It is safe to say that so far there is no credible opposition to the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) government, as political parties, civil society, the media, and artists continue to shy away from the present issues at play.
For the past three years, without failure, the current SLPP government keeps giving enough fodder to the public with regards to its failure to meet up with campaign or manifesto promises to the extent that one would ask; where is the opposition in all of this?
Tasked with the responsibility of presenting an alternative to ruling parties, the opposition, at a time like this in Sierra Leone, is expected to be in the forefront articulating the current issues at play for the electorate to understand, and then present what they’d have done in leadership. By so doing they get the mandate from the people to go ahead and do just as they promised.
So, with all the governance issues such as corruption, leakages, violence, the State of Emergency, the COVID-19 lockdowns, curfews and other economically debilitating measures, why is the opposition so quiet?
Not just the political parties, artists have a very critical role to play in encouraging or discouraging activities that are good or bad for society. People like songs because the artist is able to so articulate issues that they resonate with us all. Therefore, at a time of such great sociopolitical and economic upheaval, where is that artist to bring such issues to the fore? People are asking for especially Emerson, who they say has been suspiciously quiet during these past three years. Apart from our body, musicians, poets, and other writers are supposed to feed our heads with food for thought.
With advocacy as their mandate, civil societies are made up of men and women so versed at their particular line of advocacy that they act as a fourth estate in querying government or any other agency or organisation’s measures that go beyond or fall below the pale. During the APC regime, we couldn’t hear enough of civil society orgs crying about this or that issue. So, where are the civil society organisations that speak on behalf of the people?
Then there is the media. Called the fourth estate in the governance structure that also includes the executive/presidency, the legislature/parliament, and the judiciary/courts, the media in effect checks government’s balances in the democratic institution of checks and balances to make sure everything pans out. The media acts as umpires in the governance space.
Despite the relative freedom the media enjoys now, with the amendment of the notorious draconian Public Order Act (POA), which media organisation is, without fear or favour, letting our leaders know that their actions or activities are inimical to the progress of our society?
The answers to all these questions posed to the general public fall on several soils. The people say that, based on which party is in power in Sierra Leone, you either speak up or shut up. During APC regime, we were constantly being led to all kinds of conclusions by the media, civil society, the opposition and artists. People say the APC regime encourages dissenting opinions and views, while the SLPP supposedly full of intellectuals don’t tolerate dissent.
People say if the SLPP partisans can kill one of their own, even leaving their Secretary General so injured that he was sent to intensive care, what would happen when the opposition is involved? If these men who order and perpetrate such acts of violence are never brought to book, what would happen when they attack people outside the party?
Presently, they can name no one in the opposition taking advantage of the moment to be a standout in the cause of the people. Engrossed in their own intraparty issues, the opposition is letting a critical moment to shine pass them by, which leaves one with the thought that maybe they have too much in their closets that is preventing them to speak up without people pointing out their issues. All of these have rendered the opposition ineffective, hence dead.
For civil society, people say the whole lot of them has been given jobs. Not content with the slow, little or no money that nonprofits always complain about, civil society leaders are accused of neglecting their obligation in exchange for work opportunities. They are also accused of being in the pockets of government and others they monitor and evaluate. At present one cannot point out one active CSO in the past three years, after a well known CS activist was arrested, he has been very quiet, leaving the others in the same position.
With the poor pay that is associated with the media, the people say media practitioners and houses are so busy chasing public figures for money that they ignore the governance issues at play. Restricted to regurgitating the public relations spins that come out of government mouthpieces, people say the media don’t analyse, don’t comment or editorialise, or even investigate glaring issues of graft that have the propensity to leave the country always at the mercy of donor organisations, international lending agencies, and other development partners including states.
People say that with presidents having so much power to appoint and sack, any and everyone capable of querying them, such appointees consider keeping their jobs as opposed to doing their job. They say successive governments have failed to either repeal or amend key constitutional provisions that encourage such behaviour because they would limit their powers hence control over the very same people meant to act as watchdogs for the people.
The SLPP or Paopa government should know that creating fear in the hearts of the public or public servants, the media, artists, CSOs is undemocratic. Freedom of speech and expression is not only a constitutional right, it is also God given. And any society where people fear to express themselves cannot be considered as a democracy. Assurances should be given that people can safely criticise our leaders without fear of violence or any other retribution including loss of work.
If this government is serious about encouraging a culture of constructive criticism, then a constitutional review of the president’s powers to appoint should be undertaken to where such positions are made elective instead of selective. This will surely free public servants to effectively do their jobs without fear of rubbing the president the wrong way and so get the sack.
The culture of violence, as encouraged by the SLPP against its own partisans, has created a lot of fear in the hearts of the people. They need assurances that the party will distance itself from such acts, as no one from the SLPP, including the president, has come up to speak against such. Civil society, media organisations and personnel must continue to rely on the power of their work to vindicate them financially instead of selling out society by neglecting their advocacy.
Made to feel threatened or cowed, the people say their only power is in the ballot box, and they will use it against any party that does not do their bidding. Paopa or any government must be big enough to encourage and accept criticism for the betterment of society.