Cyril Barnes: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 27 February 2018
It appears that every golden handle the APC touches, turns into stone. This year’s election poses unimaginable challenges for the party. First, it was their ill-equipped and insensitive campaign team who are totally inattentive and unarmed with campaign strategies in the wake of new media (social media) and the advent of citizen journalism.
The APC Campaign Team largely depends on propaganda, which involves renting and transporting crowds in opposition strongholds to give the impression that supporters of opposition parties have surrendered their loyalties. Their aim is to get Samura Kamara to State House. But such mischief falls flat in the current political dispensation.
The Presidential Debate organised on Thursday 15th February 2018 was the first to be recorded in the history of our democracy.
The debate presented a clear show that the awareness alarm button has been pressed to tell our political aspirants that Sierra Leone deserves better than we have experienced.
Though the debate does not form part of our political culture, it was a platform set by civil society organisations, the media and other key development actors in order that our presidential candidates will submit to the people of Sierra Leone, their plans for the next five years; and by extension Sierra Leoneans would choose their leader based on the policies submitted. What a good initiative.
What I found most fascinating about the presidential debate was Samura Kamara’s truth telling. His aim was to solicit political sympathy in the face of APC dishonesty.
And by his admission that the APC government has failed the people of Sierra Leone, Samura has convinced himself that he has been part of a failed and crooked regime for the past ten years, and has conducted broad daylight financial robbery.
Before the debate, Samura Kamara appeared as someone who had sacrificed his confidence to alcohol. His sombre appearance was enough to tell the world that he would do nothing more than confess all the wrongdoings that have been perpetrated by the APC, during their ten heinous years in power.
Samura Kamara’s true confession hinges on the fact that he had spearheaded the delivery of the corrupt and bloated multi million dollars road construction projects – Wilkinson Road, Spur Road, Lumley Tokeh Road, Hill Cut Road, Hill Station – Regent Road, and other feeder roads whilst serving as finance minister.
Samura Kamara also served as Foreign Minister in the failed APC Government when our sisters, mothers and children were being trafficked to the Middle East as sex slaves and labourers.
Samura Kamara was also the Governor of the Bank of Sierra when our currency – the Leone drastically depreciated against foreign currencies like the US Dollar, British Pound and Euro, just as it has now.
As if that was not enough, Samura Kamara was also a key facilitator of the selling of Sierra Rutile Company for in return for bribes and kickbacks for the benefit of himself, his boss – the president, John Sisay (Photo) – the company’s chief executive and others, at the expense of the poor people of Sierra Leone.
Quite interestingly, the same Samura Kamara was part of this rogue government when the APC instituted infinite austerity measures to help bolster an economy that they had destroyed through corruption and mismanagement.
Sadly, the people of Sierra Leone have been left to wallow in abject poverty, as prices of fuel, rice, and cost of other utility services like electricity and water supply have gone up by 70%.
It is therefore not surprising that Samura Kamara’s presidential debate was one of truth and reconciliation reporting, because the APC party has provided enough brushstrokes to paint a picture of how despotic and wasteful they are.
At least the APC’s Presidential Candidate was savvy enough to tell Sierra Leoneans that the APC Party is not fit for purpose.
Former President Joseph Saidu Momoh failed Sierra Leone to a point that he boldly admitted that he had failed the nation woefully.
Samura Kamara was merely following the footsteps of Momoh to say that the APC Government (which he served for ten years) has failed this nation terribly.
Samura Kamara and the ruling APC have shown to the people of Sierra Leone and the world, that they are unfit to govern Sierra Leone.
A vote for Samura Kamara is a vote for continuation of massive corruption, poverty, homelessness, disease, mass unemployment, lawlessness, anarchy, abuse of public office and impunity.
The ruling APC have had ten years of wasted opportunity to turn Sierra Leone from one of the poorest nations in the world, to a country that can use its abundant natural resources to enrich all the people of Sierra Leone, irrespective of tribe.
A vote for Samura Kamara and the ruling APC is a crime against humanity – a crime against the suffering masses of Sierra Leone. A vote for Samura kamara is a vote for Ernest Bai Koroma – the chief crook and mastermind behind massive state corruption that has kept Sierra Leone backwards.
Watch APC paying cash for votes:
It is open secret that Samura Kamara did not campaign for the right to represent the APC party as their presidential flag bearer. He was selected by the “Chairman for life” of the APC party, his Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma. Many a reason have come up for President Koroma’s unilateral selection by his zombie party die-hard supporters, but one can draw some inferences from his selection by just looking at the seemingly sleepless and tireless effort his Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma has made in campaigning and crisscrossing the entire country to sell his anointed one to the electorates.
But the problem is, Samura Kamara is a hard sell and his heart is not aligned with the Presidency. He is comfortable operating from the fringes and not bringing undue attention to his sullied and tarnished career until now.
Samura Kamara has left an indelible impression everywhere he has worked, by encouraging corruption, graft, and paybacks. While he was in the banking industry, his nickname was Mr. 5%. He was the go-to guy, who was willing to do anything as long as his commission was guaranteed. He brought this same cavalier attitude to the government sector, which has made him the darling of our current President Ernest Bai Koroma, whose modus operandi is quite the same.
A vote for Samura Kamara is a vote to for his puppet master Ernest Bai Koroma, whose penchant for corruption, and disrespecting our constitution has seen no bounds in the ten years he has been in office.
Now the truth is coming out from someone who duly helped the president in corrupt chances to impoverish the nation and the people. There should not be shanty places in Freetown, but just look into pictures and walk around you will be ashamed of being a Sierra Leonean. What happenend when late Siaka Stevens was in power, had just been what the APC new leaders followed, depriving the country of everything. I can never trust the APC and its leaders for any good things in Sierra Leone.
My last fear is the issue of court cases. If the court rule against any one at this time, I am afraid of the reparcurtion. This will increase the chances of Ernest’s more time philosophy. Both NGC and APC are in court. Will the court pass verdict on NGC and adjourn APC case until after elections? This is in itself is a recipe’ for anarchy.
I agree that a vote for Samura Kamara and the ruling APC is a crime against humanity. APC should therefore not continue.
However, I am against KKY in this election because KKY is coming from the Northern region which has produced four presidents in 43 years out of our 57 year independence.
History tells us that since 1968 there has been no one single president from the southern and eastern provinces. even the 1991 military coup was headed by Strasser. For me in the interest of Fairness the presidency should now go to a candidate who is not from the Northern province. LET US BE FAIR. LET KKY JOIN MAADA IN THE SPIRIT OF FAIRNESS. PLEASE. PLEASE.
The Presidency is not about region. Get that into your head.
There are two classes of parties in every elections: The ruling party and the opposition party. Though some ruling parties will form artificial opposition parties and these to me are those which fall in this class – ADP, RUFP, UP, NUPP, CDP etc. These are products of the APC to merge with them during runoff.
My Five Fears:
1. That if the oppositions are not active, unite and coordinate things well on the ground, this election will be manipulated by those in power that is the APC. The border towns and villages where polling centres are established need to be vigilantly supervised and policed by Party Agents who could not be bought at any price or mortgage the country. If possible mix the agents to come from different regions to work with those on the ground in the strong holds of the APC
2. That NEC may repeat what Christiana Thorpe did with Kailahun by disenfranchising a whole district for over voting and ignored the crime committed by the Kailahun District NEC officers and senior NEC officers also who took the excess ballot papers to these centres. SLPP and other real opposition parties should alert the electorate not to over vote. The party agents should not allow that.
3. That with the high increase in Chinese interest in this nation through the Chinalization of Sierra Leone, they may likely hack into our elections just to protect their interests. Chinese are in every sector – fishing, mining, timber, large, trade, transport, sand mining, farming large scale land grabbing etc. The opposition should be vigilant and take photos of all results posted at the polling centres and if possible record the counting and the end result. Before counting, the party agents should call the name of the centre, the locality and the district.
4. That with the forces against APC, there is the green light that the APC will go so they may likely perpetuate violence in the strongholds of the oppositions so that people will be afraid to vote. APC is now like a dying horse kicking every corner just to survive.
5. That the ruling party will ferry or transport people from the neighbouring countries to vote for them since they conveyed them the last time to be registered. People should be posted at these illegal border crossing points in the north to monitor and police their movements.