We shall not be deterred

When writing what I call my Epitaph on the sudden unceremonious departure from grace of the erstwhile Inspector-General of Police Brima Archer Kamara I quoted a line from H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines on the fall of Twalla the one-eyed king. “The eyes of men are blind to the conquered and he who is fallen finds few friends and little mercy.” In a different way this is where the opposition SLPP has found itself since leaving office. A section of the media which was always hostile to us while we held office has continued its relentless attacks on our policies then; we continue to be the victims of their venom particularly as we continue to dispute the results of the election. Such media houses have either joined in criticizing our stand or have on several occasions initiated the vicious attacks.  I have repeatedly listed the state in which the country was when we took office in 1996 and what we achieved in the eleven years that followed. It is a record of which we are proud and which we shall continue to defend as often as critics make out that we did nothing during the period. (Photo: Dr. Sama Banya)

The latest to suggest that we may be living in a dream world is the owner and publisher of the standard times newspaper.

I did not view or listen to the TV/Radio discussion programme to which Mrs. Isata Jabbie-Kabbah participated and which is the subject of Philip Neville’s attack on the SLPP in genera and on the personal integrity of both the lady and of her husband, former President Ahmad Tejan-Kabbah. The headline of his article in the said standard times newspaper of Monday September 20 implies that we in the SLPP are resting on our oars and claiming every development of project of the ruling APC government as “….it was in the pipeline.” It may be that Mrs. Kabbah used the expression “in the pipe line.” He lists a number of projects which the SLPP has never described as pipe line projects. On the contrary the said projects were in fact well under way when we left office. The Bo to Masiaka road was close to the village commonly known as Konta Line which was only some i8 miles to Masiaka. Work had progressed as far Torkeh on the Tombo to Lumley road; the contract had initially been awarded to a contractor whose country had provided most of the funding for the project. If Mr. Neville is so certain that the former President “chopped “or shared out the project funds among his associates, why has he not made the disclosure to the APC government which has developed an obsession to inquiry into how the SLPP misappropriated donor funds? It could invite the learned Gambia Judge back to undertake another unproductive adventure. What does Mr. Neville really know about why construction the Rogbere junction to Pamelap road project stalled? Was it a pipe line dream to secure donor funding of some 63 million United States dollars for the first phase of the Kenema to Koindu road? When did this government get the money for the Hillside road project or when did they carry out a Freetown energy sector review with JICA before the introduction of the Mitsubishi generators which have been such a vital asset to Bumbuna? What we have against the APC is that it gives out the erroneous impression that the projects listed by Mr. Neville were initiated by them without any mention of the SLPP. The rest of Mr. Neville’s full page article consists of the executive editor’s indulgence in his favourite past time. For our part WE SHALL NEVER BE DETERRED from educating the electorate. It is Mr. Neville himself who has described them as “gullible.”

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