The three key elements of good governance are a healthy life; the acquisition of knowledge, and access to resources.
Most times, the level of poverty in a nation easily exposes the performance of that particular government. We are not saying that government should take spoons and actually spoon- feed the people.
No, but government should provide the enabling environment for people to pursue their livelihood options and live a dignified life. Why we have eight comparatively new and small parties is because some portions of our society are disillusioned with the two big parties and thus place their trust in these sometimes near dysfunctional parties that parade and wait for run-offs to make a big deal out of the two leading parties.
A whole lot of people also believe that the two main parties are like birds of the same feather, since during the days of the One Party dispensation, all parties virtually by default became APC.
Now the two parties, APC and SLPP, are hotly contesting this year’s General Elections and one of them will occupy State House.
Indeed in their campaigns, they have stopped at nothing to expose each others ineptitude when in power, thus challenging the capacity and capability of each other to rule the nation.
However, the stark reality is that we do not yet have an alternative to these two parties who have dominated our political landscape for over fifty years.
With elections just in a few days, it is efficacious to know what the two parties think about governance.
In the APC manifesto, they start off under governance by making a very interesting statement.
They say: Prosperity and stability are a far cry in any state that is neither democratic nor peaceful.
It is the observance of the rule of law and the rights of the individual that are the very foundations of a democratic system. Quite interesting this one is. Why do I say this is interesting is that the APC’s current agenda is called Agenda for Prosperity. And here they are making a very serious statement that democracy and peace are a kind of prerequisite for development.
They also from the onset reaffirm their belief in the rule of law.
One might pause here to say that there had been a lot of accusations of the interference of the Executive in the work of the judiciary.
There are the cases of Tom Nyuma, Robin Falley and the Judges indicted by the Anti- Corruption.
There are also the undue delays and abandonment on follow-ups on the plethora of reports of commissions of enquiry. The political interest in some of the cases is so obvious, that one wonders whether the rule of law and separation of powers, is really in vogue.
Let’s have a look at the SLPP Manifesto, I mean the opening lines on Governance. Hear them: they say immediately after the end of the war, they embarked on governance reforms to resuscitate State institutions and create an environment for democratic governance to thrive.
However they claim that since 2007, there has been substantial reversal of the reform processes with a major threat being the undermining of the hitherto national cohesion in the country. They say they will make efforts to promote national cohesion, revamp de-politicize national democratic institutions, strengthening the role of Parliament, promoting justice and the rule of law, curbing corruption and ensuring state security.
For her part, the APC is blaming the SLPP for, according to them, failing to overhaul vandalism in the years before 2007.
They go further to blame the SLPP for not building the foundations for the sustenance of democracy. Do you see the divergence in the two parties ‘assertions? APC thinks this was the legacy that presented a formidable challenge to their government in 2007.
Well, without mincing matters, I do not think the APC should have stressed this issue because their predecessors indeed built some foundations for democracy and good governance to take off. This is one area that keeps popping up its ugly head. What happens is that our governments forget that governance is a continuum that survives governments. Each government coming in pretends that it is starting from a vacuum.
Hell No! You pick up from where the last government left off. Now you should understand why all the time there is this blame game, with none recognizing the good in the other. Over to the SLPP. The SLPP squarely blames the APC for having deliberately chosen to institutionalise regionalism, tribalism and extreme partisanship that have attained the dimensions of a national security risk.
It is imperative that the next SLPP administration pays immediate attention to reversing this trend and make each and every Sierra Leonean feel and believe that they are a part of Sierra Leone, irrespective of political beliefs, region or tribe.
Come on, will there ever be any love lost between the APC and the SLPP? I doubt it. One thing you will observe in the two manifestoes is passing the negative aspects of our lives as a nation to the other.
The SLPP claims, in five years, the efforts of the SLPP to unify the country and build a cohesive state have been overturned by deliberate practices of nepotism and the personalisation of state institutions under the APC administration.
For their part the APC claims that since 2007, the democracy and new politics that they are nurturing is creating space for our people to openly demand transparent, accountable and representative governance.
The emphasis is on deepening good governance based on the rule of law, freedom of expression, political tolerance, regular free and fair elections, protection of individual and vulnerable groups’ rights, separation of powers, and the independence of the judiciary. Our Government has over the last four years, taken steps to ensure the transformation of the political landscape that has become the envy of Africa
Well, without delay the claims on both sides need some tempering in order to give some credit to both sides.
One thing we know for sure is that during the tenure of both parties, the Anti-Corruption outfit indicted state actors. The case of the Mayor of Freetown and the aforementioned state actors are enough to seal this.
Can we say then that in the area of governance, the two parties really have to work hard?
Counter claims of the other sides ignoring the rule of law and the separation of powers needs further scrutiny.
We know that lawlessness has increased immensely especially in the city, Freetown.
This itself is occasions by the non adherence to laws governing the city prohibiting street trading and the plying of certain streets by commercial motor bikes. I think it is on this score that the President brings a down side on his popularity. For refusing to control street trading for the sake of votes, this cannot be good governance. The average Sierra Leonean often blames the guys around the leadership for the bad decisions of the Leader, but I say since it is the Leader that appoints the guys around him, he should take the whole blame. So the long and short of it, is that we are indeed governance deficit. We need to clear this before we can start talking of prosperity and the like. We need to clear one thing that people do not get clearly. That our GDP grows does not mean that our GNP has grown. This is why people say that it is not translating into the livelihood of the ordinary person on the street. Well GNP or no GNP, GDP or no GDP, we will vote on Saturday and let the person who can manage our governance well win.
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