For all intents and purposes, there is an implosion in the SLPP, which is happening without any outside influence. The current spate of lawless actions by SLPP partisans against their own is once again adding to the many issues coming out of the party governing the country that show that the party is suffering from a leadership vacuum that has a bearing on how it is running the country.
If the party cannot bring its own household under control, then it cannot convince anyone that it can ensure peace, security and prosperity for the nation.
It was business as usual at the very busy business enclave of Belgium in central Freetown yesterday when a mob of young SLPP men descended on it from party office direction, destroying people’s shops and properties in retaliation for an attack on their ‘CO’ by the ‘CO’ of another SLPP-affiliated group associated with the party’s King Jimmy chairman. The mayhem that ensued brought Belgium to a standstill as members of the opposing SLPP cliques including business people out to save their businesses from being destroyed or pillaged created such an unruly human traffic that necessitated the arrival of riot police officers from the Central Police Division who rained teargas on all.
This second intraparty fratricidal fight in less than a week further enhances our call for the party to put an end to this culture of political violence that gave fuel to yesterday’s bloody riot at Belgium in Freetown.
Yesterday’s SLPP party infighting after last week’s deadly intraparty fight at the SLPP Ataya Base in Calaba Town has revealed an implosion in the ranks of the party whose chairmen and other party heads are showing their inability to control their hired thugs, who display barefaced disregard for law and order. How can the SLPP expect to run the nation if they cannot run the party? It was in the Bible that the Holy Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle Paul instructed that if a man cannot control his children and household, he is unfit to run the house of God. So here we have a scenario where the president is running God’s household, the country, without being able to bring law and order within his ranks at home.
But there are more dangerous omens to this issue of unruly party youths taking to the streets and destroying people’s properties and lives than meets the eye. First is that these young men can kill you and nothing will come out of it, which is their usual boasting as they are confident; rather have been made confident by their handlers that no matter how outrageous they behave, as long as it’s in the interest of the party or handler, nothing, not even the law or president, can do anything to them.
Sierra Leone, despite the lawlessness that we experience here every day, is considered as one of the safest and peaceful places to be in Africa. But how can the SLPP government convince the people of a peaceful society governed by the rule of law when they have within their ranks people who are above the law? Their presence is a threat to the peace of the entire country as we know that during election time thugs can be transported from one area to the other to prevent people from performing their civic and constitutional duty to vote. Also, if SLPP party members are not safe from their own thugs, what message should other parties and we the people take from this? What if they turn their attention to members of another political party, what kind of violence would they unleash on them? What if they were sent out to strike us, what chance do we stand against them after they kill and stab their own without being brought to book? It is safe at this point to ask, who controls or runs these boys and what is their use to the party apart from voting or assisting in campaigning for votes? The men and women who control such boys pose a threat to not only the country but the head of the party, whose plans they can sabotage by unleashing their thugs. This infighting is telling us that all is not well in the SLPP; that they are not unified. These acts of violence against each other point to a sinking ship whose crew have lost confidence in the captain and are doing as the feel. Lastly, by killing and stabbing people, destroying their properties and taking to the streets in protest these young men have become a law to themselves – they can up and riot and protest whenever they feel like it, even without taking a permit from the police. And there is nothing no one can do about it.
These two very bloody and costly fights have clearly shown that the head of the party, the President of Sierra Leone, does not have control over the many young men brought into the party’s ranks as virtually waiting militias to be used for perpetrating acts of violence or political intimidation during elections. But we are now seeing that these young men are now emboldened to perform these acts of violence and disorder outside of the election calendar, from which we can infer that they can be used for other activities. But one of the most insulting aspects of these young men’s disregard for breaching our collective peace and security is that they were not required to get a permit from the police headquarters at George Street to hold a street protest with regards to their ‘CO’ being attacked. These young men can march down any street of Freetown, but civil society and others attempting to carry out peaceful protests are either arrested or cowered into not going through with it.
SLPP, bring your young men under control. Find out who is responsible for yesterday’s riot, and indeed all other bloody encounters, and take disciplinary actions against them like handing them over for prosecution. You have to publicly distance yourself from such actions. Also, empower these youths by organising anger management and job training activities for them. We the people cannot feel safe when we know that you have such men at your disposal that you obviously don’t have control over. Failing to effectively resolve this issue, the SLPP hierarchy would have failed the state. Not only that but they would have failed the president, who is once again being made to look weak and out of touch with the rank and file of the party hence the country.