By Wuni B
*The Campaign for National Social Cohesion is Meaningless if the Fundamentals of an Inclusive Society are not sorted out*.
September 1, 2024
The illegitimate government of President Bio is once again embarking on another political grandstanding project, in a bid to project an image of a leader who is working towards national social cohesion. But the government’s campaign for national social cohesion is meaningless if the fundamentals of an inclusive society are not sorted out. His ministers’ new adventure is based on a false pretense, that attempts to cover up all the breeches and violations the PAOPA-SLPP have caused the people of Sierra Leone to endure since 2018. The recently concluded national social cohesion townhall meeting was just another of his government’s desperate moves to impress mostly the country’s international partners, who have his administration on a choke hold.
Stranded and stripped-off of vital resources needed to reverse the misfortune of his failed leadership, the showmanship by his surrogates at the townhall meeting continues in such a faux pas. The theatrics are not impressing anyone who understands the nitty-gritty of the origin of the public resentment towards him and his government. President Bio and the SLPP government have committed generational crimes which he, the president has bequeathed to his tribesmen and many politically promiscuous followers. That townhall meeting, to put it mildly, was just another facade. This is because it was ordered by a president whose personal utterances and his government’s actions have stirred up so many emotions in the country to the point that most Sierra Leoneans now see themselves as arch enemies.
President Bio’s government have called for all sorts of national dialogues in the recent past. Bintumani 1 & 2, the Tripartite, the disgraceful Question and Answer townhall meeting with the president, and now the national social cohesion townhall meeting. Sierra Leoneans should not be surprised if he calls for Bintumani 3, 4 and 5. It seems he has a penchant for national gatherings, with the sole purpose of reminding the citizenry that he is at the helm of political affairs in the country. By all measure, none of these gatherings have and will in the future produce the desired effect, because there is an element of trust for him and his government that is lacking. In fact, the gatherings have sowed more confusion and discord among the citizens. The irony of his government’s frivolous efforts is that relations among Sierra Leoneans have become much more estranged than any time before in history. His presidency has actively sought to replace nationalistic tendencies with tribalism. Very consciously, he has admittedly said on national television that “the white man dem bin don divide we”. Therefore, his call for a normalization of a dialogue of national social cohesion does not only lack legitimacy and credibility. It is despicably insincere. It should also be seen as an attempt to distract, buy precious time and to relinquish his government’s responsibility and obligation towards the people of Sierra Leone. Under his controversial reign in office, he has perfected his tribal agenda through a divide and rule style. Long-standing relationships between the peoples of our nation have been ripped apart. With a compromised fraternity which he is responsible for, it may take another SLPP, under the leadership of an honest and patriotic individual to make amends with an embittered citizenry.
His minister of Information and Civic Education declared at the recent townhall meeting that ”what we want to do today is to situate where we are now, know our responsibilities and look forward”. No doubt, Sierra Leone is in a bad state. That is where we are now. All because the government in power does not prioritize its citizens and the institutions upon which a sound democratic governance system is premised. President Bio’s notoriety for human rights and constitutional violations is the hallmark of his leadership. He has consistently sought to undermine our national institutions, deepened the divide by instigating ethnic animosity against certain tribes in the country. By creating a false dichotomy between ”we and them”, he has built paltry boundaries between the citizens in a way that expunges trust for his government and such a peace initiative, and a sense of collective responsibility towards national development. Yet, him and his government are not willing to accept the onus that national social cohesion is much more than a conversation in a townhall meeting. It requires concrete actions and a determination to implement these with seriousness and sincerity.
Socially cohesive societies like those in Scandinavia are those that concern themselves with equality and justice in terms of ensuring similar opportunities for all the members of their societies and promote social inclusion. This is not just the inclusion of one tribe. Citizens must feel a sense of belonging and identity relation to society, and there should exist a basic social consensus. A Sierra Leone that is polarized and divided along social, ethnic, cultural or political lines will only continue to produce several unproductive rifts which in turn will only weigh heavily on its citizens. Rather than wasting resources on useless townhall meetings, President Bio and his government should spend time in what Chiesi has discern as four dimensions or levels of social cohesion: the structural, cultural, identity and action levels. When fully responded to and put in place, townhall meetings will be redundant and the theater would be avoided. A nation can only move forward when its leaders are ready to embrace the mistakes of the past which they can learn from to chart a new path. This president and his government are incapable of understanding that and they are not ready to reclaim the peace and stability they inherited from the Ernest Bai Koroma administration. He will only continue to exhibit megalomania.
I come in peace. But I am not preaching peace.
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