Aggrieved members of the ruling party Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) have complained to Nightwatch that although they are paid up members of the party they feel as if they are in the opposition with the way they have been treated since the party bounced back to executive power in 2018.
The dedicated members of the ruling party say they feel as if they pretend to be in power while being treated as if they are members of the opposition parties.
“Sadly we have been neglected by the members of the president’s faction of the party. Since 2018 it has been made clear to us that if you don’t belong to PAOPA, then you don’t have anything to benefit from president Bio and his cronies. From leadership positions to the awarding of government contracts, we have been routinely sidelined for people with ties to either the diaspora or PAOPA. Now that the PAOPA gravy train is about to exit the stage, where does that leave us?” one of the aggrieved SLPP members asked.
It must be noted that many people in the ruling SLPP have severally complained to the media about how they are being treated by their compatriots in the ruling party government. From job placements to postings and even the awarding of government contracts, longstanding members of the ruling party that say they expected to be given positions complained that such positions were given to the president’s supporters from the diaspora.
“The president has made us to realize that whenever they needed our votes they spoke to us in all manner of speech aimed at convincing us to see things their way. But as soon as they get what they wanted we are then ditched. And whatever benefit comes from such a decision will be shared among the president and his friends from the diaspora. We have been made to feel as if we are members of the opposition in our own party,” the aggrieved members of the SLPP informed this medium.
Meanwhile, complaints of how they have been treated by the ruling party government in the sharing of the spoils, some members of the ruling PAOPA faction have also complained of being sidelined for men and women they consider to be special to the president.
“In the sharing out of positions you will see certain people being recycled but never really put to pasture for someone else. It is as if we don’t have qualified people in the party unless they come from the diaspora. Even in PAOPA we have people who are more special to the president than others. These are the people that reportedly sponsored the president during his time in self-imposed exile after he handed power over in 1996. Now we see that the government plans on hiring more people even though there is no money for such a move or decision. At the end of the day when this government hires more people going forward it would be people from the diaspora or PAOPA,” commented a grassroots supporter of the ruling party.
At present the government wage bill has been stretched. It is at a point where the president and his human resources people have been advised against adding any more pressure on the over bloated government wage bill. Even the adding of more taxes on a tax weary and overburdened citizenry will not give the president and his government enough money to settle salaries and other administrative expenditures.
“While we have been waiting for years to get public jobs or contracts, this regime plans on hiring more people. With inflation over 54 per cent, with the exchange rate with the dollar not etched in stone and susceptible to fluctuations, where does the president plans on getting the money to hire more people? And what are these new employees expected to do that haven’t been done since 2018? If there is no plan to fix the economy then why are there plans to hire more people in government? And where does that leave us who have been committed to the party despite how we have been treated by the president and those he favors from the diaspora?” noted a member of the PAOPA faction of the SLPP.
Meanwhile, news that president Bio has agreed to step down after 2028 has not been welcomed by those who say they are yet to benefit from the party they have spent time, money, blood and lost friends over. With just over two years to go as head of state the president is on a mission to see to it that all those who helped in are rewarded, either with government jobs or the granting of government contracts.
“The president is under great pressure to fulfill his promises to those who had helped him, which is quite different from the promises he made to the people. For the people he had promised a new day, progress, quality education and an end to public corruption. He has failed to meet up with his promises. However, to his many supporters the promise was jobs, contracts and any public means to serve as a quid pro quo: do for me I do for you. But we are now seeing that with government being broke there is no way the president can fulfill his promises. At the end of the day those of us who have been left out should not expect anything from the president as he will not be able to go against the forces working against his government’s plans and actions. We will have to accept it as the will of God,” another aggrieved member of the ruling party government informed this medium.