Mohamed Gento Kamara , the Freetown Mayoral candidate of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s party on Friday violated religious and political norms last Friday when he went to a mosque during the jumma prayers to campaign and he used the pulpit to preach tribal and religious bigotry .
In his hate speech which was carried live on social media, Mr. Mohamed Gento Kamara sought to pitch muslims against christians in a country that has international fame for religious tolerance. As if that was not enough, Gento also attacked Creoles whose traditional base is Freetown and have controlled the Mayoral seat and the Freetown municipality for long.
Even though ethno-regionalism is a centre piece of the SLPP system of governance, nobody expected a politician to have gone to the extent that Mr. Gento Kamara went on Friday—to use a muslim pulpit to try to divide our already fragile nation by preaching tribal and religious intolerance.
It is a shame that since the SLPP Government came to power in 2018, tribal bigotry and intolerance had taken centre stage in Sierra Leone with the President, Retired Brigadier Maada Bio , appointing only members of the Mende ethnic group to all major ministerial, ambassadorial and other positions of responsibility within the ministries, departments and agencies ( MDAs). Two years ago , when quizzed by the media about this unfortunate state of affairs, during Sierra Leone’s Independence Anniversary, President Bio replied that his tribesmen were the only people whose work ethic he understood and trusted.
Many people will not be overly surprised by the action of President Bio’s Mayoral candidate because he will be perceived as following the precedence set by Mr. Bio.
WE BRING YOU A VIDEO STRIP OF THE TRIBAL AND RELIGIOUS RANT BY MOHAMED GENTO KAMARA
