Sierra Leoneans from all walks of life representing all the different political parties have confided in nightwatch Press that the 24 June 2023 elections is the people versus the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) regime.
Going forward the people say even the main opposition APC and other parties should bear in mind that every election will be the people versus the regime in power. If the regime performed as expected, they should not have to sue or worry about re-election, the mandate will be theirs. Only nonperforming regimes they said will have to campaign to convince the electorate.
Gone are the days of politicians and political parties playing the people for fools by preaching divisive and confusing politics while all along failing to do as the people expect or as they promised in their political platforms or campaign manifestos.
For those who have not been following our political process these past five years, the voters said the 24 June election is also about the PAOPA sect of the SLPP versus green-blooded SLPP. It must be recalled that there are people in the ruling SLPP not belonging to PAOPA that complain of having been marginalised by the regime for the past five years. These people more than any other action want to wrestle the SLPP from the PAOPA faction. These people say they are true SLPP supporters that fought for the party to win in 2018, but that ever since then they have been on the outside because they do not belong to the president’s New Direction team of technocrats mostly from the diaspora.
The SLPP members said the members of the PAOPA sect came under the guise of the SLPP but after winning the elections they hijacked the party. However, they informed this medium that even within PAOPA there are staunch SLPP supporters who have been working from within to wrestle the party from the ruling regime and take it back to the people.
We were told that these partisans joined PAOPA because they knew it’s all about survival and that if they hadn’t they wouldn’t have been given the high ranking positions they were given. They knew that they would not be able to make any credible change to PAOPA without money or being gainfully employed. Now that these SLPP members of the ruling PAOPA are now liquid enough they said come 24 June regardless of what President Bio and PAOPA do they plan on wrestling the party from the grips of the PAOPA faction. Their lot they said is with the suffering masses and it is their duty to see the SLPP return to being the people’s party.
Far from the violence and fear that have come to define the SLPP under President Bio, this medium was intimated that the true SLPP is a party of peace with the calibre of supporters and members that can only be described as intellectuals. The people remember the SLPP as a party that unified our economy under the tenure of the late Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. During the late man’s regime the exchange rate between the leone and US dollar was so low the difference was negligible. Back then things were going well and despite the nation just coming out of a brutal collective experience, the leone was still stronger than many regional currencies, especially the Franc Guinee. Today Le1 million is worth three times less in Guinea, when during our 11 year civil war our currency was stronger than the Guinean currency.
For the aforementioned, and much more to list, the people have told this medium that the 24 June elections will be, the people versus PAOPA. They said talks of a second five year term from the executive is posturing, as the party and President Bio have done nothing that should warrant the people re-electing him. Several examples of one term presidencies or regimes were made to demonstrate their displeasure with the ruling SLPP and that a second term can only be guaranteed after the incumbent regime would have done according to the people’s expectation and as promised in their manifesto.
Not long ago the peoples of Ghana and the United States made loud statements with their voting by denying the incumbent parties and presidents the votes they craved for a second term. The citizens of these two great nations denied both John Mahama and Donald Trump a second term mandate because they had failed to do as the people wished or as they had promised during their campaign periods.
The citizens asked why should President Bio and his supporters be demanding a second term when they have failed to do as the people wished. Had he done the needful there will not be a need for him to even campaign, they said.
Going forward the voters of Sierra Leone have said they will start showing ruling parties where the true power lies, with the electorates and not with those seeking to be elected. Tired of being taken for granted and being played for fools by successive regimes, the people say they expect anyone seeking re-election to have done all in their power to please the electorate and not depend on changing laws, filling up the electoral commission with your supporters, elections violence and the like to win further mandates.
‘The new normal in election is that you should not take we the people for granted any more. We are tired of being used and tricked by clever politicians. We now want leaders who will work. If you don’t work for the people, don’t even think of coming to us. We will only re-elect you if you perform to our taste and expectation. Remember Ernest Bai Koroma’s 2012 campaign slogan: “if you knew that I worked for you, vote for me; if you think I haven’t worked for you, don’t vote for me”. EBK was re-elected because he did the needful for the people. Starting from 24 June elections, all elections, ward, council, district, parliamentary and presidential, even bye-elections will be the people versus the party in power. No need to waste your time trying to convince the people…do the needful and you will get further mandates to rule. Do as you please, we will also do as we please and not vote for you,’ they assured.