The National Public Relations Officer of the National Democratic Alliance party, NDA, Sheriff Barrie has expressed his party’s dissatisfaction over the nonchalant attitude of the APC government towards the NDA.
Giving his party’s impression on the performance of the Ernest Bai Koroma led APC government after two years in office the NDA Publicity Secretary maintained that “The NDA has been marginalized by the APC since they took power”
He added that there has not been any good inter-party relationship between the ruling APC and NDA as an opposition. The PRO went on to intimate Awoko that since APC took over power they have never invited the NDA to any meeting which involves political parties and even when the APC went to Makeni for their party convention they invited the PMDC and SLPP and deliberately refused to recognize the NDA.
“But one thing the APC should note is that nobody has monopoly over political ideas, the NDA could give wise and very good advice to the government in order to
bring development to this country” He remarked.
Sheriff Barrie went further to say “The APC, SLPP and PMDC alone cannot provide solutions to the problems of Sierra Leone, the government MUST recognize the minority parties like the NDA and they must be brought onboard in order to contribute to the development of this country” Speaking about the performance of the government in the area of education for the past two years, Sheriff Barrie said “Education is deteriorating rapidly in this country over the past two years”. He described the performance of pupils in external examinations like NPSE, BECE and WASSCE as abysmal.
“Government must do something to develop the human resources of this country by encouraging teachers” he urged.
For government to concentrate on salvaging the problems of education in the country the NDA Publicity Secretary recommended a separation of the Ministry of Youth and Sport from that of Education as these are two vast ministries that require serious attention. He also recommended the timely payment of salaries to teachers and they should increase the supply of text books to both primary and secondary schools.
Giving his impression about moves made by the government to fight corruption the PRO applauded the APC government for the steps they have taken so far to fight against corruption. He however expressed his reservation on the provision of a particular clause in the Anti- Corruption Act which states that the President, Ministers and civil servants must only disclose their assets to the ACC and not the general public. “This is unfair, why should we hide our cards under the carpet, if the government is really serious about fighting corruption then officials should declare their assets to the people of this country” he stated. Talking of the economy of the country in the past two years Sheriff Barrie said “The economy is in shambles, our economy is derailing every day, and the economy is out of hands” He expressed his frustration over the rise of the Dollar against the Leone currency which has further contributed to compound the economic situation of the country.
The NDA mouth piece sighted an example of America during the era of President Franklin D. Roosevelt when there was an economic depression in the country. He said President Roosevelt promised the American people that he will turn the economy around within 100 days. He said what President Roosevelt did was to invite all the opposition parties to a meeting where they discussed the problems of the economy and they were able to bring out solutions to those problems. “I am expecting President Koroma to bring everybody onboard regardless of your political party; there are people out there who can give good advice in order to turn our economy around. Until this is done the situation will continue to be exacerbated and our people will continue to live in hardship” The PRO lamented. “People voted out the SLPP as a form of protest against the difficult economic situation and voted in the APC to change our lives, but things are not working, I think they have lost political network” He stated.
“If the APC cannot come up with sober policies to provide solution to our economic problems, then they should allow us the NDA in 2012 to solve the economic problems of our people by taking over the reins”
When he was asked to give his impression on the provision of electricity in the country, the PRO of NDA told Awoko that the APC government has been doing well to provide electricity to the city and in trying to complete the Bumbuna project which was 95 percent accomplished by the erstwhile SLPP.
But people in Sanda Magbolontor are not yearning for Bumbuna” he said “they need their basic necessities like food, shelter” he observed.
Speaking about the security situation in the country Sheriff Barrie said a lot of investors visiting the country have come under attack by armed robbers and this will definitely scare away potential investors from coming into the country.
He urged the government to augment the effort of the police to empower them to curb armed robbery in the country. “If we beef up the security then cocaine trafficking will be controlled”The PRO expressed his contentment in the manner in which the cocaine case was handled but registered his reservation in the approach used by the American government to forcefully take away some of the white convicts. “The nation is not even aware whether these people paid the fines they were ordered to pay by the court” he concluded.
By William Freeman and Emmanuela Kallon
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