President Bio And His SLPP Have Failed
By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
If some people are given the opportunity to swallow their words; one such persons who will do that with alacrity will be President Julius Maada Bio of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). If one should juxtapose the pre-2018 promises he made with what is now happening in the country, then one would be safe to infer that the Commander-in-Chief is as economical with the truth as a miserly economist who is tasked to carry out a multi-million dollar project on a shoestring budget!
In early 2018, when the then Mr Bio was promising to create a Utopia out of Sierra Leone; he was oblivious, or wilfully feigning oblivion, of the Siaka Stevens’ adage that says, “elephant head nor to pikin load.” Now just three years at the rudder, he has finally realised the truism of the African proverb that says, “What an old man sees when sitting down a child will not see even on tiptoes.” And President Bio might have now realised that no true nationalistic leader would spew out such a gaffe that he solely relies on the “work ethics” of his tribesmen to govern the country!
Now three years have passed “like rain drops/falling into a river” (to quote from Gabriel Okara’s poem: “New Year’s Eve Midnight”) and majority of Sierra Leoneans are worse off today than they were four years ago. Under the watchful watch of the SLPP, Sierra Leone now looks like an organised chaos as the “work ethics” of President Bio’s tribesmen have seemingly cascaded the country into the abyss of hopelessness and insecurity.
Nonetheless, the SLPP “Drunkardnomists”, its “Paopagandists”, and its Media Kamajors want to insult our collective decency by telling us that the President has registered successes in his three years in office.
Even President Bio’s well-orchestrated media charades, which were insultingly carried out mid to late last week, were all fiascos as majority of Sierra Leoneans really saw the true “Julius Maada Bio” for what he really was and still is. From the answers he gave, majority of Sierra Leoneans now know the cardinal reason for his Sir Albert Margai-like appointments.
They now know why the country is being run in a seemingly dysfunctional manner with corruption being given lip services whenever it has to do with any of the ruling elite. And majority of Sierra Leoneans now know why progressive countries put high premium on “years of experience” before offering top jobs to their citizens. Yet, the SLPP apologists are now trying to transform copper into shiny gold! My friends, even if you call a spade a garden spoon; it is still a spade!
The fact is: President Bio has failed woefully in his three years at the rudder. And my premise is based on what he said in the “Forward” of the SLPP 2018 New Direction Manifesto, dubbed “the People’s Manifesto.” In it, the then Mr Bio states that, “…I promise a New Direction for Sierra Leone as a united, peaceful, progressive, dynamic, confident, enterprising and happy nation where the people have unlimited access to jobs, food, education and health services and where there is equal justice and equal opportunity for all….”
Now let me do a little analysis to make you see that President Bio doesn’t seem to be a man of his words. With what is now happening in the country; is Sierra Leone “a united, peaceful, progressive, dynamic, confident, enterprising and happy nation…?” Is Sierra Leone, under the leadership of President Bio, a nation “where the people have unlimited access to jobs?” Is Sierra Leone, under the SLPP, a country where “the people have unlimited access to [good and affordable] health services?” And is Sierra Leone, under the Bio-led government, a place “where there is equal justice and equal opportunity for all?”
Even the SLPP apologists would be ashamed to answer these questions in the affirmative because they know that their 2018 New Direction Manifesto was, and still is, “a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense” (to borrow the phrase of Lord Castlereagh, who became British Foreign Secretary in 1812 until 1822).
And in that same Manifesto, the then Mr Julius Maada Bio avers that, “…the SLPP’s New Direction [is promising] efficient and effective management of the state that will make Sierra Leone a significantly better country through inclusive politics, inclusive economic growth, inclusive development and inclusive governance…” This is laughably laughable because it seems to have all the stench of a con artist plying his trade like an illusionist! If this is one of the promises majority of Sierra Leoneans should assess President Bio on, then he has failed woefully! He promised inclusivity but he has actually been practising exclusivity both in words and actions—and even in his inactions and quietude!
And in one of his well-orchestrated media charades last week, President Bio was reported to have said that after three years, in office, he was now diagnosing the country’s problems. Again, those of us who are no longer wet behind the ears are sure to spot a con artist whenever we see one. When the then Mr Bio put (or was putting) together the 2018 New Direction Manifesto, he was telling Sierra Leoneans that he had diagnosed the country’s problems and that he already had the solutions if elected. In the “Forward” of that Manifesto, under review, he even proffered that “[the SLPP] will change and transform our economy through diversification, transformation of our agricultural sector through mechanised commercial farming, invest in building our critical infrastructure and above all, provide efficient and effective political and economic management of the state and its natural resources guided by respect for the supremacy of the Rule of Law….”
Well, my retort to this is that Finance Minister, Jacob Jusu Saffa aka JJ Blood, knows that even if they are given twenty more years; the SLPP government will still be unable to move the country an inch from where they have stagnated it! So, Mr President please don’t tell me that your Finance Minister is the one better placed to answer questions on “economic management of the state…resources”. You pretty well know that those of us who are not “True Sierra Leoneans” (our First Lady, Fatima Bio, is alleged to have said that those “who are not SLPP supporters are not true Sierra Leoneans”) are not as “simple-minded like the fishermen of Galilee,” to quote Chinua Achebe. So, we will never swallow hook, line, and sinker those propagandistic mumbo-jumbos because they have all the hallmarks of tall stories from the Arabian Nights!
But I’m surprised at those Sierra Leoneans who are surprised at the monumental failure of President Bio and his SLPP government to fulfil a fraction of what they promised in their 2018 New Direction Manifesto. For you cannot expect an unadulterated Jewish couple to give birth to a black child. Looking at what is currently taking place in Sierra Leone, I think the country would be much, much, much better without the SLPP in power!
And gloomily, despite his apprenticeship as a three-month Head of State of NPRC II; in terms of statecraft President Julius Maada Bio still appears to be green behind the ears (“inexperienced” if you have difficulties in understanding idioms—albeit this one is German: “grun hinter den Ohren”). And with a president who seems to rely heavily on the “work ethics” of his tribesmen; I don’t think Sierra Leone might ever be “a united, peaceful, progressive, dynamic, confident, enterprising and happy nation…” (To borrow from the 2018 New Direction Manifesto of the SLPP.).
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