That APC sycophancy
It is only now that I am able to bring myself to put my thoughts and feelings out in connection with the gross sycophancy displayed by APC Members of Parliament in the recent State Opening of Parliament in Freetown.
The APC Members of Parliament turned the whole event of the State Opening of Parliament into an occasion of clownery and jesting.
The truth is, our MPs are law makers, they are supposed to be aware of the oversight function they hold over the executive arm of government which to me is why the President took the time to furnish them with information about achievements and future plans of his government as well as to tell them about impediments to successes in the administration of the country-the very essence of the occasion.
Whatever it was, I think the MPs lost sight of the reality and took to exhibiting sycophancy all through out the delivery and made themselves the grand clowns of the whole situation. The event as it is supposed to be is all about issues, issues of national interest and the concerns of the principal representatives of the people.
When it comes to such issues we are supposed to be serious and to treat the matter with the levity it deserves, but this was not to be, the MPs instead took to clapping intermittently for every word spoken by the President. More than the length of the President’s prepared speech, the inept and uninterrupted intrusion of the MPs made the whole show drudgery and to a very large extent sheer rudeness.
I certainly do not think the APC MPs knew the relevance of the occasion. If even they knew it, they certainly did not accord it the expected respect. Going about such senseless musing is certainly not what we expect from people we voted to represent our interest.
Judging from what happened in the Well of Parliament one would safely conclude that the MPs did not display any glimmer of respect for the people who voted for them but would instead pay undue obeisance to Ernest Koroma instead of taking the pains, if that is what it is to listen to the issues he was dealing with and see what their input would be therein.
An apt description would be that “they exhibited sycophancy” for reasons one would hardly understand. I don’t know if one would curry favor from someone of the caliber of President Koroma by washing yourself in sycophantic displays that amount to nothing less than nuisance in the eyes of sober minded people.
Up in the gallery, a school of diplomatic officers sat edgy and most certainly insulted with what was going on, apparently banging their heels on their seats and fervently praying for the president to complete his job so that they are able to free themselves from the madness that marred affairs in Parliament on that repulsive and unsightly day.
A friend of mine who sat by me as we witnessed the occasion opined that “some of them most certainly are doing this so that they will be appointed into the main stream of governance.” Especially when President Ernest Bai Koroma has begun siphoning them from Parliament and giving them ministerial and ambassadorial positions. This is one area I do not see with the president.
The people in Parliament were elected so that they in turn will represent the interest of the nation in state. Therefore, if for anything they now find reasons to dodge from such functions then such reasons must certainly be selfish and greedy ones.
Is it that government must be a circle wherein it must always be the same players? President Koroma will certainly be damned if he is found dancing alongside such ignoble gestures.
To our APC Parliamentarians who certainly are in the majority, I wouldn’t say they should learn from the opposition, but what is clear is that both Houses in the opposition (SLPP and PMDC) behaved in the proper manner, a manner that if adopted by the present government in parliament will give the occasion and normal Parliamentary proceeding the dignity it deserves.
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