By Tony Bee, Sydney, Australia :
The term trauma can generally be caused by any event, action or sound that may bring serious shock, stress, depression or life-threats to a human being’s normal life. This can be in the form of, for example, losing a very hopeful political election to an opponent, the loss of a loved one, a horrible accident, war, a fire disaster, earthquake, even the sound of a gun or other objects, etc. Trauma can also affect people by their conscious or unconscious reflection on past horrible events, like reflecting on the 11 years of an uncivilized and brutal war that devastated our country Sierra Leone and left indelible scars on the minds of citizens.
TONY BEE
In most of my recent writings, I have always not hesitated to remind Maada Bio and his tribal and regional-minded SLPP “Pa-O-Pa” that the political situation of the country would result in their facing a horrific traumatic political disaster that would be difficult to be treated by any specialist therapist. I also did not mince my words to remind Bio and his SLPP that they would have to seek the services of specialist psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and therapeutic counsellors because of the traumatic stress, the uncontrollable anger and the tormenting depression that they would experience after a dramatic hands-down defeat in the hands of the ruling APC.
Well, Bio and his supporters obviously thought I was joking, their usual reaction to serious things, including serious national issue. To prove me right, I am challenging sober-minded Sierra Leoneans to take a closer scrutiny ofMaada Bio and his Pa-O-Pa cabal and you will see the anger and depression that are eating deep into their hearts and souls after Dr. Christiana Thorpe announced the unquestionable victory of Ernest Bai Koroma and his APC party. To tell you the truth, they are all seriously sick, inwardly and outwardly, and I suggest that the government increases the size of the Kissy Craze- Yard, the only psychiatric centre in Sierra Leone. Dr. Nahim, our only and hard-working psychiatrist, can help in that direction.
All those SLPP blind supporters, the so-called educated blokes who wrote spurious articles in newspapers in order to poison the minds of the electorate before the elections, are now as silent as a broken bell. Disappointment has made them so dumb that you will think they are no longer in existence. This is what disappointment can do to over-ambitious fools who would rather betray their country for their own self-aggrandizement. Take the case of one destructive half-baked media outlet, The New People online newspaper, which was one of the vociferous SLPP newspapers but which has suddenly gone underground or, to put it more appropriately, gone into coma since their SLPP lost the elections in November 17, 2012. Not until few days ago when it starts recovering from it long sleeps.
Those who are knowledgeable enough will know that the SLPP executive and supporters are presently seriously engaged in their usual political blame-game and regrets. While some are blaming their executive and political advisers for their preference of Maada Bio over Usman Boi Kamara and Kadie Sesay, others are eating their heads for being so naïve in blindly following a party that is steered by greedy and mediocre politicians. SLPP has been like this from time immemorial and they need drastic transformation if they really want to win the hearts of the people of Sierra Leone.
Wise Sierra Leoneans know that the reason why SLPP chose Bio was that being a former junta leader who betrayed his former boss and colleague by toppling him in a coup d’etat and took his place as Head of State, he would therefore be able to plunge the country into another war if the SLPP lost the election. The SLPP wanted to use him as a cat’s paw to pick their chestnut out of the fire! They later became disappointed when they realized that Maada Bio’s troubled past and financial impropriety were haunting him and Bio himself became afraid that if he made any false moves in present-day Sierra Leone, the International Criminal Court (ICC) would handle him for both his past and present crimes. As a result, the lion that the SLPP wanted to build out of him disappointingly became a lamb.
Another school of thought says that Maada Bio could not get hands on the millions of dollars he stole in Sierra Leone and deposited in foreign banks. He and a few of the SLPP executive members thought the only possibility of Bio getting his wealth back from foreign banks was by becoming a Head of State. According to the school of thought, Bio therefore made a deal with the said executive members that if he became the president of Sierra Leone and got his money back, he would share it with them. Nobody knows how true this is but rumours in Sierra Leone are usually built out of authentic happenings.
To prove that the SLPP is in regrets and that one member of the party is ignominiously blaming the other for their demise, read an article by one James Fallah-Williams in the Patriotic Vanguard online newspaper and you will see what I mean. Fallah-Williams wrote a very brilliant and educative article about some of the causes of SLPP’s never-to-rise fall. He says the SLPP are always sleeping in their wings because of their chronic tribalism.
I knew for sure the effect of the elections on the SLPP and I have therefore often advised President Koroma and the APC, in my writings, to give more encouragement to the country’s psychiatric doctor, Dr. Edward Nahim, so that the doctor would be able to treat the numerous SLPP patients that the elections have produced.
The country should also create numerous counseling centres and should appeal to international organizations for professional counselors to practise in Sierra Leone. Moreover, the APC government of Ernest Bai Koroma should train more professional psychiatrists and trauma counsellors in the country.
The reason is that only a few fortunate SLPP die-hards are able to get psychiatric treatment and counseling therapy abroad; I sympathize with those thousands who cannot afford to go abroad and who are not able to get treatment in the country. Lack of appropriate treatment will make them face some serious post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). President Koroma and the APC government, please help. The SLPP may be your opposition but we should also not forget that they are your brothers who got entangled in their own web.
I still continue to launch my appeal to all peaceful and development-oriented Sierra Leoneans to continue opposing fellow Sierra Leoneans who are enemies of the state, enemies of progress, and enemies of the hard-earned peace in the country. In view of that, I encourage all patriotic journalists, the Independent Media Commission (IMC), National Electoral Commission (NEC), Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), the Bar Association, Teachers Union, religious groups, civil societies, human rights organizations, Labor Congress, women’s groups, youth organizations, musicians and other artists, traders associations, market women’s associations, student unions, disabled organizations, cassette sellers associations, booksellers associations, photographers associations, newspaper vendors, etc. to rise up and oppose the promoters of tribalism, violence, regionalism, hatred and dishonesty, especially the turn-coat politicians and the devil- incarnate political chameleons in the country before it is too late.
PLEASE, PLEASE, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THIS IS THE TIME TO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY; THERE IS NO OTHER TIME MORE SUITABLE THAN NOW. WE SHOULD NOT WAIT UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS BEFORE WE BEGIN TO SHOUT. NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME TO SHOUT ALOUD TO SAVE OUR MOTHERLAND FROM ANOTHER CATASTROPHIC WAR. BULLETS FROM AK-47 RIFLES AND OTHER DANGEROUS WEAPONS DON’T DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN A JOURNALIST, AN SLPP OR APC SUPPORTER; EVERYBODY IS A TARGET IRRESPECTIVE OF WHAT TRIBE YOU BELONG TO, WHAT REGION YOU COME FROM, OR WHAT POLITICAL PARTY YOU SUPPORT. WE SHOULD THEREFORE WEAR THE COAT OF WISDOM BEFORE DESTRUCTION COMES.
WHEN GOD SAYS YES, WHO WILL SAY NO?
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