It took just one telephone conversation, which was tapped by his opponents, to kick Mr. Gordon Brown out of power from No. 10 Downing Street in the UK. It also took just one email bundle to throw away Madam Hillary Clinton’s elections campaign in limbo and suffer defeat in the hands of former President Donald Trump.
Just one word, one sentence can kill one’s political career and send you to the doldrums forever. Flippancy, in meetings and among people who you feel you could trust, could throw enemies upon you. This is how politics and politicians turn phases and then face dynamism.
For those who profess to be real protagonists, the road may be slippery. Therefore, they need to be very careful as they thread along.
Just one statement, from an aspiring candidate, could spoil the whole show. It is distasteful, though, for even the strongest supporters. This is the juncture and the Waterloo that the All People’s Congress (APC) wants to land the ship.
The APC is the largest opposition party in the House of Parliament, and it has been in power just over two years ago. It is abundantly clear that this party often boasts of its political acumen.
Some critics often recall the slogan that was commonly heard from the lips of the former vice President, Mr. S.I. Koroma, during which he was accustomed to saying that the APC has 99 tactics to win elections. However, like one economist theorist in his research, he believed that the population of England was growing at a geometric rate, while food production was at arithmetic rate.
For him, he foresaw that, in the not too distant future, people would begin to die of hunger. Little did he know that there was going to be time when countries will begin to exchange goods and services in the International Community Market. This is so for the human race as their activities are changing, thanks to science and technology.
Change, time and tide wait for no man; and it is against this backdrop that we wish to admonish the APC and bring them to book.
The recent outburst of Madam Yvonne Aki- Sawyer, the Mayor of Freetown, in a closed door meeting with the APC comrades, has thrown spanners, pick axes, bolts and knots into the minds of everybody in the Great Divide. This will bring the greatest shake-ups in these two parties to usher fresh preparation to delve blows at each other.
Madam Sawyer was heard/recorded, on tape, throwing tribal sentiments, making hate speeches and boasting of breaking Articles 22, 23 of the Human Right Charter (the right to be employed without hindrance or discrimination). She talked very tough against those she believed were members of the Mende ethnic group and belongs to the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
This is one of the greatest mistakes of the APC should they wish to outwit Maada Bio from power come 2023 or 2038. Today’s politics is about numbers, economic advancement, human capital development and not so much of cosmetic propaganda.
The APC is not spreading political olive branches to the southeastern part of the country and it is losing grounds in Freetown and some parts of Koinadugu, Falaba and Kambia districts.
The APC is virtually not bothering about the Government’s White Paper on the Commissions of Inquiry. The APC is ostensibly underrating the quiet political current that is flowing underneath its own bedroom.
The APC does not actually know the actual number of loyal voters they have in the country, comparing it to the SLPP. The main strategy that the APC wants to use is money. No! Money cannot move people nowadays. The APC needs to rebrand itself with fresh combination of young men and women regardless of tribes.
The APC needs to believe that Freetown is their stronghold, but only just. They should know that they have a good number of folks that they have muzzled in one way or another. They should know that many people believe money is not their problem, but the art of MANAGEMENT.