Intra-party conflicts are common to political parties since they are made of members from different socio-political, economic and cultural backgrounds, but the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) has proved to be the worst in recent times.
The bloggers who once see themselves as people of the same family before June 24, 2023 elections no longer speak with one voice over issues that affect the party.
It is not uncommon to see them at each other’s throat when an issue rears its head within the party.
It is good for everyone to hold an opinion on every political, social or economic issue as guaranteed by the laws of Sierra Leone notably the Sierra Leone Constitution, 1991.
Section 25 of the Constitution says “except with his consent, no one shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression…” But, this right must be exercised within the recognised scope of decent communication or information sharing and above all within the law.
The freedoms, rights and reputations of other members of society should be respected as there is nothing like absolute freedom since freedom without limitation is no freedom.
But, this is not the case for the APC bloggers who take an active part in the politics of invectives in expressing their views and passing on their ideas mostly to gullible audiences.
Adopting queer and outlandish names, the bloggers have weaponised social media platforms (Whatsapp, facebook, Tik-ToK) against top-notch APC politicians through the use of scathing allegations and counter-allegations most times without sufficient evidence.
The aim is to misinform passive and gullible audiences for the purpose of exploitation or tilting the scale in favour of a favoured political candidate. The current election probe carried out by the Tripartite Committee is one of the main issues which has generated a tough surrogate war among the bloggers.
A group of APC social media actors are in favour of waiting for the recommendations by the Tripartite Committee while others say the bull must be taken by the horn without further dalay.
The Presidential candidate for APC, Dr Samura Kamara who is widely considered the Pioneer of the Tripartite Committee is in favour of waiting to see the end of the Election Investigation Committee and all bloggers who support this view work in support of Dr Kamara and treat those against the motion as foes.
Those who oppose the exercise of patience and restraint to see the D-day hold pessimistic views about President Julius Maada Bio over issues of state governance particularly issues he considers inimical to his political existence.
Most APC bloggers believe that President Bio will never implement a recommendation for a rerun election knowing fully well that he would lose any election held either today or tomorrow, and the only way out is to take to the streets.
Drawing and dwelling on past experiences, the bloggers have always accused President Bio of being good at signing but poor at implementation. His refusal to free political prisoners, discontinue politically motivated cases and resettle victims of political violence as demanded by the communiqué of October, 2023 have been cited as bright examples of PAOPA’s deceptive tactics in the business of state governance.
The communiqué, signed by the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and APC, followed a three-day dialogue facilitated by the international community to end a three-month post-election stalemate.
APC has carried out its own part of the peace deal by allowing its elected officials to take part in parliament and local councils while SLPP has done nothing in dispensing obligations incurred from the agreement.
This form of deception makes it difficult for the APC bloggers to trust the Tripartite Committee despite assurances from their politicians.
The enmity does not end there; allegations against Politicians of soliciting or accepting bribes from SLPP have also split the bloggers into different factions with each defending their political demi-gods.
It was alleged, without evidence that, top executive officials accepted a $2m bribe from SLPP so that the PAOPA regime could be allowed to run his second term although it was clear that he did not win the election.
Initially, Samura Kamara featured prominently in the allegations but was later cleared since no evidence showed that he bore a hand in the loot.
Later, the names of Minkailu Mansaray, Foday Osman Yansaneh, Mohamed Pope Kamara and other executive members also came up in the bribery scandal but there was no evidence to support such claim, but the bloggers still continued their surrogate wars tearing the apart.
The allegations came up quite recently when APC parliamentarians staged a boycott of parliament owing to an alleged massive election rigging, but the mediation ends all the hullabaloo, but the scars are still there.
The PAOPA regime had hoped they would get international recognition and support when APC parliamentarians and councillors took their oaths of offices knowing little that there was a third party in the drama.
As clever and tactical as they were, members of the international community used the MCC (Millenium Challenge Corporation) compact of $500m as a bait to get government sign the communiqué where they earned several obligations.
But, the diplomats showed the real picture about the post-election stalemate after Chief Minister, Moinina Sengeh had inked the document. It was after the signing ceremony that the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, United Nations, the Commonwealth, African Union, ECOWAS, Mano River Union and other inter-state bodies announced that they would not offer financial support to the government of Sierra Leone until the elections were looked into.
The tough stance by the international community plunged the PAOPA regime into hysteria and paranoic frenzy with opposition politicians at the wrong end. Top APC politicians were arrested and incarcerated on flimsy and frivolous charges as a form of retaliation for government’s deception.
The APC bloggers also disagreed on the said situation as they accused some of their politicians of working with the serpent that has turned against them.
It is a way of justifying government’s crackdown on the opposition politicians while other bloggers do not support such brutal moves by the power holders.
They have always considered PAOPA’s brutal actions towards APC politicians as a subtle way of shutting down the party and other opposition politicians.
Since they fight from different camps, it is quite difficult and almost impossible to have a breakthrough while the crackdown continues unabated.
APC bloggers are also trapped in other flurry of allegations about the receipt of money to propagandise on behalf of their demi-gods, and the situation has created a very bad blood among them. The bloggers who feel left out and marginalised from the profits of the pillage are fond of calling big money tagging big politicians as financiers but falls short of evidence needed to substantiate their claims.
The other bloggers have however fought back by completely denying the allegations of collecting bribes from politicians as they work only in the party’s interest.
The endless battles among APC’s social media actors started during the race for top posts in the party. Camps of bloggers who were in favour of a particular flag-bearer aspirant would not see eye-to-eye with opponents.
It was also the same for the running mate contest as those who were in favour Chernor Maju Bah would not work on the same page with those supporting Diana Konomani who many see as a firebrand politician.
The divisions, controversies and acrimonies continue to this day with no effort made to abort them.
Really, it is a disagreement among the bloggers, but should not be one that leads them to the use of foul words, rather, they should come together, sort out their differences and agree on the model to be used to fight the proxy wars.
Endless surrogate wars are being fought by the bloggers under the umbrella of different political god fathers who are still doubted as to whether they are aware of such conflicts or even sponsor them.
Despite the tough war on words, there is hope that one day the wars would end if top politicians see themselves as a body pursuing a goal, but APC’s communication strategists should play the lead role in harmonising the different social media bloggers by training and regulating them.