For six years of tears, hardships and sufferings across the country since the start of his first regime, members of his party, even young stalwarts say they would not want President Bio to repeat the mistakes he made in the 1996 before leaving the country and handing power over to President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.
His supporters and other well-meaning Sierra Leoneans that contributed to the conversation concluded that the President as a matter of urgency and to cleanse the nation after his tenure, and especially if he wants to stay in Sierra Leone at the end of his presidency, to apologise to the people of Sierra Leone.
“After a disastrous and bloody six years in office, the president should remember that he took an oath on the Bible. You must know that God expects all oath takers to do exactly as they swore on oath. This is God’s biggest problem with the people and leaders of Israel, that is, they don’t keep their oaths to him. The Lord hates oath breakers and makes life difficult for them. He will not give them success because oath breakers are not loyal people, hence they cannot be trusted,” said a lay preacher who said he voted for President Bio in 2018.
People that spoke to Nightwatch on the issue said the president’s tenure has been tainted by the issues that have resulted from his leadership failures, saying his rule has been bloody and hard on the pocket and rule of law.
“The President took an oath to protect the people and the constitution. But under his rule many civilians lost their lives and the constitution, according to Hon. Chernor Maju Ramadan Bah, has been bastardised. President Bio also passed and approved bad laws that did not benefit the people. He was on record that he will not be able to fix the economy no matter what he or whosoever tries. In other countries he would have been expected to step down after admitting such leadership failure. He continued his assault against the people and law by stealing the people’s mandate after last year’s election. No matter what he has tried, the hardships persist and he is still unable to fix the economy. If he wants to live here after State House like Ernest Bai Koroma, he should apologise to the people,” a staunch Bio supporter suggested.
It must be recalled that after his failed leadership that even resulted to his overthrow, late President Joseph Saidu Momoh is on record for apologising to the people for his failed leadership. According to Sierra Leoneans the late president allowed for his conscience to instruct him as a father to the nation to apologise for his failures as a leader. If President Bio wants to live in Sierra Leone in peace and without retribution after his rule, he must as a matter of urgency and national healing apologise to the people, which will bring about the national cohesion he talks about but is still unable to deliver, said his supporters.
“If he doesn’t then he will only have himself to blame. A good father and leader apologises to his children and people he leads. He cannot take the money he earned leading the country to foreign countries. He should remember his experiences after his NPRC days when he handed power over to Pa Kabbah and allegedly left the country with a large sum of cash. What happened to him when he was away? We don’t know his experiences but we know the money finished and he was being helped and assisted by a lot of people. He could have stayed here and invested that money in our economy, had he apologised after their tragic NPRC rule. History is repeating with President Bio and he should seize the opportunity and apologise to the people and country for his leadership failures so he won’t go again and waste what he has earned as a democratically elected president,” advised a grassroots APC supporter.