By KABS KANU
U.S Ambassador Bryan David Hunt has spoken truth to the undemocratic, lawless and misgoverning Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) Government once again and it is bedlam on social media as truth – hating rabid supporters of the SLPP have taken exception to the ambassador’s statement.
However, despite the objections being expressed by angry SLPP supporters, what Ambassador Hunt said is very much in line with what neutral Sierra Leoneans are also thinking -‘—that the investigations of what happened on November 26, 2023 ( Which the government has described as a failed coup attempt ) should not affect the mediated peace interparty dialogue and the Commissions of Inquiry cases and that all three should be treated separately. Only people who have no knowledge of structured peace settlement or do not want peace at all will find problems with the ambassador’s statement which is very clear and should be subject to no other interpretation.
The fact, however, is that President Maada Bio and his noisy mob of SLPP extremists do not really want the tripartite peace dialogue to go on. Shortly after the SLPP Chief Minister, Dr. David Sengeh signed the outcome communique of the first part of the interparty talks , the SLPP realized too late that all the recommendations of the communique which called for the release of political prisoners, an end to all politically- motivated cases and a thorough investigations of the June 24 elections ( which would lead to recommendations that the SLPP must implement without any delay ) were actually unacceptable to them, despite assurances being given in public by the Chief Minister.
Being a government that hates being accountable, transparent and sharing power with other ethnic groups, the SLPP realized the following :
1. That having allegedly extrajudicially murdered some of the political detainees, they will be in trouble to account for these detainees in trying to implement the recommendation to free all political prisoners. The public noticed this constraint being faced by the SLPP and that was why they have been accusing the government that it stagemanaged the attack on the Pademba Road Prisons on November 26 and the freeing of all inmates to give itself an excuse when the time comes to account for the missing detainees.
2. Dropping politically- motivated cases would also include halting some of the so- called corruption charges against key members of the opposition like former President Ernest Koroma and APC Presidential candidate Dr. Samura Kamara, which are widely believed to be witch hunts. To probably preempt this , the SLPP Government recently escalated the corruption cases against these two individuals , with the appeals courts controlled by the government dismissing the appeals lodged by both men and asking them to pay monies amounting to millions of dollars.
3. With regards to the June 24 elections which the U.S, EU and international elections observers have declared were rigged by the SLPP, the SLPP fear that the forthcoming investigations will open a can of worms that will not only seriously embarrass the government but could lead to recommendations by the tripartite committee for a rerun.
Nothing aggravated the feelings of SLPP supporters than the corollary statement by Ambassador Hunt that he did not believe that any legitimate opposition member will back the events of November 26.
What the ambassador was saying there was not what SLPP extremists are thinking. They are accusing the ambassador of exonerating the opposition leaders but it is not so. It just shows how shockingly ignorant SLPP supporters can be at times.
Ambassador Hunt was simply saying that he did not think that any true opposition member who respects democracy would support an alleged attempt to overthrow a government. And this is the opinion of Sierra Leoneans as well. Maada Bio and the SLPP have deliberately rushed to judgement to accuse the opposition APC of taking part in the coup, which I s wrong. The ambassador is right to say that opposition parties should not be accused . If there was a coup attempt at all, it was done by individuals and any action must be taken against these individuals in their individual capacities, if indeed they are found culpable.
The Ambassador is also seeing the dangers many of us have seen long ago –that the SLPP would try to use the events of November 26 as an excuse not to participate in the tripartite dialogue .
Whatever it is, Ambassador Hunt would have learnt by now that Sierra Leone has fallen into the deepest abyss—It is being ruled by a government and supporters who do not want to be accountable, transparent, lawful or to be told to do the right thing. The SLPP wants to conduct government business without any respect for law, constitution, rationality or civilized norms and conventions.
However, the SLPP has met a country, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. that it will never be able to intimidate or forced to back off and allow them to do what they flawlessly want to do that will undermine the peace and security of not only Sierra Leone but the world at large.
