Sierra Leoneans, from all works of life, have called for transparency in the transitional arrangements of the country, resulting to the transfer of power from the All People’s Congress to the Sierra Leone People’s Party. It could be recalled that the APC had failed to make public the report of the transition team that worked with the various Sierra Leone People’s Party ministers just after the APC won the elections in 2007.
Citizens had also closely followed the Commission of Inquiry instituted by the APC to look into the activities of the then SLPP government, but, again, nothing concrete came out of it for public consumption even when there were evidences that corruption had marred the SABABU Education and NACSA Projects which had huge funding from the International Community as Sierra Leone was emerging from a brutal civil war. Even the handing over speech of Late Former President Kabbah was not made public several years after the APC came into power.
We are also seeing similar signs when the SLPP is now at the helm of affairs. Why is it that we are witnessing a fierce debate between the ruling party and opposition over the state of the economy? Whiles the SLPP is claiming that the coffers are empty; the Bank Governor refuted this by convincingly stating that the APC government had left behind whopping sums of money. These arguments and counter arguments could have been avoided if Sierra Leoneans had heard from ex-President Ernest Koroma, who should have been accountable to Sierra Leoneans by accounting of his stewardship of the state during the last ten years. Why have the contents of his handing over note been submitted to President Bio last Friday evening but not made public? Is this an attempt by both Presidents to conceal the truth from Sierra Leoneans? This is largely because Ernest owes it to the public to account for his stewardship and nobody, not even Bio, should stop him from doing so. Ernest Koroma was voted by the people and he is accountable to them. If, for any reason, Ernest has failed to make his handing over public, Bio should be able to make the handing over note public as one who is steering a New Direction that is committed to salvaging the country. The handing over note would have brought to rest many questions around the state of our coffers. Is this the reason why the contents of the handing over are kept away from Sierra Leoneans?
Another issue around the management of political transition is the issue of the report of the transition team by the SLPP. The work of the transition team, headed by the Chief Minister, had long ended and we are yet to see the report of the team. Is it another attempt to deprive the right of Sierra Leoneans to know what has happened with the management of their resources for the past ten years?