That first lady Fatima Maada Bio remains a polarising and uncontrollable force in the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) was given much credence over the weekend when she was captured on video and audio saying that her husband is a “doctor of coups” as being something he is very good at.
For her reckless and distasteful utterance in a country that seems tethering on the brink of all out civil conflict over the highly contested elections slated for next year 2023, ranking members of the ruling SLPP say they don’t want a man such as President Bio with such a reputation hanging over his head to lead the party or nation. They say they have the law on their side that President Bio should not be the party’s or nation’s next leader, going as far as calling his selection by pronouncement made by Dr Prince Harding as illegal.
While many people have interpreted the first lady’s utterances as mere conjecture from a political novice that is untrained in political correctness or lack thereof, many in the ruling party see it as a veiled threat against anyone thinking of unseating the president by any means other than registering and voting next year.
While this may be all well and dandy as it is the only means to elect or oust a government, others in the party see lady Fatima Bio’s utterance as one of the many reasons the country is still failing to attract foreign direct investment because investors see in President Bio, despite his many trips overseas to convince them, as a leader of the coup d’états that swept over West Africa in the 90’s. It is worthy of note that none of the president’s many trips during the past four years, which media personalities are calling “travelgate”, have produced the expected results. He visits without his visits being reciprocated, not even by low level diplomats from the countries he visited.
For this and many other reasons, top SLPP supporters who spoke to this medium say they do not want President Bio with such a reputation as being a coupist as the head and leader of their party, which they will see as a bunch of men and women waiting for the president to seize power especially after he loses the 2023 elections.
The SLPP men say their fear is that President Bio despite his lacklustre performance in governance has convinced himself and the people that support him that he is entitled to a second term regardless of how he has performed. This mentality, despite the hardships and sufferings and fear that the people have been made to suffer and the financial corruption that the regime has been alleged of being engaged in, that PAOPA the regime must be re-elected ‘is tantamount to President Bio saying that if he does not win, he will not step down’.
‘His wife said it; there is no way the president should be expected to step down. A long time ago Nightwatch newspaper postulated that President Bio is passing all these bad laws with the hope of using them to consolidate and seize power when the time is right. Apart from that with the August 10 and other police shooting incidents and the misnomer that they amounted to attempts to overthrown him, we see that the regime is looking for an excuse to declare a State of Emergency claiming that someone wants to overthrow the government. This party has a lot of issues many of which have to do with the first lady and the president. Calling your husband a doctor of coups in a country that suffered as a result of those coups at a time when there are rumours and counter rumours of dissent is not a clever thing to do. The president should rope in his wife and keep her from just saying whatever comes to mind,’ they said.
The SLPP stalwarts called Fatima Bio a very polarising force in the party that has usurped a lot of people’s roles and functions and have become a self propelling force on her own. By her utterances, social media posts and the like, she continues to bring the party to the brink of disrepute; something the men say is not needed at a time like this when they are trying to convince the electorate that a second term will see great things for them and the country.
‘We don’t need the politics of fear right now. The election is going to be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere. No one man or woman can seize power or continue to impose him or herself on the nation and party. No one needs to be reminded of the deaths, destruction and mayhem that resulted from our coup years, especially that Bio played a critical role in them. This is a different dispensation; a generation that is looking for results, not to be reminded by a veiled threat of the blood and properties that were wasted in the warring 90’s. Today we want results as we are seeing in other countries with far less than we have on the ground. We don’t think that a president with the reputation of a coupist is capable of delivering the nation to the destination we hope to reach,’ they warned.
Next year, after the votes would have been counted, the voice of the people will prevail. Whoever the people decided on will be president, not any person that want to reach State House by jumping the fence. Lonta!