nothing could be farther from the truth than this
statement calculated to damage the reputation of the contractors who
built the Bumbuna dam.

What one finds very preposterous in the article is Eddie’s assertion
that: “To get the economy back on track, we need a strong government
with the mandate to tackle the crisis finances and the strength to see
through tough measures.”

To dispel Eddie Momoh’s malicious lie, I want to refer the entire
nation to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) Second Sahara
African (SSA) Regional Economic Outlook (REO) report for the financial
Fiscal Year ending 2012. The IMF report which is produced twice yearly
looks at key macro-economic developments, including financial sector
issues pertinent to the continent.

This year’s report focuses on policies on maintaining growth in an
uncertain economic world, spillover effect of development in Nigeria
and South Africa and the rest of sub-Sahara Africa, and also
highlights on progress on structural transformation.

An op-ed written by the IMF representative in Sierra Leone, Dr.
Francis Y. Kumah, shows that the country is making significant
economic improvement and therefore needs to refocus on policies to
strengthen economic governance and resilience of the economy to any
external shock.

The IMF representative in Sierra Leone notes that the country will
need to make more fiscal space to address the key areas in the Agenda
for Prosperity and also to provide a conducive atmosphere for the
labor and human resource manpower in order to build on tax and
revenue.

Dr. Francis Y. Kumah also noted that Sierra Leone government needs to
expand its tax base and strengthen public financial managrment.
This, dear Eddie Momoh, is the true state of the economy as analyzed
by a very credible international financial institution that is not
biased.

After that lie, running off at a tangent, Eddie suggests that “A good
starting point for President Koroma would be to realize that his
continued policy of polarization of the state, the retrogressively
winner takes all mentality and the inflammatory ranting by some bigots
in his party are not helpful to the future of the country.”
Can we see clearly where Eddie Momoh’s logic is heading towards? He is
like saying, power sharing. If the APC do not agre to share power with
us the SLPP, we will continue to muddy the development water.
This does not bother President Koroma and the APC one bit because
quite recently, aAddressing thousands of Muslims during a national
‘Juma’ prayer session at the National Stadium, Brookfields in
Freetown, President Ernest Bai Koroma said: “We should raise our
determination not to reverse Sierra Leone anymore. We should make the
impossible possible. Development will be possible and quick, quick,
quick….”

President Koroma assured that his government will soon roll out and
start implementing the new “Agenda for Prosperity” development plans
and called on all Sierra Leoneans to work for its success.
“I have placed the responsibility of peace to all Sierra Leoneans and
want all the other political parties to contribute in the interest of
national development,” President Koroma said.
.