BY Ibrahim JABATI
“… The qualities needed to survive are opposite to the qualities needed to development. To change the world around you, you must take risk, be open to new ideas and allow young people to experiment and break away from the old ways of doing things. But even today, young Africans are frustrated by the power of the grey-haired old men. ‘He is too young to be president’, Africans say of fifty years old president.”
Richard Dowden a renowned international journalist who has great knowledge about the African continent.
A SOLDIER WITH A VISION.
Here Richard Dowden is absolutely on point and his views resonate with the action taken by NPRC IN 1992. It’s interesting to retrospect how far we have come as a nation since the NPRC days, when a group of very young military officers in their early twenties toppled the corrupt megalomaniac APC government of Joseph Saidu Momoh to rescue our country from sliding into the abyss.I can vividly recall seeing old women, men, youths and students swooped into the street of Freetown to welcome them as heroes or liberators. It was an exuberant sight to behold. The euphoria in the street was so palpable that they people spontaneously started chanting: “Papa God tenkey way den borbor ya kam free we.”
President Julius Maada Bio was one of those gallant military boys who came from the war front and changed the trajectory of Sierra Leone for the better. Under his leadership as Military Head of State, he ushered in democracy into our body politics again having being abandoned for over two decades under APC! He also initiated the peace process with Foday Sancoh which was later followed through by the SLPP government that won the 1996 General Elections conducted under his watch. Today, we are enjoying the beauty of democracy as a nation, hislegacy.
Clearly, this tells us that young people when given the opportunity they can perform excellently contrary to what is believed by many Sierra Leoneans. As alluded by Dowden in his quote, these young military officers took a risk for the good of their country and succeed in making the lives of their countrymen better than what it was when they seized power. (Queue for fuel, your own money in the bank, to buy rice and going without salaries for months vanished etc.)They were tired with the “grey-haired old men” messing things up in the country as leaders!! They were hungry for change, for a better country where the interest of all is important, not just the greedy few in governance or in high offices. In essence, proper management structures were put in place to ensure that we never revert to such vicious status-quo.
However, some “grey-haired old men” in the opposition APC Party do not believe in given young people the opportunity to rule. This is why they have constantly plotted since 2007 when they came to power, to ensure that President Bio never occupies State House again. For them, this would be unacceptable and a complete misnomer. Why? The answer is simple, they do not believe in change. They are still stuck in their past hence their violence tendency, an age old attribute that they are well known for across the country coupled with outlandish propaganda.
PRESIDENT BIO-THE HYPNOTICMIRAGE.
“Appearing and disappearing with each twist of the road like a hypnotic mirage.”- SusanHowatch.
Susan Howatch description of the elusiveness of an image in her novel SCANDALOUS RISK, that keeps appearing and disappearing, aptly portrayed the dilemma the main opposition party finds itself in, in their effort to stop president Bio from occupying State House ever since.
Well for the fact that President Bio is currently occupying State House shows that they have been on a wild goose chase. All their effort to stop him from becoming president came to not!! In the sight Of APC, President Bio has become a hypnotic mirage that perpetually dazzles them. They have become so blind that they are not only out of touch with reality; but they are now even fighting each other, the “grey-haired old men”, versus the young and energetic men for control of the party leadership. In their sight, he has been “appearing and disappearing with each twist of the road or political gymnastic like a hypnotic mirage!
As we approach another General Election in June 2023, the cry of APC party is that President Bio is going to be a one term president, forgetting that he is elusive and hard to figure out as he appears and disappears with each twist of the political gymnastic. During these bouts of self-bolstering bravado, party supporters would feel a sudden resurgence of hope quickly followed by deep despair at the thought of infighting in their party and the way it is falling apart. In their haste to see the back of this young dynamic president, who has implemented for the first time in the history of our country the Free Quality Education Program, and is about to give us a state of the art airport, they have become fickle.
Well the All Peoples Congress Party obsession with President Bio started as soon as they came to power under the leadership of Ernest Bai Koroma and quickly figured out that if there was going to be any individual that would kick them out of power democratically, that individual would be the current president. This bitter realization plunged them into sleepless nights trying to come up with a strategy to stop him.
Then suddenly, they came up with all sorts of fictitious or concocted stories about him. The calumny they engendered regarding him was so odious that it stinks to high heavens. Nevertheless, President Bio being a master strategist proved them all wrong with their bogus allegations and in 2018 through elections flushed them out of State House again for the second time. Wow!! What a feat!
CUL-DE-SAC
What is gradually becoming clear is that they have still not learned their lesson yet after the 2018 defeat in the hands of SLPP and are still employing their old strategy to contest the 2023 elections. Fortunately, the whole stream of their propaganda has now wound up in a cul-de-sac. The APC party has perpetrated upon itself (their recent intra party election violence portraying them negatively than what they say they are.) and the people of this country (the lies they are being fed just to get their votes exposed)so gigantic a fraud that it has put itself into a crack. Thanks to Social Media that has madeit easy to expose lies and nefarious propaganda.
POLITICS OF TRUTH
We are now in the age of truth telling. Gone are the days when mischievous propaganda ruled. Today political players must be aware that the Social Media is no friend of those who are economical with the truth because they can easily be exposed. Therefore public figures must always strive to be upright. As they say, there is no hiding place for the golden fish. Whatever you promise to deliver during your political campaign to become president, you must go all out and accomplish it period otherwise the Social Media would strip you naked.
Winnie Odinga speaking about the Social Media said thus, “Social Medial is a double –edge tool – it lends itself to abuse and idiocy but it also opens up the world and channels public rage. It is a powerful tool in the hands of the oppressed.” She added, “Imagine a society with no laws, no policing, and no consequences. It would be pure bliss for some, but utter chaos for others. Now take this imaginary world and realize that you are already living it online.” And then she hammered home her warning, “Unless our leaders act like leaders rather than robber barons, the virtual streets will be too narrow for the angry mob.”
On this matter of honesty in politics, the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’O in his book: WIZARD OF THE CROW also rationalizes that, “We all need to look deeply in our hearts and the humanity in us will be revealed in all its glory. Then greed and the drive to humiliate others will come to a halt.” He pressed on, “A person who chases after fame and wealth and love is like a child who licks honey from the blade of a knife. While tasting the sweetness of the honey he risks damaging his tongue.” And he prophetically cautioned,” But don’t burn your bridge. One may find oneself back to places one had thought that one had left for good.” Hmm if this is not food for thought, then I wonder what it is.