By Kalilu I. Totangi
Yours truly is not amused by the latest shenanigans of Ms. Sylvia Blyden, proprietor of the Awareness Times newspaper. As is her defamed nature, Ms. Blyden has already started using her poorly written tabloid to cast calumnies at the newly elected President of the Republic, Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio and the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), in her usually deranged efforts to gain recognition and perhaps use that as a conduit to find a place within the Bio administration.
Of course it is not for me to decide who has a place in the current administration, but I certainly loath Ms. Blyden’s modus operandi. This was the same fella who, at the start of the Ernest Bai Koroma administration in 2007, constantly harangued the former president in very unsavory ways. Readers may recall one of those very despicable publications in which she put a horn on the former president’s head, depicting him as a monster. In the end, former President Koroma caved in to her blackmail and absorbed her into his government. The rest, as they say, is history.
In the days immediately following the swearing in of President Julius Maada Bio, it emerged that Ms. Blyden, among others had filed a petition challenging the election of the President. While we await the outcome of that spurious petition, Ms. Blyden has now stepped up a campaign of hate and disrespect against the President majority of Sierra Leoneans voted for to lead their nation. We find it despicable that Ms. Blyden is now hiding the veneer of press freedom to launch a stridently partisan campaign against the Presidency without regard. While we hold no brief for the current administration, I believe it is errantly silly for anyone to hide behind press freedom to pursue their partisan ends.
It is even more irksome that Ms. Sylvia Blyden, who consistently wrote about the brutal aftermath of the takeover of government that this nation witnessed in 2007 under the aegis of the All Peoples Congress (APC), could now be making efforts to not only rewrite history, but to also shameless distort same.
In her latest outburst, “Ten Years of a Peaceful Sierra Leone Under President Koroma”, published in the Awareness Times, Thursday, April 19th, Ms. Blyden is at pains to have Sierra Leoneans believe that we have “enjoyed ten years of uninterrupted peace and unity” under the ‘leadership’ of former President Koroma. She posits that the nation enjoyed ten years of “peace and political tolerance”, and that we took such “for granted”.
In a longwinded explanation that follows, Sylvia Blyden claims that “within less than 24 hours of President Koroma taking up office in 2007, everything was back to normal”. She further notes: “Even when he had clear evidence of malfeasance with which to demonize certain SLPP operatives when he relieved them of their duties, he never did so”. Now you know what’s at stake here; the guilty is always afraid, as they say around here. If, according to Ms. Blyden, former President Koroma had “clear evidence of malfeasance” against former government officials of the erstwhile government under President Kabbah of blessed memories, but never brought them to book, then that is very unfortunate. At the minimum, one could safely conclude that former President Koroma, started off by aiding and abetting corruption in this country, despite his “no sacred cow” pronouncements. Or is Ms. Blyden letting us believe that exposing the alleged “malfeasance” of those so-called “SLPP operatives” could have amounted to a threat to national security? Is she saying that Sierra Leone became “peaceful” under President Koroma because he failed to prosecute corruption? Is she expecting a quid pro quo? What boloney!!
One can understand Ms. Blyden’s angst, considering that she was accused of misappropriating SLL 6 billion by her erstwhile deputy at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA), Neneh Rugiatu Turay on national radio. It is possible that Ms. Blyden is concerned that the current transition efforts and the inevitable Auditor General’s comprehensive audit may rope her in, if the allegations against her turns out to be correct. As always, her method is blackmail and attack. What she has failed to comprehend even at this material time is that, her age long calumny against President Bio has lost steam. The public understands that what President Bio is doing in his stock take is basically helping the former President’s team account for their ten year stewardship. Or is Ms. Blyden suggesting that the outgone Koroma administration is not proud of its record of service?
Take the case of the vehicle recovery thing that she highlights in her tirade of an article. Is Ms. Blyden proud of the shameful conduct of these government officials who have criminally converted government vehicles to their personal use? Or is she the spokeswoman for those officials who have allegedly carted away with government vehicles to neighbouring Guinea? What’s her point really? In case she needs any reminder, President Koroma didn’t need to set up a vehicle recovery committee in 2007; because the previous Kabbah led government had ensured that a complete inventory of all vehicles in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had been compiled and readied for the new government then. Can you compare the orderly transition to this chaos that has unveiled itself in our very eyes? Come again young woman, what’s your issue here?
Oh, and that thing about Koroma leaving Kabbah Ministers in place until he could appoint his; if anybody needed a sooth on what his tenure will turn out to be, that was it. The man was simply ill-prepared for the presidency, so he needed time to come around into believing that he was actually president, let alone form a cabinet. Now you tell me how that contributed to making Sierra “peaceful” under Koroma.
To her credit, Ms. Blyden mentioned the spake of political violence meted against SLPP supporters in 2009 and the rape of our women in broad daylight at the party headquarters, although she deliberately omits the post-election violence that was visited on the party headquarters, resulting into the comprehensive looting of the premise and the destruction of the party radio. Indeed President Koroma set up an investigation panel comprising of all those distinguished persons. Much as she dishonestly tries to rewrite that episode in the sad history of political violence that is synonymous with the APC, we all know that former President Koroma did not implement any of the recommendations of the Shears-Moses Commission. On the contrary, he elevated many of the perpetrators of the mindless violence. But does this make meaning to Ms. Blyden, who then wrote copiously about those issues because she wanted the new president to notice her?
And here she goes again! Did Ms. Blyden really accuse President Bio of “very poor show of leadership…insofar as growing terrorism and political violence is concerned”? Let us talk about the genesis of the so-called “terrorism and political violence” for a moment, before we mention what President Bio did, and leave the readers to judge whether he has actually shown leadership in that regard.
While the nation held its breath for the announcement of the run-off presidential election, the SLPP was confident of its numbers, because the party had embarked on a very effective campaign; which included a well-informed media and communication, and election management and vote protection campaign. On the other hand, the APC had relied on their notorious 99 tactics. Even when the leaders of the party realized that they had lost the elections, they went ahead to tell their supporters that they were winning. All of this was part of a deliberate ploy to unsettle the nation and pave way to violence. Granted that there were incidents of sporadic violence in some places around the country, but it was nowhere near the organized and brutal campaign of terror that was unleashed on SLPP supporters following the 2007 elections. Does this nation need any reminder of what happened to the Late Justin Bangura of blessed memory and other SLPP supporters in the North?
It is commendable that President Bio condemned all forms of violence following his victory. He in turn empaneled a cross-party committee to investigate the incidents and allegations of violence. When it emerged that some women and children had been tricked into leaving their homes by elements within the opposition APC, in order to create a semblance of uncertainty in the country following President Bio’s election, he (President Bio) dispatched his Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to Mashingbi and Nimiyama chiefdom to assure the people. What did Ernest Koroma do when people were maimed in Pujehun district in 2009 or at the SLPP office in 2007 and 2009?
You cannot rewrite history madam Chico, we have all been here all these ten years. The people have been patient with Ernest Koroma all these many years and they decided to keep the peace. I wonder why you want to give him the praise for us maintaining the peace as a nation. More on this in due course!!