Thuggery has been the mantra of the PAOPA/SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) following its take-over of state governance in April, 2018.
The people of Sierra Leone especially those in opposition strongholds have borne the brunt of SLPP’s bad governance for the past years.
PAOPA/SLPP ideology is premised on the radical and forceful acquisition and exercise of state power with no regard for its consequences.
Killings, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, abuse of fundamental human rights, disregard for the rule of law, political intimidation, tyrannical rule and terror tactics are hallmarks of the PAOPA/SLPP regime.
Their reliance on brute, crude and coercive power became absolute so much that the presidential candidate for the opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) called the regime an “ethnic militant cabal.”
Throughout its rule, Sierra Leone has seen secret killings and extra-judicial executions in the North-West regions ever seen before.
Kambia, Freetown, Lungi, Lunsar, Makeni, Masiaka and other towns in the North-West regions saw the high spate of killings that almost showed signs of a genocidal intent on the part of the killers. Such crimes were however never perpetrated in the South-East regions, strongholds of the ruling party, SLPP.
The regime also carried out waves of arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition politicians to silence them. Allegations of corruption and the establishment of commissions of inquiry were effective tools at the disposal of the regime to go after APC politicians.
Several abuses of human rights were also perpetrated by the regime especially silencing dissent and restricting on the right to movement through unnecessary imposition of dusk-to-dawn curfews among others.
The rule of law which rest on three pillars: supremacy of the law, equality before the law and recognition of fundamental human rights was also disregarded.
The PAOPA/SLPP government is on record to have grossly desecrated and disregarded the laws of Sierra Leone through the removal of 10 opposition parliamentarians and swearing in of SLPP runners-up in a day. On that day, teargas canisters and live rounds were fired at the APC headquarters just to intimidate opposition politicians.
It is a direct violation of the law on elections, the Public Elections Act, 2022 which provides for a rerun of such elections where a petition holds.
Currently, the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, the supreme law of the land, is on the threshold of desecration and manipulation as the constitutional amendment bill is about to be signed into law.
The bill in question contains entrenched clauses which government must not tamper with without seeking the opinion of the electorate by way of a referendum. It is however unclear whether the President would give his assent to the bill or not, but he is being advised by ill-advised politicians and other national figures to speedily sign the bill into law without due consideration.
Political intimidation is rife under the PAOPA/SLPP regime, and the people have been subjected to tyrannical rule throughout from the outset to date. However, there has been a fundamental turning point in the administration of the PAOPA/SLPP regime since President Julius Maada Bio declared that he was ready for a “peaceful transfer of power” to the opposition, APC during his address to the nation in parliament.
But, it is unclear whether the purported “peaceful transfer of power” will take place through the ballot or tripartite recommendations.
In all respects, President Bio would prefer the ballot to the tripartite so that he can legitimise his second-term stay in power.
But, if the “peaceful transfer of power” is on the basis of the tripartite recommendations, the 2023 presidential candidate, Samura Kamara will be the right man to inherit the presidency.
As the power transfer looms, the PAOPA/SLPP regime has also moved from its killing sprees to a civilised police system.
Before this time, it was easy for the police and the army to pull the trigger at defenceless protesters in opposition strongholds, but the reverse, had recently taken place.
At the moment, police and army personnel are now tamed and placed under strict control and supervision and warned, at all times, to respect the people’s rights.
For several months, there has been no incident of police killing and brutality.
As if in deep regret of wrongs perpetrated in the glory days of the PAOPA regime, the vast majority of SLPP members are currently engaging opposition party supporters asking for forgiveness in the name of peace and national cohesion.
But, the wounds inflicted on the people are still fresh, but it is clear that the followers could be forgiven but the leaders, this time, may face justice.
The state is slowly subscribing to the notion that superficial forgiveness of wrongs created the situation for the perpetration of new wrongs.
Veteran APC politicians continue to educate the public that the sheltering of former members of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) for the human rights crimes they perpetrated between 1992 and 1996 led them to the commission of atrocious crimes between 2018 and 2023.
Even the violence perpetrated against North-Westerners in the wake of the restoration of President Ahmed Tejan Kabba in March, 1998 is a whole chapter of savagery unleashed to the people of Sierra Leone.
It was during the restoration of democratic governance that respectable figures in Freetown were burned to death.
Alhaji Musa Kabia, a key APC figure and other opposition politicians became victims of such savagery owing to allegations of collaborating with the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council) which toppled President Kabba in May, 1997.
Even it is assumed that the victims work with the AFRC regime, the right to presumption of innocence could not be taken away from them.
It is such right that should have warranted the authorities to bring them before a competent court for trial. But, SLPP leadership decided to boycott the law by taking such a wicked short cut.
All these crimes were swept under the carpet when President Kabba took over but punished those against whom fingers were pointed at for working with the AFRC regime.
Over 20 military officers including Brigadier Hassan Conteh faced a bloody firing squad in 1998 and sores are yet to healed.
But, it is good that SLPP elders have come to their senses by trying to redeem their party from the PAOPA boys and launder its image or else the party perishes in opposition for several years after the “transfer of power.”
Recently, SLPP constituency chairmen rejected a plan for the selection of the party’s flag-bearer for the 2028 election if, at all, there is going to be an election. The move is to end PAOPA’s bad influence over SLPP when Bio’s presidential tenure shall have ended as his rule is nothing to write home about in terms of democratic good governance for which the party is known for decades.