By Kabs Kanu
I saw a video on Mohamed Sankoh ‘s Facebook page where somebody holding a microphone accosted Fatima Bio in public when she arrived for a public event at a hall abroad and started screaming profanities and accusations at her.
Paopa supporters in green , thinking it was Sierra Leone, rushed at the anger- displaying young man to silence him but he took them on as well in a very ugly altercation and they could not stop him. They only invited more angry insults . Not even the police could stop the angry man.
The people was very angry. If this is how people are angry with these Bios, I fear for my country if they succeed in stealing the June elections. This kind of anger nor go born good pikin O. People are really, really angry. with this Bio government. In all my years, I have never seen such public expression of anger against a president and his wife . Bio and his wife can be safely called PUBLIC ENEMIES NO. 1.
Many SLPP fanatics play down these public outrage at the Bios and attribute it to the opposition APC ‘s desperation to return to power but are they right ?
MAADA SALLIA, the now imprisoned SLPP Mende man in Kenema who donned his SLPP colours and went around the town with a microphone, angrily denouncing President Bio and Fatima, with crowds behind him ….was he an APC man ? Singer Zainab Sheriff , who was arrested this week for a viral social media video condemning the Bios and accusing them of being murderers of innocent persons….Is she APC ? The many videos and audios by Mende- speaking people on social media, expressing bitter anger at the Bios….Are they APC ?
During President Bio’s tenure, many Sierra Leoneans have worn black to mourn for relatives killed in extrajudicial and politically – motivated slaughters by the SLPP government. Many families are in mourning for their children killed by this government. The extrajudicial killings have been highlighted by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL and the U.S.State Department in their 2022 reports on Sierra Leone. So, the public anger may not be unconnected with these merciless slaughters by the SLPP government.
People are angry with the government also because of the suffering it has brought on them -. Prices of foodstuffs and basic commodities have quadrupled from what the SLPP met it in 2018. The exchange rate of the Leone to the dollar is now over two million and the price of a bag of rice is approaching one million leones when the minimum wage of the average Sierra Leonean is around Le.200,000.
TRIBALISM has also worsened in Sierra Leone during the reign of President Bio . For the first time in the history of our country, you must speak a particular language to be able to get jobs, scholarships and enjoy a piece of the national cake..Bio has marginalized and sidelined other ethnic groups in the country .Queried Bout that by the media, President Bio gave a foolish excuse – his tribesmen are the only people whose work ethic he understands.
Corruption has also reached the point of a pandemic . President Bio and his wife have almost emptied the consolidated fund. Everyday, newspapers carry screaming headlines about the rampant corruption, thieving and embezzlement in ministries, departments, agencies and Sierra LEONE’S diplomatic missions abroad.
Instead of addressing these serious problems, the SLPP government is busy witch-hunting, repressing the public, arresting and charging people for speaking their minds and sending police and soldiers to maim and kill demonstrators. Meanwhile, the president is Johnny Walker, always in planes flying to different countries from where he brings nothing to benefit the people.
President Bio does not relate to the people.He has his clan and kaboodle mostly from his ethnic group who are the only persons he hobnobs with.
With the kind of anger spreading through the country and the Diaspora for the Bios, every Sierra Leonean has a right to fear for his country.
