Although ‘New Direction’ government seems to have fallen in the good books of the international community, calls for Sierra Leoneans not to trust President Julius intensify as elections draw near. Sierra Leoneans hold the view that the lump sum given to Bio will not help him succeed in just less than 10 months to go.
It makes no difference even if government postpones the elections to 2024. The most popular argument says that President Bio has slumbered for a number of years noting that time is just too short to achieve overnight. The call to distrust the current President comes at a time the international community has dished out 245 Million Euros to the current government as a development support. Although government has received the sum with joy and hopes of filling the failing gaps, Sierra Leoneans have not held back their reservations and condemnations for the Bio administration.
To them, ‘New Direction ‘is weak in everything, and will not succeed in the delivery of essential services to the people. A renowned local political commentator who preferred anonymity has however come from a different perspective. The money, he says, is given out to ensure electoral reforms for the coming elections.
EU would not like to see what happens in 2018 repeats in 2023. He also called on the people of Sierra Leone and the international community not to trust Bio. The money could be misused and later disappoint the people of Sierra Leone and the international community. An insider source has however told this press that the money has never landed in the hands of a government official not even President Bio.
“A team of EU officials will be here to provide technical advice in respect of key areas where the money is to be spent,” the source told this press.
The money, he went on, would be spent purely on governance and electoral reforms so that Sierra Leone can have a fair and transparent electoral process. The source also recounted how EU and World Bank snubbed SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) government on the failed Mid-Term census. Government had wanted to get funds from the EU to carry out the head count. But, Bio was disappointed owing to the illegality of the process despite the hype and window dressing. A key development partner, World Bank which has been showing support to government pulled out of the deal in the eleventh hour.
Despite the bashing and the criticism, the census went ahead as planned although results of the process would be hardly accepted. Bio’s promise of ensuring consultations with opposition parties in his leadership constitutes the biggest of Bio’s false claims.
The President has taken strategic governance decisions without consulting opposition parties. Sierra Leone witnessed the surreptitious manner in which the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, former head of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was appointed by President Bio. NEC is a body charged with the responsibility of conducting and supervising elections in Sierra Leone. It is an agency that has been treated with suspicion over the years by Key stakeholders in the electoral process. The recent accusation by European Union against NEC as untrustworthy is a clear case in point.
The agency continues in this situation until Konneh was installed, a situation that caused a big outcry among political parties. Konneh’s appointment, no doubt, was treated with suspicion as, many say, he does not have electoral background since he came from FIU in the Ministry of Finance to head NEC.
Many opposition parties including main opposition, APC claimed that they were never consulted on the appointment. Failure to consult was the starting point of APPA (All Political Parties Association)’s collapse.
APPA is the umbrella body of political parties in Sierra Leone. It is a loose association that defends the interests and rights of political parties, but its, glory has faded. The agency is all but name as several parties have left owing to suspicion of taking sides with government.
A new organisation of political parties known as Consortium Of Political Parties, COPP for short, has sprung up. It now plays APPA’S role. COPP is determined to come against government to see Bio’s back in the coming elections, a move SLPP is not happy with.
The party’s unhappiness is seen in its relentless pursuit of opposition politicians. Government would not hesitate to arrest and detain opposition politicians who expressed dissenting or critical voices. It happened with the former Minister of Local Government, Diana Konomani who was held in custody for merely criticising government on the illegal census.
The APC (All People’s Congress) Secretary-General, Foday Osman Yansaneh was also threatened with detention for his criticism. Other officials of opposition parties including Femi Claudius Cole was also arrested and detained. The style of leadership displayed by the New Direction Government forced many Sierra Leoneans to ask: where is the national cohesion promised by Bio in 2018?
The question is relevant to the current situation prevailing in Sierra Leone since President Bio campaigned on the platform of national peace and cohesion. In his days of the opposition, most of the interviews Bio granted to local and international radio, the promise of peace and national cohesion featured prominently.
President Bio would tell Sierra Leoneans and the international community that Sierra Leone had been sharply divided along tribal and regional lines caused by APC’s governance style. He mobilised the international community not to continue to sustain APC so that the country would not polarise further.
Bio made it clear that he would be the right man to take the country away from tribalism and regionalism. The peace and cohesion commitment by his President Bio captured the minds of the people of Sierra Leone who were hoodwinked into voting him in.
Now, the President has been there for over four years without the peace and cohesion he promised years back. Conflict experts have referred to Sierra Leone’s peace as a fragile peace since the peace is threated by political disagreements, intolerance and livelihood problems. A senior politician has told this press that President Bio did not know exactly what it takes to build national cohesion and peace especially in a post- conflict state.
Building peace, he said, involved a lot of sacrifice even it causes the President to swallow his pride. The argument has always been that building peace and cohesion in ethnically and politically divided societies is the adoption of the politics of positive compromise model.
Politics of compromise is about creating a platform for a broad-based government of national unity. Opposition politicians who meet the criteria must be allowed to take active part in the governance of the state, and equal opportunities must be provided for all and sundry. No region or district should be left out on account of its political affiliation. The party in power should care less about whether it gets votes in a particular community or not. Government must be guided by the ‘need principle,’ that is, essential services must be taken to communities that deserve them. Open discrimination has always taken place under the Bio administration. South-east regions which are SLPP’s heartlands have got development projects more than those communities in the north-west regions.
When food and other supplies were offered to several communities in Sierra Leone at the peak of COVIDD-19, districts in the north-west regions were left out. It was a bright example of discrimination on political grounds. Government knows that it would be difficult to get high votes in several communities in the north-west regions. This situation renders Bio’s promise of national cohesion very futile.
The trend still continues as government shows no sense of remorse and no turning back. The struggle continues.