Published on August 24, 2010 by Cocorioko News · 4 Comments
Written by Joseph Seidu Sherman :
Anyone who has analyzed the political process of Sierra Leone has noted the presence of interest groups and the influence they wield in shaping public policy. Whether they are political parties, large social movements or single-issue activists, these groups all maintain a degree of political clout in influencing their elected representatives in government. Interest groups by definition are typically made up of a collective of like-minded individuals whose motives are primarily rooted in effecting change within the policies of their respective societies. Yet whilst interest groups are an important aspect of the political system, and indeed fundamental to a functioning democracy, the current political climate in Sierra Leone has exposed some of the more influential interest groups as greedy, extremist and ultimately dangerous to the progressive nature of democratic politics.
The SLPP, just like any political party in the world, is commonly tied down with certain stereotypes.
These stereotypes, such as the seemingly-rabid opposition to the development of Sierra Leone through the leadership of our dynamic and visionary President Ernest B. Koroma, stem from its strong association with unproductive people like Dr. Sama Banya and SLPP Chairman John Benjamin. These individuals and so many others in the SLPP camp have nothing to offer Sierra Leone but involved in empty politicking and confusing the minds of Sierra Leoneans. Sierra Leoneans don’t need rhetoric anymore but action to enhance the progress of the country.
JOHN BENJAMIN : A RABID TROUBLEMAKER
To further illustrate the case of the permeation of empty politicking within the SLPP, Dr. Sama Banya a veritable political prostitute, who served the APC party for so many years without accounting for any development in his constituency least to say Sierra Leone has becomes a stooge to look for loopholes in President Ernest Koroma’s quest to move Sierra Leone forward. His daily appearance in the media with quasi complaints on how the APC government is running the affairs of the country is an indication of compensating for his failed political career. John Benjamin on the other who hijacked the SLPP party for self aggrandizements and his atrocious plans to get even with northerners as he did during the NPRC regime is showing no sign of remorse for the human rights abuse and the atrocities he masterminded.
As a matter of social policy, the SLPP party is not only largely undemocratic but embedded with sinister motives to return Sierra Leone to anarchy and chaos, evident of this is their constant complaints of the rigging of the 2007 elections even though international observers reports on the elections being transparent. Well, the 2012 election is fast approaching and we hear this complaint been repeatedly echoed in all corners of the SLPP camp and haphazardly assuring their partisans that they will come to power in 2012. It can be recalled that during the SLPP 11 years in power there are cases of human rights abuses, journalists killed and incarcerated, nepotism, rampant corruption and abuse and misuse of public office. Can the SLPP compare their 11 years in power to what President Koroma has done within four years in office? Well, 2012 will tell whether Sierra Leoneans are people to be taken for granted by people by who are shamelessly boasting around that the SLPP will take power. Well, taking power has so many faces. If it comes to the ballot box, I will advice the SLPP to come out with convincing strategies that all Sierra Leoneans will embrace devoid of nepotism, partisanship and rampant corruption. On the other hand if coming to power is to hijacked the political system as they are notorious in doing as evident in incidents like series of attempted coups in 1967, Ndorgbowusu scenario and the formation of the NPRC that overthrew of the APC government and subsequently usher the SLPP to power, I advice that it will be making a terrible mistake because the peoples power will be a force to reckon with.
The fact of the matter is Sierra Leoneans can no longer support anarchists or a party that don’t believe in peace. The people have tasted the bitterness of war, so any agent of destabilization or anarchist will have a force to contend with through the due process of law. Sierra Leone is for all Sierra Leoneans irrespective of tribe, social status or political affiliation. We are a civilized nation that is looking for a leader that will lead us not rule us. We are looking for development both socially, economically and politically, not rhetoric, division and nepotism. Sierra Leoneans have had enough and it is time to move forward and not backward.
The SLPP Party has thus become a parody of itself. Once heralded as a distinguished party with icon such as Sir Albert Margai, the party has let itself become embroiled with the politics of division which Sir Albert Margai fought earnestly to eliminate. This relationship that the SLPP Party currently shares with John O. Benjamin a notorious human rights abuser, Dr. Sama Banya a political prostitute, Maada Bio a heartless killer has helped to forge an atmosphere of political apathy. Until the SLPP get rid of these people who are a barrier to the progress of the party and bring new generation of energetic individuals the SLPP will have to wait for 27 years to resurface in the political arena.
In conclusion, the dynamics of the Sierra Leone political system, a system whose functionality is contingent upon the successful operation of multiple parties working to serve the will of the people as per a representative democracy is arguably in tatters.
A cancer has been allowed to infect the SLPP Party, embodied by political fanaticism and the various diabolical special interest groups. These forces have been shown to negatively impact Sierra Leone political engine, and in doing so, Sierra Leoneans and the nation as a whole have become a distant second in the political agenda. President Koroma calls for attitudinal change, exemplified by his stance to move the country forward and his efforts to reach out to the opposition. Sierra Leone is for all of us and is the only place we call home. Therefore, we should all work together for the benefit of the nation instead of engaging in unnecessary political wrangling and retrogressive schemes that has the tendency to bring the country backwards.
PHOTO : SLPP SUPPORTERS OUTSTRETCH THE SIERRA LEONE POLICE IN FREETOWN
