Santhkie Sorie
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 17 June 2017
A government of national unity with the same mentality changes nothing. It will still be the case of the fox in the hen house or a drunkard in charge of a distillery. The most impressive thing about such a scenario is that the act is repeated constantly and consistently.
The question then is where does the blame lie? My contention is that it lies with us the voters; we are always cajoled into thinking that the whole political atmosphere is all about ethnicity and region – and we swallow it hook, bait and line.
After a while, we start moaning that we have been fooled again. But we never cure ourselves of the syndrome, and the politicians know it.
Ernest Koroma burst on to the political scene raising the emblazoned banner reading “I am going to run Sierra Leone like a business”.
He was going to electrify the whole country and water shortage would be a thing of the past.
The accolade of his promises [empty they turned out to be] was to be the complete eradication of official corruption. Where are we now?
Virtually in the same spot as almost a decade ago when the electorate felt that at last the messiah had arrived – a distant relative of Angel Gibril [Gabriel in Christianity] with excellent tidings to finally take us across the threshold to prosperity.
If A.P.C. and S.L.P.P. were to form a government of national unity, the country would be in for a treat in the different styles the two of them use to continue plundering the nation.
I see no difference between them. What we need is a tsunami shift away from these two parties, which are all we have known since independence, by voting in people who are not linked to any of them, such as happened in France recently.
Both the socialists and conservatives were thrown out of office by the French people who were just tired of more of the same thing.
A.P.C. and S.L.P.P. cannot even clean the stinking streets of the capital city in all the years they have succeeded each other in office.
Nothing is planned, yet we have a Ministry of Housing and Country Planning. Where does the budget for the Ministry go?
If anybody can give me the answer to this question then he/she can give me the answer to the whereabouts of the funds generated by the huge diamond found recently, as well as what happened to the Ebola [“kasankay”] funds.
The country is just in a very sad state. If we don’t have a wimp like Ernest Koroma, but who is a clever thief, we have somebody who is a thug like Siaka Stevens who makes no secret of his claim of ownership of the Treasury.
Where or to whom do we turn to dodge some of the battering? There is no one around like the Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, who is ruthless about corruption and capable of applying common sense Economics to move his country’s economy along.
All civil servants in Tanzania are terrified of him; they are never sure when he will pay them a visit – invited or not.
Sierra Leone just needs good, common sense leadership, but she won’t get it from both A.P.C. S.L.P.P.
Finally, I must apologise to a fellow who used to read my commentaries but who stopped because in those early days of the Koroma presidency, I was full of praise for Ernest; and my friend seemed to be saying that I did not know who I was praising. Once again I am sorry my friend. Now I know better.
Vote for Mr Jekyll and get Mr Hyde in office:
Now, the question is, who is this or are these prospect/s that is or are capable of running the country with common sense leadership? Is there any candidate who is competent enough to run the country and who is also willing to refrain from keeping up with the norms of the country?
A person with humility that sees the nation as a whole and not just his or her immediate contemporaries as the only beneficiaries of the country’s wealth? I repeat, is there anyone?
I think Sierra Leone needs a Government with a patriotic opposition which knows how to function in opposition. An opposition should be a partner to the development of the Nation. However, the common practice in politics directly mirrors our individual ways of trying to bring down a genuine successful individual below zero level.
When any party is in power, the other focuses in pushing the other to failure by supporting all wrong measures taken by the Government. Sometimes the opposition even benefit from such wrong moves. For example, the millions given to MPs for Ebola sensitisation was a wrong move supported by the opposition because they directly benefited.
Another very serious example is the free pass given to the APC government in the exploitation of our NATURAL RESOURCES. The SLPP is as guilty as the APC. What I would suggest that seems to be in line with Santhki Sorie is the unification of all fledgling parties so that we shall have only three major parties (APC, SLPP and an alliance of the REST) predicated by the Public Vetting of ALL aspirants from presidential to councillor so that all suitable contestants in all parties are patriotic, men and women of integrity and good character.
I personally know some excellent men and women in the two main Parties and the others who can sacrifice even their lives for the progress of the country.
This is a commendable piece with sound thinking. Sierra Leoneans shouldn’t be surprised to see the APC and SLPP going into a so called government of national unity when things turned tough for both in 2018. Therefore, it is a moment for careful reflection on how we are to cast our votes in the forthcoming general and presidential elections if indeed, we wish for a change in the governance culture of these two parties.
They deserve to be sent out of the game this time as they have accumulated so many red cards that the referees had run out of cards. The masses are disgusted with them and we are the only ones to influence the result in 2018. Sierra Leone needs a national coalition of parties that will ensure that the APC and SLPP are condemned to oblivion after 2018 elections.
We do need a new wind of absolute change in the country.