This tiny Mama Salone is a very interesting country. Now a whole lot of Schools of thought are analysing the proposed Presidential debate which seems hanging in the balance because of the President’s pronouncement that he may not participate.
I really think he should as it will give the opportunity for Sierra Leoneans to know what each has to offer. It is indeed not a boxing contest where we are expecting someone to leave bruised. No. You see we want to take our country’s democratic profile to the next level.
A very beautiful thing about it is that criteria to participate and only the APC and SLPP met those criteria. Why I like this is because most of our parties cannot even boast of fielding 50% of the required candidates for the positions up for contest. See, some of our parties are actually making a big joke of our growing democracy. I call many of them Runoff Parties; they sit on the periphery and wait to make alliances after the first round of the Presidential Elections. Some of them start their scheming and intrigues from the very start by throwing their weight behind one big party or the other, much too early to belie their real intentions.
Let them thank God for the PPRC’s Magnanimity and flexibility; otherwise the bulk of them would have been left in the cold. Well, we are watching and we hope the National Elections Commission will publish the positions contested for by each Political Party. I think this should partly determine whether certain parties can be registered for future elections.
Thank God, Parliament left the PPRC Bill high and dry, not passed as an Act. I am still to contend with the fact that parties are registered few months to election, as if it were Sunday clothes, worn purposely for the election.
Except you belong to the dark days of Sierra Leone politics, that unsavoury political era of very bad governance of the 70s and 80s, you will agree with me here, that this year’s presidential race is the most keenly contested. Uniquely both the top contenders have served as Head of State and are both highly confident that they will win. In fact, some couple of months ago both were saying that they will win hands down and that there will be no runoff. In fact some posters still carry some of these ideas. However as the clock ticks closer and closer, the overconfidence seems to be melting into non-precision and uncertainty.
These are all indicators that the race is too close to call. This is not because of the unchecked boisterousness, bare face fanaticism, unbridled sycophancy and disgraceful laybelleism, but because the two candidates have shown that they both badly need the presidency. Also there has never been so much division right down the middle among the supporters of the two top parties. The latest addition is on socio-economic and class lines. One party is claiming that it has very strong grassroots connectivity and that the other is elitist. However what needs to be recognized is that no party worth its salt in Sierra Leone can exist if it is not for the poor and not so privileged. The essence of governance is to improve the lives of people especially the poor ones.
This is where both politicians and civil society activists meet. I wonder if you notice in the title of this piece that the names of our two top contenders and kind of mixed. This is deliberate. The truth is that at the end of the day, whoever wins ,is a Sierra Leonean and the person will be President of Sierra Leone, not President of the APC or the SLPP. No it never happens anywhere.
The Presidential Debate is billed for October 30. I know the President will be prevailed upon to participate no matter what. No one else can articulate their parties manifesto like they do. They are the very embodiment of their parties and by extension the state. Like the Black American Film maker Ayoka Chinzera once said, ‘If you can’t draw your own face, if somebody else does it, you will not recognize your face.’ Now let’s look at what the two men will be talking about. I really do not think there will be very brand new issues; I mean there will not be much. Since independence this country has had to contend with virtually the same issues up to today.
You heard late madam Ella Koblo Gulama at independence talking about maternal mortality and under-fives mortality. These and many others still seem intractable, even with the many strides the government has taken to minimize the rise. Ironically it looks like the challenge is still getting too tough as we are told to still be trailing. So maternal and infant mortality are still going to be on both men’s agenda. What we want to see is how the already emerging challenges like the alleged theft of drugs and delays in clearing them at the quay will be handled.
For the free health Care, the two men may not tell us about inventing new wheels but actually just strengthening the existing wheels and issues related to compliance and monitoring. We will particularly want to hear about how Freetown in particular will be kept clean under the City Council. How will the new council follow up on laws already enacted but left in careless abandon?
In the area of education we would like to hear the return of our Universities to their rightful places where the bulk of students are residential and government takes back the responsibility of providing meals for students. We all know the cafeteria system is causing real strain on students. The responsibility of providing meals for students through the college administrations actually maintains the responsibility bond between students and government.
If we want good results, then at least the issue of student meals should not form part of the student time table. We want the two candidates to tell us about how our university education should be for the advancement of the graduates’ lives and not let them join the unemployment lot. They need to talk of the curricular relevance for work places like mining.
The hottest debate is going to center on the economy. We want to be told strategies for pro- poor economic development. The one that will keep food on the table and cash in the pocket to pay school fees and meet other basic needs. We want to see how poor people will enjoy the benefits of the mining going on all over the country. What kind of agreements do we need with the mining companies to bring this about? It is ironical that with all the minerals and fertile land we remain some 150% donor dependent.
We want to hear that we will reduce our donor dependence to below 50 %. Yes we can. Other countries do not have the natural endowment we have, but they are better off. Why? As always said, I think it is an issue of poor management. Linked with all this, should be passing of the FOI Bill and a repeal of the 1965 Archives Act.
These two combined, will help put our records and knowledge management on a sound footing. At the moment, our records situation is nothing worth talking about. In this twenty-first century most of our ministries are still keeping records on paper stacked on dusty shelves and left to rot.
Many do not have alternative means like keeping them electronically and keeping back-ups. We look forward to a great debate devoid of rising tempers and insults. Mr President, please take part in this debate and give the people of Sierra Leone an opportunity to hear from both of you and then decide. This is all part of the democracy we claim to practice. You see a hungry man knows no ideologies. Just give him food.
By Ben Cambayma
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