A thick red line has been drawn following a warning issued by President Julius Maada Bio to former President Ernest Bai Koroma. The warning seems comic but strong and compelling.
“If the former President does not wash his hands properly, we will reach a stage in which we will stop to respect him. When we reach there, everybody will know,” Bio ordered the Apprentice, Alpha Khan to tell his former boss. The time is soon to reach as general elections fastly approach.
The method Bio will employ to disrespect the former President remains unclear. President Bio also insinuated that former President Koroma has still not ‘grown’ since he still meddles with party politics.
Bio issued the warning while in a commissioning ceremony in Koya chiefdom in the northern district of PortLoko. Bio has always insisted that the former President should take his hands off national politics, and be real statesman.
The current President is not pleased with the ex-President who still occupies the post of Chairman and Leader, the highest seat in the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC).
President Bio made reference to President Ahmed Tejan Kabba of Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) who left politics after he ruled for two terms. “After Tejan Kabba left power, we would have still made him Chairman and Leader. But, he said no, let’s give chance to the young ones to learn,” The late President advised SLPP elders.
Bio however appreciates former Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh and former Minister of Information and Communications, Alpha Khan who have shown statesmanship. President Bio quoted the former Vice President to have said: “My politics is now over; I no longer belong to any political party. I am now a statesman.” President says he respect the former Vice President.
This is not the first time SLPP is calling the former President to take his hands off from politics.
The call was made barely over a month when SLPP took over governance. Head of Strategic Communications, Joe Sesay has been insistently urging the former President to step down as APC Chairman and Leader if he wanted his respect. He would always say a former President who still plays politics did not deserve respect.
The call continues to date. Arguments favourable to former President Koroma have come from APC members as well the public. These arguments have held that the former President’s occupation of chairman’s seat is never an SLPP affair.
“What concerns SLPP about an issue within APC?” This question has been posed several times by APC members. As usual, the former President has always remained tight-lipped about calls of stepping down.
Bio and Koroma have never seen eye-to-eye since the latter handed over power to the former in 2018. Former President Koroma who still enjoys great influence among the people of Sierra Leone appears quite unsatisfactory with Bio’s governance style.
The former President who is quite critical of President Bio initially seemed a bit diplomatic, but blunt in recent times. Claims that President Bio will go in 2023 come what may is a statement Bio and SLPP members would not like to hear from the former President.
The statement is a constant source of worry for Bio whose achievement in state governance remains at a record low. Koroma’s threat that Bio will go in 2023 seems more worrisome as it came after a meeting between diplomats and the former President in the northern capital of Makeni.
The statement is an explosive for a President who hotly needs a second term but with weak result. Koroma’s stance on government’s National Mid-Term Census, 2021 was also one that hurts Bio.
The former President made it clear that the census would not work despite any political gimmicks employed by President Bio. Koroma advised Bio that he must seek the consent and cooperation of all stake holders in the process particularly the technicians, political parties and the international community.
He warned that “no amount of political arrogance and professional dishonesty” would make the census work. The former President would always constantly call on the people of Sierra Leone to compare and contrast his own leadership style and Bio’s.
Bio’s seeming strained relationship with the former President had a root that could be traced back to 2018. The week that followed after power was entrusted to Bio was one of great sadness in Sierra Leone.
Almost every member of APC was targeted for brutality. SLPP thugs in the cloaks of vigilantes were let loose on the streets to brutalise past government officials. The thugs led by former Minister of Mines, Rado Yokie spared no one. Their acts were reminiscent of ‘Operation Spare No Soul’ staged by RUF (Revolutionary United Front) fighters in January, 1999 in the nation’s capital.
No APC member was safe as thugs were everywhere. The daughter and son-in-law of former President Koroma were also made to taste the crude and brute sides of thuggery. The thugs unjustifiably interfered with the peace of Alice and Ibrahim Mansaray.
Unidentified armed men landed in the premises of the Mansaray family to forcefully take away a vehicle they say belongs to government.
The spate of brutality clearly appeared as if no one was in control. President Bio did not condemn the widespread violence and thuggery that was taking place almost all over Sierra Leone. Bio’s failure to condemn and stop the thugs rendered his promise of national cohesion rhetorical and farcical.
APC members in the eastern district of Kono had no easy days. They were chased out of Kono and the surrounding villages by SLPP. They sought refuge in the northern town of Massingbi where they were helped by senior APC politicians.
When violence subsided, SLPP employed harassment and intimidation methods against APC members who once served the country as ministers, Vice President and President. A Governance Transition Team authored SLPP hardliners led by Professor David Francis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, accused the past government of unparalleled corruption.
The Koroma-led government was dubbed as a government of thieves put in the phrase of “a criminal racketeering enterprise.” These are the words of Prof Francis. The past government officials were convicted prior to arraignment.
Former government officials were made to appear before what many describe as illegal commissions of inquiry to render account of how they ran the state between 2007 and 2018.
Most government officials have been held accountable except those who have thrown in their lot with Bio.
Anti-Corruption Commission has, on several occasions, pursued former President Koroma in his home town of Makeni, the northern capital, who they accused of corruption.
Since no evidence has been adduced against Him, the pursuit has ended. A bad blood between Bio and Koroma is no longer hidden as the former usually say he is no friend to the latter.