SLPP’s Beautification Of ‘Raray-Boyism’
By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
Despite I have always found his journalistic writings incisive, laconic, and at times didactic; yet I’m not a very big fan of Dr Julius Spencer’s because I do not, normally, see the journalese in his writings which always attract me to Op-Eds or Features generally from senior Sierra Leonean journalists. But his latest article titled, “Revolt of the Underclass: The Coming Conflagration-Part 1”,appears to be in sync with my thought processes.
In fact, his clairvoyance (what the Krios would say “e dae see far”) in that article, which evokes a graphic picture of a would-be apocalyptic conflagration in Sierra Leone, is a horrid reminder that the sword of Damocles is ominously dangling over the country!
In that article, Dr Spencer shows trepidation for what awaits Sierra Leone as the “revolt of the underclass” seems to be imminent because of the resentment of the “unemployed, under-employed or unemployable” youths for “the well-to-do” in our society today. But while he argues that poverty will be the main catalyst for “gangsterism” that will eventually lead to an Armageddon; I will differ that that Armageddon might happen because of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP)’s beautification of what I will “One Drop-nize” as “Raray-Boyism”, the injustices which are now permeating the political sphere of Sierra Leone, and the undemocratic indecencies which most members of the ruling elites are now regarding as the vogues.
As I see it, poverty has never been the cardinal reason, or reasons, for “drug abuse and crime” in Sierra Leone. Many children of “the well-to-do” in Sierra Leone have been known to be abusers of hard drugs. Even the children of some past Sierra Leonean Heads of State were allegedly known to be serial drug addicts.
Poverty would not make the Sierra Leonean youths go berserk because the two major religions have “opium-nised” (to borrow from Karl Marx) them into believing that it is predestined for them to suffer in this world so that they could enjoy blissful bliss in the hereafter!
What I think might bring about an apocalypse would be the spontaneous reactions to what appears to be the state-sponsored lawlessness and the undemocratic indecencies regularly exhibited by some members of the Bio administration. Since the SLPP came to power, Sierra Leone has witnessed unashamed displays of lawlessness to the point that even law-abiding citizens are now ashamed of their law-abidingness.
We have witnessed on social media the horror of the Minister of Transport and Aviation, Kabeneh Kallon, exhibiting raw and naked “Raray-Boyism” by snatching and destroying ballot boxes in front of rolling cameras simply because the Constituency 110 by-election was not going in SLPP’s favour. And till date, he is not only a senior cabinet Minister but one of the “President’s Men”! As recent as recently, it is being alleged that the deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Lahai Lawrence Leema, had an altercation with one of the players of the national football team, Leones Stars, on the stairs to his Gloucester Street office in Freetown.
Despite rumours are still flying that Mr Leema had behaved in the typical Leema-ian manner he is always infamously known for, no member of the Bio administration has said a word on that incident! The SLPP has beautified “Raray-Boyism” to such an extent that if one of its well-known “Raray Boy” is not seen in a WhatsApp video brandishing a cutlass and calling on President Julius Maada Bio to empower him to do “his work”; another will be boasting on a WhatsApp video of how he and his ilk have been doing the dirty works of the SLPP. And it is even alleged that the “Benghazi Boys”, who are said to be headquartered at the SLPP’s Wallace-Johnson Street headquarters in Freetown, were the culprits of the pillaging that took place at the “Belgium” area, in central Freetown, sometime last year. And, in recent times we have heard of, and have seen, how the SLPP government has beautified “Raray-Boyism” so much so that some of its senior members who are vying for top national executive positions are now testing the effectiveness of their “Raray-Boys” against each other at their lower level elections.
Yet, the party’s hierarchy is feigning ignorance of those violent incidents which have the tendency to cascade instability to national level. Even the SLPP is now afraid of its own Frankenstein monsters (Benghazi Boys) as not too long ago; the Office of National Security (ONS) issued a public notice asking political parties to disband their “Marshals”. Well, charity should begin in one’s own backyard!What is alarmingly alarming is the degree at which the SLPP has taken this “Raray-Boyism” to intellectual level. Not too long ago, residents of Freetown witnessed with horror the violence that erupted during the Students’ Union election at Fourah Bay College (FBC) all because the SLPP was alleged to have fixed the results in advance in favour of its preferred candidate.
And it didn’t come as a surprise that a Deputy Minister in the Bio-led administration was reportedly seen on FBC campus prior to the violence. And the manner in which the security forces tried to “keep the peace” on campus appeared as if they were carrying out a national political agenda than normal “peacekeeping”. It is sad that under the watchful watch of the SLPP, Sierra Leone will soon be producing intellectual thugs aplenty!
I differ slightly from one of Dr Julius Spencer’s postulations that the resentment for “the well-to-do” by the “unemployed, under-employed or unemployable” youths might be the cause for any future apocalyptic conflagration in Sierra Leone.
What I think might lead to any Armageddon-like event, or events, might be an attempt, or attempts, to right many perceived political wrongs and gross injustices which have been meted out to hundreds of citizens by the SLPP government. There are certain issues that are still unresolved and nobody has been held responsible for their happenings.
The alleged killings at Tonko Limba; Makeni; Tombo, and the Pademba Road Correctional Centre are still unresolved. As Wole Soyinka notes in his book, The Man Died, “Even in totalitarian states, the time comes when past ‘errors’ are admitted, high-placed criminals [“Raray-Boys”] unmasked and victims rehabilitated, mostly posthumously!” But the SLPP government has repeatedly failed to establish any form of independent inquiry where relatives of those who were killed could find closure.
Even the SLPP’s Commission for Peace and National Cohesion could be regarded as a sick joke told to the bereaved, as it is an example of closing the coop long after the last cockerel has flown out!
Again, Wole Soyinka notes in the same book that, “[If the SLPP fails] to establish a climate of enquiry [into those alleged killings] which, even if they do not provoke immediate consequences, at the very least, by the vigour with which they are pursued and the manifested rejection of falsifications, ensures that such unresolved anomalies [the alleged Tonko Limba; Makeni; Tombo, and the Pademba Road Correctional Centre killings] remain on ‘HOLD’, sinking finally into the armoury of public wrongs which will reinforce the channels to eventual change…” But that “eventual change” might not be the “New Directional” change which occurred in 2018. It would be another form of change.
The “Raray-Boyism”, under the watchful watch of the SLPP, is so palpable that the United States’ Department of State’s “Sierra Leone Travel Advisory” of 6 July 2021 noted that, “violent crimes, such as robbery and assault, occur frequently in Sierra Leone, especially in Freetown. Local police often lack the resources to deal effectively with serious criminal incidents.”So, Dr Spencer’s “worst fears” might be fairly a clear and present fear! Like him, I also have a premonition that the way things are going on in Sierra Leone shows that the country is teasingly sitting on a keg of dynamite with her children playfully playing with firecrackers nearby! Medsankoh@yahoo.com/+232-76-611-986
