By: Pelusina John
What some dubbed a meeting between President Bio and his precursor Ernest Bai Koroma at State House on 12th September was to me an “encounter”. The most unstructured and insincere political encounter of the decade between our two existential heavyweights and of course, two former friends in a very familiar setting: State House; the very place then Rtd. Gen Bio would visit then President Bai Koroma and walk away from smiling for weeks ahead for reasons only God knew why. In that encounter, the tables had turned. Bio is now President, hosting Ernest Bai Koroma as a retired President. And that encounter occurred at a time when we as citizens and potential investors within the international community are most desperate for any evidence of political stability and peaceful cohesion that would help posit this country on a trajectory of economic development.
Veneer
Indeed, many within the APC camp were averse to Ernest Bai Koroma heeding President Bio’s invite, forgetting the capacity in which President Bio had extended it: as Head of State and Fountain of Honour. And if it wasn’t expedient for the Julius Maada Bio to have ever reneged on any invite from Ernest Bai Koroma as a sitting President, why Ernest Bai Koroma, now a seasoned statesman and peace broker of international clout traversing the sub-region should now renege on such a gesture from his successor?
Indeed it was a meeting in all but name, because it lacked one fundamental ingredient: An Agenda. That aside, the entire proceedings reflected insincerity and non-commitment by both the “convenor” and the “convenee” – of the SLPP and the APC respectively. So through it all, their demeanour was as frosty as a bleak mid-winter weather. Yes there was evidence of exchanges of the feverish handshakes and of wry smiles (for the cameras). When it comes to smiling or even laughing ubiquitously to their opponents, African politicians can easily out-match the proverbial “Cheshire cat”. It is what lies beneath the veneer of those handshakes and smiles – or rather grins – that matters.
Lacuna
Up to twenty minutes away from the start of that encounter, one could discern from the responses of Information Minister Mr. Swarray about its possibility on that same morning of 12th September over the Democracy 98.1FM that not everyone within the SLPP hierarchy was interested in the enterprise, just as it was within the APC camp up to the evening before. How a whole Information Minister who, (like the Chief of Defense Staff, the Police Inspector General and Minister of internal Affairs) is supposed to be au-fait with the President’s itinerary could claim ignorance of such an epoch making event to start minutes away beats even a forlorn imagination. But plans for the encounter were far advanced, and in the absence of any agenda, the APC exploited that lacuna, and over that same radio programme Mr.Sidi Yayah Tunis, Publicity Secretary of the APC proceeded with his submissions from the APC’s point of view of matters contemplated for discussion by former President Ernest Bai Koroma with his successor, President Bio. That was too much for the hawkish appetite of the Information Minister Mr Rado Swarray, which jolted him into the reality of suggesting with much levity, his own imaginary agenda that should include complimenting President Bio for:
– Introducing the Free (Quality?) Education (Not for improving on the legacy of his precursor)
– Paying salaries civil servants for the past seventeen months without resorting to Bank borrowings (even ignoring the phenomenal rise of Treasury Bills issuances)
– Resuming soccer in the country, left for dead under APC rule
Pundits believed that there was much more Minister Rado Swarray would have loved to have included in that imaginary list of commendations by Ernest Bai Koroma to President Bio for upon their encounter, but was constrained by air time to have done so. For example, Ernest Bai Koroma should also thank President Bio for-:
– Bringing the Ebola scourge to an end and for
– Finally making Sierra Leoneans know that Pedro da-Cintra has, like Christopher Columbus been since been confirmed as a “damn blasted liar” and that the correct name of man who actually discovered this country Sierra Leone was: “Pedro da-Bio”.
Ambushed
The Information Minister’s insinuations were nothing new. They are a typical SLPP litany rehearsed with perceived non-conformist groups to State House for audiences with President Bio. Their last victims were members of the Krio Descendants’ Union (KDU) who, apparently mesmerized by the ambient and exquisite decor of State House, and being unable to decipher between “politricks” from politics, were roundly ambushed ideologically into losing focus. By the time they arrived at State House to complain Lands Minister Dr. Dennis Sandy to President Bio for illegally seizing their ancestral lands within the Western Area, they were amazed to discover that another group of Krios (definitely pro-SLPP and who in fact were never members of the KDU) was already waiting to join them for audience with the President. Their role was to dilute the seriousness of KDU concerns during the deliberations so as to avoid painting this government as “anti-Krios” by teaching them how to heap well-choreographed sycophantic praises of the President’s achievements for the cameras instead. And they succeeded.
Unstructured
The APC being far more experienced to fall prey to such infantile political shenanigans, took the wind of the SLPP sail and detailed in advance and for public information, what their own proposed and unchangeable agenda should read like. And that was all the more reason why that encounter, during which only President Bio spoke, remained unstructured throughout. Even video clips by the State House Communications Unit about it remain as unstructured as unassembled jigsaw pieces too. It showed the arrival of former President Koroma being welcomed by Hon. VP Juldeh Jalloh; the exchange of greetings between the two major players; the introductory statement of President Bio – during which there were cross conversations to fill the blanks; then the exit of the APC delegation; the farewell banters. There was nothing else concrete to write home about.
Of course there were the inevitable group photographs taken of the respective party hierarchies sitting apprehensively close to each other like tranquilized snakes deferring their venom for another day. Anyone clever was able to see through those pretenses. Perhaps the biggest SLPP faux pas was the purported “Communique” on the outcome from the “Office of the President” that was countersigned by the Secretary General Ambassador Dr. Osman Foday Yansanneh. Since when has an opposition party Secretary General become a function within the “Office of the President”?
Disingenuous
Using stricto-senso relationship building and conflict resolutions criterion, I think it was disingenuous that the Chief Minister Prof. David Francis/Santos Bai Kamara; nephew(s) of late die-hard APC Comrade JB Francis of Kenema Town, and confirmed specialist(s) in “conflict escalation” against the APC in general and Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma in particular since April 2018 through his/their fabricated GTT Report, did not voluntarily recuse himself/themselves from that initial rapprochement between Ernest Bai Koroma and President Bio on 12th September. I wonder how Prof. Francis/Santos Bai Kamara felt exchanging furtive glances with the former President Koroma whom he has caused to be re-christened with as many unsavory names on that day.
The same held good for the likes of the Kekehtoma Sandy and Joe Abass Sesay of this world. And to be fair I suppose it was equally disingenuous for the APC to have included in their delegation any and every one of their comrades either facing trails for misdemeanors in the Courts. The SLPP ought to have known that even going by their own yardstick of unlimited flexibility, the notice for that “agenda-less” encounter was too short to have guaranteed successful deliberations and conclusions, given the deep lacerations arising from sustained vitriolic exchanges across the political divide since 2018. But they pushed the idea anyway, possibly to obtain photo evidences of stability and cohesion for attention of potential investors during the President’s next trip to the United Nations.
But it has to be noted that within the African mind set, words are like water. Once spilled on the ground, you’ll need a very absorbent mop to be able to recoup and save a spoonful. And that might take time. So for a start, even as they contemplate the next phase of their dialogue it will help the process tremendously if participation of Prof. David Francis is deferred until the signing of the final communique. And that is my point of order. The evidence available to the “Peoples’ Court” is that he cannot drive peace.
Genuineness
As our Fountain of Honour, it is inconceivable not to see anything but genuineness in the opening statement of President Bio to former President Ernest Bai Koroma on that day: “This is our home. We owe it to this nation irrespective of our different parties, regions and ethnicity to make sure it is a happy nation. So I am happy you are here today, so that we can discuss mainly issues relating national unity and peace; and how we can deepen our relationship and begin the dialogue necessary to keep the peace”.
Every well-meaning Sierra Leonean should support both President Bio and former President Ernest Koroma in the above enterprise. The peaceful and cohesive climate contemplated once achieved will:
– Restore confidence in our justice delivery mechanisms, especially in our Judiciary which upon taking up office the Hon. Chief Justice Desmond Edwards described as “nothing to write home about”, but eighteen months under his watch has now degenerated into “an institution not even worth talking about”.
– Diffuse ethnic and regional tensions and misgivings deepened over the last eighteen months engendered by political intolerance.
– Restore confidence in the international community that indeed Sierra Leone in an investment and touristic destination to help stimulate job creation opportunities in the process
– Eliminate the need for periodic “Pressers” from foreign missions (especially Britain and the USA) to their citizens domiciled here about their personal safety and security each time we want to run even a village headman election.
– Encourage future generations to nurture a culture of dialogue and other dispute resolution practices instead of applying the “Arata” mentality.
We can’t wait for that dialogue to begin proper, and with much greater sincerity and commitment by both parties.