Kabs Kanu: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 November 2021:
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has revealed in its own website how it arrives at scores to determine Compact eligibility. They do not come on the ground to view situations for themselves. They do not canvass opinions from ordinary people on the street who feel the punch and pinch of misgovernance and corruption. They do not read newspapers and listen to the opinions of editors and aggrieved citizens.
Guess how they compile their scores?
According to their website, the MCC scores are the result of aggregated data from third party assessing institutions such as UNESCO, World Bank, Freedom House, WHO and Heritage Foundation.
The SLPP, through efficient. International lobbying, have warmed themselves into the good books of these organization. Remember that at a time that Maada Bio’s presidential aspirations were being ridiculed by opponents, Freedom House was one of the international organizations that gave him a platform and helped him put his case to the international community that he represents change and a new direction.
Also, note that SLPP has surrogates planted in all these organizations, even in the MCC where Mohamed Bah, the second in command, is a suspected SLPP sympathizer with roots to Vice -President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
The APC has a one- track minded strategy: GRASSROOTS SUPPORT AT HOME. They believe that if they satisfy the grassroots, that is enough to ensure them victory. In a perfect world, that could have been the case.
But Third World power today is not won on the support of the local population alone. The international community have a big slice to provide too, especially if you have an incumbent government that knows how to use them.
APC has no international clout. They do not believe in international lobbying. They think local grassroots perceptions and support are enough.
On the other hand, Maada Bio, as could be seen, cares less about grassroots perceptions and support. He is the most disliked president we have had since Independence. He is the worst performing president ever in the history of our country.
Since he is very tribalistic and provides favours and upliftment only to members of his Mende tribe, his support base us with the Mendes and South Easterners.
Maada Bio does not pretend either. He knows that dislike for him cuts across the general citizenry and he too does not like the people and spends little time with them. Bio spends all his time traveling abroad, seeking more international goodwill.
The question, though , is : without grassroots support , can Bio win a second term in 2023 , using his fairly favourable international support?
The Bio strategy for a second term is not through grassroots votes and support. He knows that he will be rejected by the people.
He aims to win by rigging the elections and depending on international organizations to classify the elections as free and fair, though with the last EU Elections Observer Mission follow -up report, and the U.S State Department 2020 Country Report on Human Rights, it will not be easy .
This is the dramatic scenario on our political landscape presently. We await to see how events will pan out in 2023.
This article is from a deluded man, and to say the least, part of the brigade of enemies of Sierra Leone. How for heaven’s sake could Kabs-Kanu question the MCC method of determining their scores, a method they have used universally all these years. The views in the article are from a frustrated cohort.