You know, late Former President Stevens was always overflowing with humor. You know he handpicked Late Major General JS Momoh and made him President of this Republic. When life became very hard for Sierra Leoneans some people blamed the former. That was the time people were queuing for almost everything including rice. During his retirement, Late President Stevens was passing through Freetown. Some citizens, who spotted him, followed his car and blamed him for the long queues. The old man humorously replied saying: “Yes I agree that the queues started during my reign but my queues never took a bend. It is Momoh’s queues that have bends.” On another occasion top APC women went to former President Steven’s residence to express disappointment over the Momoh Administration. He listened carefully to them and then started singing; “Who Gee Momoh power? The women responded saying, “Nar God”…. He then told the women to go to god and register their complaint. You know in Sierra Leone many people believe Leaders are chosen by God. This is why even when President Koroma handpicked Dr Samura as the APC Presidential candidate; people are saying that the doctor was chosen by God. Well the race to statehouse this time round is just too tough.
Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest that survive, not the most intelligent that survive. It is the most adaptable to change.” He was definitely not a Sierra Leonean but somehow the bulk of Sierra Leonean politicians seem to believe in what he said. Some years back I started mooting the idea of putting the two dominant political parties in opposition. How that could ever be is another story altogether. Nevertheless, many compatriots including those in the diaspora are beginning to think in that line. Many believe that any party that bowls the two parties out of power must be the solution to regionalism, tribalism and the politicization of every facet of our life, which remain diehard cankerworms in our political dynamics.
One question that keeps coming is, “What is really wrong with our parties”? With elections just about less than one year away, we cannot count many sober political parties that can field candidates beyond waterloo. I mean those worth the name political party.The consolation is the registration of the National Grand Coalition. This party will suck a lot of juice from both the APC and the SLPP whether they like it or not and perhaps force a run-off.
It is when governance is anything but good, that the media and civil Society becomes quite vibrant, that is of course if they are given the right temperature to operate in. It is the same way with the Opposition activism. They are more vibrant when governance is more prone to remaining averse to the tenets of good governance, human rights and democracy. You might think that these pillars and building blocks can operate separately, but this is not so. They are so interrelated that ignoring any one will affect the whole. We are often told that there are only two types of government, the popular one and the unpopular one. There is no middle of the road stance. Popularity should actually be based on the observance of the attributes of good governance that improves people’s lives, where public services are functioning well. This to a large extent is absent in our tiny republic.
How can we expect opposition parties to be vibrant when some are not structured enough to run their small domestic affairs. Those in Parliament are for the most part gone deaf and dumb. We see new parties come up with noise here and noise there but may fizzle out like they never shouted. In Parliament one sees so unfortunately that all the tough and vibrant opposition MPs seem gagged to oblivion. During Pop Sheik’s One Part days, students of Fourah Bay College were perhaps the only opposition. So many people think that the social media is becoming too sensational and unpatriotic. But tell me who do you blame if not those who do not care to make the bad news? Internationally we do not shine. Just the other day we were placed sixth among countries with highest levels of hunger. Well if we are facing the right direction, all we have to do is keep moving. It is when people face wrong directions that they struggle to find their way. This tiny nation has seen so many woes and we have stayed so resilient that we are now qualified to survive anything. What is so troubling is that some of our calamities are made to bear on us by sheer wickedness or greed of those we put in positions of responsibility. We expect them to be custodians of the tenets and pillars that keep us soundly together as a nation, but no! They desecrate our very foundation and abuse us in the uncanny fashion with the most outlandish impunity. Like Emmerson says, we gave them power and they returned fire. Too many compatriots are disillusioned and have lost the appetite to even vote.
Let nobody tell you that we are doing fine. The way we are going, it appears most of our institutions have lost all moral standing. Oh I forgot that politics is not about morality. When Muammar Gaddafi was alive, our people’s representatives could travel all night to Freetown to collect his raw dollars and even at one stage crowned him Paramount Chief. How shameful!Two major things responsible for most of our political troubles are fanaticism and sycophancy.
Sierra Leoneans who are older than independent Sierra Leone have seen the APC and the SLPP at work. In fact for some, their youthood was almost wasted in the one party misadventure. Those who did not give a damn enjoyed that system. The good thing was that in those days university students behaved like students and challenged the status quo, of course at some heavy cost at the time. What is happening today with the black and white nonsense? Today there is even a National Union of APC Students (NUAS). Yes the two parties have over the year’sencouraged national politics to creep and consume student unionism. Fourah Bay College is still not fully ready to accommodate students in residence.
The Political Parties Act 2002 needs some revision. When Obama said that if you have done something for fifty years and it has not worked then it’s time for change, he probably had Salone in mind. The APC and SLPP have served this country for over 50 years and we are still crawling. Tell me what else can they really offer?
With the dismal performance of the PMDC at the last polls, I wonder where people should turn; Much is talked about the National Grand Coalition. Can it perhaps be the game Changer? I see it has been topping the Awoko opinion polls..
One thing you can be sure of this time is that parties in the opposition are in a better stead to catalog the monumental missteps of those in power. Meanwhile I am concerned about our parties compliance rate over the years. The PPRC which has not been fully capacitated has been more of a mid-wife and peacemaker than ensuring party compliance. But of course you cannot blame it for obvious reasons.
The major reason why we are down where we are is the fact that the President appoints all the Heads of our Commissions, Authorities, Bureaus and other important bodies, most of which provide important public services. And what sucks is that Parliament kind of just rubberstamps the President’s nominees In fact it is characteristic of our Parliament to do just that. It was only in the days of Pa Kabbah that Parliament rejected his Nominee in the person of late Sheki Bangura. Temne man ihm witnes nar Bangura, ehn Mende man ihm witnes nar Vamboi!
By Ben Cambayma
Tuesday November 14, 2017.
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