By Ralph Sesay
As former President Koroma retires in his home, in Makeni, last week, after handing over power to the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), there are reported instances of mixed feelings in the northern province of Sierra Leone, which is incidentally the traditional stronghold of the All People’s Congress party.
Even though the party secured the majority in Parliament they lost the presidency to the Sierra Leone People’s Party, which has been in opposition for the past ten years.
Under the leadership of military strongman, Rtd. Brigadier Bio, the SLPP has been able to steadily infiltrate into the strongholds of the APC party in the north and the west. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the SLPP is narrowing APC votes in the east and south of Sierra Leone.
This election victory, for the SLPP, sent shocking waves to the north and northerners who have different views as to what they think about the Ernest Koroma led administration in the last ten years. His stewardship, to the people in this region, who have voted overwhelmingly for the party and also supported it through thick and thin, has been debated in this populous region since the announcement of the results and subsequent return home late last week.
As for the typical Limbas, hailing from Safroko and Biriwa in the Bombali District, Kafe Simira and Kalansogoia in Tonkolili, they have virtually accused the APC Government of not taking them seriously in terms of bringing development or making political appointments to positions of trust throughout the APC ten year rule.
They based their argument on the fact that the President has failed to bring development to these areas. Such development would have transformed the lives of the people, since, according to them, they have sacrificed and remained APC all throughout their lives.
Their children continue to walk long distances to school, while pregnant women continue to walk miles and miles before they could access health care facility. Farmers have not been able to access loans and Agricultural implements that would have moved them from subsistence farming to commercial farming.
Chiefs and other traditional stakeholders, in these areas, have also complained of being totally sidelined in the governance arrangements of the country.
“The President could hardly communicate or speak to us or listen to pieces of advice we would offer as our contribution. He has refused to answer my calls or respond to my texts since 2013,“ a prominent chief, who wants to remain anonymous, is quoted as saying.
Take, for instance, Biriwa, Kamabai, where his mother hailed from. The people have complained of not having a single infrastructure to point at throughout the ten-year rule except a single uncompleted multi-purpose Community Center and a Financial Services Bank. The area does not even have solar facilities not to talk of a befitting health center amidst the hugely trumpeted ‘Free Health Care’ Scheme of the APC Government.
Safroko Limba, Binkolo, and other areas, have also suffered a similar fate in the hands of the Ernest Koroma Government. Even when Binkolo and its environs squarely fall within the seven miles radius of the Makeni City they could not benefit from electricity, which remains a basic necessity.
This state of affairs is a little bit different with the Limba areas in Kambia and Port Loko as the appointment of very strong indigenes in those areas into the Koroma cabinet, in the likes of Alimamy Petito Koroma and Dr. Sam Sesay, was able to make visible developments in those areas.
These chiefdoms, with the exception of Biriwa, have also been further subjected to untold hardship and suffering as a result of the emergence of African Minerals Limited, now Shandong Iron Ore Steel Group. Huge lands, plantations and other livelihood crops have been exploited in these communities by the Iron Ore Company to make way for the 200 KM railway line stretching from the port at Pepel to the Mines in Bumbuna.
This multinational company has continued to pay pittance to landowners and communities as surface rent under the watchful eyes of the Ernest Koroma regime.
These areas have also suffered environmentally as a result of noise and dust pollution emanating from the activities of the Iron Ore Company. Corporate Social Responsibility issues have been treated with disdain, while youths from these areas have been conditionally offered menial jobs such as security and cleaners, etc., at the expense of foreign experts whose stay in the country, to basically transfer skills to nationals, has been relatively slow and compromised by greedy and corrupt Labour and Mines Government officials.
This state of affairs, many believe, is in direct contrast to what has happened over the last ten years in the Loko and Themne areas which happen to be the President’s paternal side.
Yoni, for example, a very small village, approximately seven miles from Makeni, has enjoyed uninterrupted electricity for over three years now. The village, which was almost rebuilt upon his assumption to power in 2007, houses the University of Makeni Law and School of Accountancy and Management campuses with full fledged internet connectivity.
The tarmac road, leading from Makeni to the Guinea Border through Yoni and Kamakwie, was also initiated by the Koroma Government against other economically viable areas in the country to hugely make way for development in his paternal side.
The story is the same for Makeni and Magburaka, which towns, people claim, have witnessed an unprecedented development in the last ten years. These developments, according to many, have also witnessed the appointment of very senior officials in Government from these areas at the expense of the Limba people.
Such appointments, in these areas, many say, have also been largely influenced by former President Koroma’s religious faith as a member of the Wesleyan Church of Sierra Leone.
Another factor former President Koroma took religiously is his appointment of largely Magburaka Old Boys Secondary School students into senior positions in government. Many Limbas, in these areas, especially the young generation, have threatened to form another political party come 2023 as, according to them, the future of their tribe in the APC has been eroded over the past years. They are of the opinion that they have been used and dumped in the last ten years especially by the Koroma regime.
Even though the former president received a tumultuous welcome in the City of Makeni last week, accompanied by most of his past Ministers and party executives, many believe it was merely sympathy shown to a man that had cost them the elections by appointing a very difficult candidate to market.
Many see the return home, as a tactical retreat by Ernest Koroma and his team to properly reorganize the north for the imminent battle in the 2023 elections.