By KABS KANU
It is either that Sierra Leone’s Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh is not truthful with the people, as is the wont of the deceitful Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP) or something just isn’t right .
Americans definitely cannot be that fickle-minded and gullible to think that because the Tripartite Interparty Dialogue and international investigations into the rigged June 24, 2023 elections are ongoing, President Maada Bio and the SLPP have fulfilled the preconditions for resumption of the Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC ) Compact development imposed on them recently by the United States Government .
The conditions are that the SLPP Government must implement all the forthcoming recommendations to restore Sierra Leone’s stolen democracy to be made by the Tripartite Committee before the MCC can continue the process of compact development with the Sierra Leone Government for the U.S. $500 million grant the Government won.
As far as the world knows, Bio and his government have not fulfilled any recommendations yet. As a matter of fact, the real investigations of the rigged elections have not even been conducted yet to even talk of recommendations being made. The U.S. Government and the MCC are not even sure that Bio will accept the recommendations. Given that President Maada Bio is a notorious trucebreaker who is not known for honoring anything , many Sierra Leoneans doubt whether he will ever respect and implement the Tripartite Committee recommendations.
Therefore, the Vice-President’s statement today that he had had a “fruitful meeting ” with the MCC delegation on “Compact Development Process ” begs a huge question : Isn’t the so-called “fruitful meeting” premature ? Why the haste , MCC ? Is the MCC so recklessly determined to prop up this failed Bio government, with U.S taxpayers’ money that the SLPP do not even deserve , that it will naively restart compact development on the assumption that Bio will implement the recommendations , though they too must have observed Bio’s character flaw that he does not honor anything.
JULDEH AND THE MCC BOSS
Let the American government and the MCC be fully aware that Sierra Leoneans are watching them and observing everything they are doing in our country. We hope sincerity of purpose, honesty and fairness to all parties will mark their activities in Sierra Leone.
The legitimate demands and aspirations of the people for the restoration of democracy and free and fair elections must be fully addressed and implemented before this SLPP Government is given back everything that has been withheld from them for boldly stealing last year’s elections. We do not want any deceit or half measures. We demand full implementation of all Tripartite recommendations before restoration of MCC programs in Sierra Leone, because failure to do so will give Maada Bio the motivation he needs to continue hurting our people and stealing their elections. Maada Bio is the master of the spirit of impunity.
Anything that will help this SLPP Government wax worse in expatiating the spirit of impunity to hurt our country further , with the assurance that whatever they do America will help them get away with it, will be strongly resisted by our people. America must be assured of that.
Maada Bio must implement all the recommendations from the Tripartite Committee before any MCC Compact money is placed into his hands, or else America will feel the full weight of the Sierra Leonean people who will leave no stone unturned to demonstrate that we in Sierra Leone can stand up for our rights, when pushed to the wall.
READ BELOW VICE – PRESIDENT JULDEH’S STATEMENT
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I had a fruitful meeting with the Millennium Challenge Corporation – MCC delegation in Freetown this morning. We discussed the Compact Development Process and a wide range of governance issues, including the work of the Tripartite Committee on electoral reforms, the inter-party dialogue and private sector participation in energy.
The MCC’s longstanding relationship with the Government of Sierra Leone commenced with the successful completion of the Threshold Program in 2021. The program validated the invaluable role of the private sector in inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Furthermore, the MCC Scorecard has been a helpful tool that we use as a benchmark for our social sector interventions particularly with girls’ education, health, financial inclusion for women and the fight against corruption.
The potential of our continued partnership through Compact Development is an opportunity to address the key binding energy constraint in order to unlock private sector development. The government remains committed to upholding universal democratic principles in order to safeguard the successful implementation of the MCC Compact to improve the lives of each and every Sierra Leonean.
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