SLPP SPOKESMEN AHOY
It is unfair to blame politicians for their dependence on publicity for success. This explains the multiplicity of persons carrying out publicity for the incumbent SLPP government. Up until the regime of Tejan Kabbah there were only single press officers and publicity went on as usual leading to victory at the polls.
As soon as the APC ascended to power they had other ideas that they thought would keep them in power forever. That has proved wrong. And the new idea was to have as many spokesmen as possible to assure victory. They copied the single spokesmanship of SLPP’s Septimus Kaikak. They improved on it by getting a spokesman for the government and another for the President. They even added spokesmen from Agriculture and Education all in a bid to win.
In a copy cat fashion the SLPP has even exceeded the APC. They now have their strategic unit in addition to the bureaucrats all falling over one another. And all this is in addition to a Cabinet Minister and a Deputy Minister.
The good thing in all this scenario of Old Direction under the guise of New Road is that the new Minister of Information and Communications, Rado Swaray, is a highly intelligent and eloquent person. Under the APC it was thought that Alpha Khan was the only eloquent person in the country. Rado Swarray is no less eloquent. He has the gift of the gab. President Bio should be congratulated for this choice but the number of publicity officers is unwieldy. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL DISGRACE
Few people would have believed that the incident that happened in Kenema during a football game could have taken place. This is because there was present at the field even Cabinet Ministers including the Chief Minister. The perpetrators were so drugged that they could have no respect for the top state officials. Alternatively there could have been a political motivation by sober opposition elements to disrupt the match.
This brings us to all that was passing during the APC government under the guise of an Attitudinal and Behavioral Change (ABC) Secretariat. That was an outfit set up at the instance of a veteran APC member that failed woefully. Part of its failed repercussions is what happened in Kenema. One of the ABC idlers was later appointed a Cabinet Minister of yet another ministry running parallel with the Ministry of Local Government.
The ABC contraption was created while most institutions of government had their codes of conduct and financial regulations. It is hoped that the SLPP will not copycat this.