This article was written after the APC decided to return to governance and SLPP supporters were provoking the APC that they had surrendered again and scored an own goal ( Before it came to light that in fact some of the recommendations of the international moral guarantors went against the SLPP ).
WHY I DO NOT OPPOSE THE APC’S DECISION TO RETURN TO GOVERNANCE THIS TIME
By Kabs Kanu
There is a mythical animal in Lokko folklore called Kindi Kanda. If it falls in your trap, your goose is cooked. You are done. If you remove it from the trap, when you return to the village, you will meet your mother dead. If you leave the animal in the trap, when you return to the village, you will meet your father dead.
So, when a kindi kanda falls into your trap, it is a very difficult situation. Every alternative decision you take hurts you a lot . You will have to decide which, to you, is the lesser of the two evils.
The APC had decided to boycott governance ; given the kind of hypocritical, cynical and cowardly citizenry we have and the demonic nature of the governing party we have in Sierra Leone, a continuation of the boycott would have crippled the SLPP but because they do not care for the country and have stolen and stored up enough wealth for themselves , and Sierra Leoneans themselves are not spoiling for the ultimate showdown with the SLPP, they would not have budged . Ultimately, it is the poor man in the street who would have suffered most from the collateral damage .
Returning to governance too has its hurtful hazards but at least the party has a fair chance to continue its fight to redeem the nation from the avaricious grips of the SLPP. Opponents of the party, cynics , hypocrites and the SLPP would make fun of the APC for seeming to renege on its resolve but life is a continued problem of conflicts and fights . It is not every battle or fight you win outrightly.
Robert Green, in his epic , THE 33 STRATEGIES OF WAR, warns us to pick our fights carefully. He warns to “Consider the hidden costs of a war : the time lost, political goodwill squandered , an embittered enemy bent on revenge. Sometimes, it is better to wait , to undermine your enemy covertly rather than hitting them straight on . “ Green stresses the need for strategies and and the wisdom to vary them. Green theorizes that you must at times lose a battle to win the war.
At times, it is useful to fool your enemy to feel you have surrendered to them to make them develop a sense of overconfidence while in actual fact, you have not given up. You are rather helping the enemy to make itself weak and vulnerable. You are ripening yourself for the final battle. You are covertly helping the enemy to expose its soft underbelly which you will hit later.
The SLPP bears the seeds of its own downfall. The SLPP is going to fall not because of what anybody might do to them. The SLPP will fall by their own weight. Green asks to Give your enemies enough rope to hang themselves. This is what the APC has done.
APC has also won the moral high ground, another strong strategy Green advises. By not insisting on defying the moral guarantors and crippling the SLPP and the nation, the APC has made its case to the people that its motives are not evil and unpatriotic . Eventually, the APC will also expose the evil and megalomanic nature of the SLPP and “ narrow the base of their support and room to maneuver. “
Bio did not win the 2023 election but he stole the elections and imposed himself. He got away with it because of the very weak and compromising APC leadership in place then. It will not happen again in Sierra Leone. It is better for the APC to work towards this goal instead of making themselves non- effectual and moribund, through the boycott.
APC must now go all out to mobilize its supporters and prepare them for the battle ahead. Concurrently, the APC must also elect a man in the true sense of the word as its next flagbearer, a man ready to stand up to and fight the SLPP to a standstill in the nation.
The 2023 election clearly proved that the SLPP cannot defeat the APC in a free and fair contest. And since then, the SLPP has lost more goodwill and support from the people. Just produce a tough flagbearer this time and everything will fall in place , being determined too this time that the APC will not accept the results of any rigged election.
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