First Lady’s moves to bring back those SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) members who have been unfairly treated by the party is gaining momentum every passing day but little result is being realised. Government, since its coming in 2018, has trampled on the toes of many SLPP members including the grassroot.
One of those met has said he would not accept any apology from the first lady despite effort to appease him. His own side is to press ahead with his new intentions, and pay less attention to dull lessons. The source who requested not to mention his name told this press that “the wrongs are just too many to bear.”
Others also feel the same. The general feeling has always been “we will not get back to SLPP.” Fatmata Sawaneh is one those notable politicians reportedly met by Mrs Fatima Bio for a common ground. The meeting is a new form of reconciliation between the Former SLPP Women’s Leader and the first lady for the advancement of SLPP’s interest.
The first lady would not like to see SLPP goes out of power in 2023. Sawaneh however has shown signs of reconciling with Mrs Bio although no one could exactly tell what is in Fatmata’s mind. The two, despite their common tribal ties, have never seen eye-to-eye on party issues.
Reliable sources who have spoken to Nightwatch say First Lady has never wanted to see Sawaneh’s in the status of the party’s women’s leader. No reason could be offered for that. The continued existence of Julius Maada Bio (JMB) Women’s unit in the SLPP after 2018 elections is clear evidence.
JMB women’s wing retention is a move many SLPP members remain strongly opposed to. The body of women which is a faction within the party ought to have been dissolved immediately after the election had been held long ago. It is hoped that by so doing, SLPP’s women wing would have been an viable entity within the party.
Fatmata Sawaneh continued in this state until the election for a new women’s leader was held late last year in the eastern district of Kailahun. The fraudulent election was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Sawaneh who was determined to retain her post despite the challenges, quit after she was defeated in a seriously rigged election. The rigging was just too naked.
Imageries about how women were bribed to do Fatima’s bidding were viral. The bribery scheme did not go down well with many SLPP politicians who threatened to either leave or undermine the party. They say the move has dented the party’s image to many people in and out of the country.
In Kailahun, SLPP grassroot women were everywhere singing anti-Fatima rhetorics calling her to hands off their party. The purpose was common: it sends a loud call to the first lady not to interfere with the party’s internal politics. The people should enjoy the freedom to choose whoever they feel could lead them.
Calls for the authorities to restrain the first lady from going too deep into SLPP’s internal politics intensified. These calls started in Kailahun, one SLPP’s strongholds in the electoral period, and later spread to various parts of the country. The SLPP women had a preference for Sawaneh to any other candidate the party will present.
Despite the calls, Sawaneh could not make it as the results were cancelled, and the election re-conducted in Freetown amidst tight security. The heavy police presence became an intimidation to many illegible voters especially those in Sawaneh’s camp. The outcome pleased Fatima Bio as she gracefully danced among a group of jubilant women who she convinced to see Sawaneh’s back out of power.
Sawaneh who could not put up with situation left the shores of Sierra Leone to have comfort and solace elsewhere. To many SLPP members, Sawaneh is SLPP’s firebrand women’s leader who will risk it all to ensure that SLPP retains power in 2023. She would tell her colleague women in the SLPP that to have an SLPP women’s leader is one step, but who will be the women’s leader that will confront APC in an election?
This question remains unanswered to date. Sawaneh’s overzealousness for a party she cherished became clear when she dashed at Pa Demba Road main Correctional facility where a prison break was imminent.
SLPP members thought the treason inmate, Paolo Conteh was about to escape and remove their party from power. What a bravery on the part of a party’s women’s leader?
Public opinion holds that not all people could take such risk for a political party owing to the fear of being held to account by an international tribunal.
Despite cut-throat struggles for a party Sawaneh wanted to see power after 2023, the former women’s leader failed to reap what she sowed. Instead of getting good fortunes for her risks she bore, she was rewarded with provocation and insults. Sawaneh faces double jeopardy: she has lost her much-loved seat of leadership, and with human rights crimes charges hang over her.
Sawaneh is out and Hawa Foray is in. the first lady’s objective of getting a women’s leader to work with has been achieved. It is therefore not yet clear whether the former women’s leader could throw her lot in a party she has got one of the worst disappointments. Only time will tell. First Lady’s reconciliatory moves have also gone inter-party.
Mrs Bio has met former Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, Sylvia Blyden for reconciliation. Blyden who has been a committed APC (All People’s Congress) politician has pitched tent with her own party with fierce opposition.
Recent warm handshakes and smiles between the first lady and the former minister told a big story of reconciliation. Blyden could now not reserve her criticism for APC to please Her Excellency. The former minister recently had it hot with some members of the party with whom he exchanges insults.
A reliable source within APC has told this press that the former minister’s behaviour does not resonate with the party’s ethical standards adding that the party will soon take action against her. The purported action is not yet made clear. Mrs Bio and Blyden have been at each other’s throat quite lately with allegations and counter-allegations leading to an attempted arrest of the latter. Truckloads of policemen lurked on Blyden’s residence to nab her over what they say an insult to the country’s first lady.
The attempted arrest came in days after the former minister was released from a correctional centre in Freetown over allegations of sedition, publication of false news and other related charges. Blyden against whom a warrant has been issued for her arrest has been in hiding until she was met by the first lady for reconciliation.
Sylvia’s predicament started off with government itself following a publication on the poor sanitary condition of a prison cell in which the former Minister of Defence, Alfred Paolo Conteh was held. The article which was published in Awareness Times newspaper sounded offensive to government resulting into Blyden’s incarceration.
She spent over two weeks in a police cell prior to her arraignment, a move that is contrary to a fundamental provision of the country’s constitution which provides for 10 days as the maximum detention period for persons accused of felonious offences.
Offences which Blyden was accused of did not fall within the ambit of felony as the country’s legal system reveals. These ordeals could not hold back Sylvia from peace talks with the first lady. Blyden pointed a finger of blame at former President Ernest Bai Koroma for failing to intercede during her turbulent time with SLPP government. The former APC minister has expected Ernest’s intervention to ease her ordeal since the former President’s portrait hung on her parlour was used as exhibit against the former minister. Blyden would now be used to hit APC very hard.
Many SLPP members say first lady’s move is a failed effort as time is just too short. Most who spoke to this press has asked where the first lady has been when Sierra Leoneans were hounded by government in the early days they came to power.
A popular argument holds that the first lady should have stood up for justice when justice was being denied to the people of Sierra Leone. Mrs Bio was in Sierra Leone when government raided and killed defenceless civilians in the northern capital of Makeni.
The first lady did not come out to condemn government actions. She was also here when inmates were shot and killed at the country’s main correctional facility in Freetown. Where is also the first lady when people were raided and killed in the northern of Lunsar? The list of questions continues.