Accession to political power has become more and more acrimonious as the sweets of office get more attractive. This is especially true in Africa where unconventional methods are employed. These include fetish and insults to opponents. When all the intrigues have been played out, the manifestos made known, the bribes offered and all the falsehoods enacted etc. The final factor for winning elections is persuasion by words.
In Sierra Leone, like many other developing countries, victory does not mainly depend on persuasion and positive deeds but sentimentalism, tribalism and regionalism.
Brigadier (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio
It is a well-known fact that he came into prominence after a palace coup that does not require any conviction or persuasion but peremptory obedience. He is not the first former military leader to attempt to metamorphose into civilian leadership. Others like Jerry Rawlings of Ghana have succeeded in doing so. It would appear that the retired Brigadier Bio has relied too much on his past record of having been a former head of State. But that has not weighed with many citizens who feel that he was one of those who deprived them of their choice of representatives, glossing over the factors of corruption that necessitated military intervention.
He has little of the spirit to raise the people to the skies that oratory demands. He lacks the winning words to conquer willing hearts. He has not been beating down by his adversaries’ arguments. To be a civilian leader one has to show the passion to shake the country.
In the plenitude of issues to deal with, one has to have the knack of selection of those that tick and to rehash them well.
Free education has been one of his flash point issues. This has not gone down well with the citizenry inured to these kinds of promises from representatives who had not been sincere. He has been queried on how he would find the money to carry out the scheme.
There have always been regrets of the lack of military discipline by some citizens regardless of their non-representation in governance. This is where Rtd. Maada Bio should have cashed in instead of free education which they doubt.
There is also lack of enforcement of rules that is responsible for so much wastage of funds that could have been used for better education that the retired Brigadier has not been emphasizing. The people have experienced the disciplinary measures of past military regimes and this should serve as a catchment area for the Retired Brigadier and it is hoped that he would emphasize these in his upcoming campaigns.
Maada Bio has threatened that he would not take a rigged election lying down this time round; a threat that some citizens are taking with a pinch of salt while others take it seriously. Henceforth the retired Brigadier should focus his attention on observance of the Rule of Law and other forms of discipline if elected President. Those are the bullets that hit their targets instead of wasting stray bullets on issues that are hard to sink in. He should be hitting the nail on the head rather than be skirting around issues.