By Kabs Kanu
In a stunning departure from normal political custom and protocol where her office is expected to be neutral, First Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs . Fatima Bio, was on Wednesday caught on camera dancing with women , celebrating the victory of Madam Hawa Foray and singing provocative and derisive songs against the loser , Madam Fatmata Sawaneh , in the heated and controversial elections for Women’s Leader of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) .
The action of the First Lady drew widespread condemnation from Sierra Leoneans on social media, including supporters of her husband, President Maada Bio, and the SLPP , who believed that her action was highly divisive and detrimental to peace and unity within the party. She, as First Lady, should have remained neutral and not shown her preference for any candidate, in public.
The Women’s Leader elections ended in chaos in Kailahun where the SLPP were holding a mini-convention because of fracas between the First Lady who was supporting Mrs. Josephine Jackson openly against Madam Fatmata Sawaneh , who and supporters withstood her and were later seen in a social media video singing songs of defiance against her . The election was cancelled and rescheduled for the following week in Freetown.
For undisclosed reasons, Madam Jackson, the preferred choice of the First Lady , stepped down and shifted support to Madam Hawa Foray, who then became the First Lady’s candidate in her blind determination to stop Fatmata Sawaneh from becoming SLPP Women’s Leader.
With support from the First Lady, who allegedly bribed delegates to vote for Hawa Foray, Madam Foray was declared winner in Freetown the re-run last Wednesday.
The President’s wife then jumped on the street celebrating with supporters of Hawa Foray and singing provocative songs against the loser, Fatmata Sawaneh and her supporters. People began asking where Sierra Leone was headed when the President’s wife was heard singing this trolling song against the loser of the intraparty elections and supporters: “We talk am we don do am ..pa o pa . We tawa we don do am . Pa o pa “ .( translated : “We declared we were going to win and we did everything by force to accomplish it” ) .
This latest garrulous behavior of the First Lady of the nation , which is just one of many since her husband came to power in 2018, has raised serious concerns among Sierra Leoneans, international stakeholders and observers of political events in a war-scarred country . When she is not belligerent and vengeful, openly advocating mob and vigilante action against supporters of the opposition who criticize her husband, she is abrasive, rude, dictatorial and bullying even to officials of the government, at one time deriding PH.D holders within the government as fools. She has been very disrespectful to ministers, ambassadors and public officers. She does not stop at that. She is fond of producing social media videos in which she is seen badmouthing women she believes either have eyes for her husband or she believes are in love with him. She mocks them , dancing or making faces at them in the video.
That a First Lady can sink to such street-girl like levels while occupying such a honored position at State House is very embarrassing to her husband, his government and the nation.
Last February, Former FSSG Principal and one of the few surviving pre-Independence icons of Sierra Leone education, Mrs. CASSANDRA GARBER, blew her mind on FATIMA BIO’s unacceptable gross public behavior and indecent language
In a public statement released by Mrs. Garber and published by many news outlets , the former principal wrote :
“Globally, the spouse of the HEAD OF STATE is instinctively afforded respect and courtesies by all nationals and non-nationals within a country. Correspondingly, that spouse is expected to exhibit the highest CODE OF CONDUCT.”
“I can state categorically that ever since we gained Republican Status in 1971, all former FIRST LADIES including Mama Rebecca Stevens, Hannah Momoh, Patricia Tejan-Kabba, all of blessed memory, and Sia Koroma, behaved with the dignity expected of their position.”
“I therefore lament the present scenario in which Sierra Leone has a FIRST LADY whose general approach is unbecoming, and whose language is very often not only offensive but also unprintable (by acceptable decent standards). I recently became aware of verbal tirades conducted by the FIRST LADY. Sadly, she appears to relish taking on citizens; the practice of retort and exchanging unpleasantries by the FIRST LADY has now become quite commonplace! In addition, she seems to revel in the use of filthy expressions! Her description of the proposed punishments for rapists will go down in the history of her very own project “HANDS OFF OUR GIRLS”. It is a pity that people in the Corridors of Power do not perceive this behavior as undermining the country’s level of international respectability. ”
POLItICO/REALITY 101
SLPP ON A MISSION OF SELF DESTRUCTION.
REMINDER OF THE BATTLES OF THE WILLS BETWEEN ALBERT MARGAI VS THE GANG OF FOUR RESULTING IN LOSS OF POWER IN 1967.
It does appear that the SLPP has never gleaned any useful lesson from the political debacle that befell them on Sunday March 19.1976 in Kenema resulting in loss of power.
The “JMB” women’s wing is the catalyst that will undo the party and except commonsense prevails over opportunistic calculations I am afraid SLPP is headed for the abyss of annihilation.
One will think there are people in the party with gravitas in political history always reminding the membership to be very mindful of squabbles that undid the party in 07, and 2012 Olympic of presidential elections.Unfortunately that is not the case for all intent and purposes.
The political leadership of the country shares the climate of blame for the crucibles of chaos and disorder visited upon the fabric of things in the SLPP mainly due to the fact the president has not sat his wife to define her role in the party if any and she is therefore left to freelance as she pleases which was self evident on the night of the elections in Kailahun where she took upon herself to order the cancellation of of the exercise.Assuming there were infractions of electoral principles, cancellation should have been the fiat of the official Returning officer after due consultations with other members in charge of the exercise and not Mrs.Bio. Even unacceptable was the fact she spoke before the officials and they were left to capitulate to her whims, views, and caprices.
Mrs.Bio’s utterances are not helpful to the leadership of Mr.Bio as the cacophony of discordant troubling voices sounds the sirin of warning bells to the forest of red flags in that regard.
In a polarized polity such as ours, the last thing SLPP wants is revolt by the women as it will spell unmitigated disaster for them. “THE JMB WOMEN’S WING” is a catalyst for dismemberment of the party and except the party as a whole dissolves it with lightning speed, SLPP will find itself in the same predicament we saw between Albert Margai and the Gang of Four led by Luseni Alfred Morley Brewah that saw their ignominious exit from power on Tuesday March 21, 1967.In my considered Judgment and candid opinion, the real conundrum in this macabre drama is the president himself who has consistently failed to impress upon his wife the constitution does not confer on her co sovereignty when it comes to the exercise of political power.
The hope is that the new team put in place headed by Dr.David Moinina Sengeh will do everything possible to avoid the debacle that dogged Dr.Prince Harding whose handling of that mission left much to be desired leaving the vast concourse of the citizenry to question his usefulness in the party.
Dr.David Sengeh should preside over an electoral exercise totally unencumbered by frauds and irregularities.
The concept of one person one vote should be an essential element going into this exercise as it underpins the validity of the sanctity of the ballot box without it, any moral claim to democratization remains mere ideological platitude or empty slogan.
DARK DAYS IN THE SLPP AS THE BATTLES OF THE WILLS BETWEEN MRS.FATiMA BIO’s “JMB WOMENS WINGS”AND THE REST OF THE WOMEN MEMBERSHIP DANCE ON THE EDGE OF CIVILITY RAISING FEARS OF THE REPLAY OF ALBERT MARGAI/GANG OF FOUR 1967 SAGA.
BY KUTUBU KOROMA.
