SLPP PRODUCES; APC CONSUME by Festus Lahai

The above headline caught my attention as I was surfing through the SLPP mouthpiece online newspaper;” the New People”. When I first saw the headline, I was eager to know what is so special that the SLPP have produced recently that the APC is consuming. This is a short article written by one Festus Lahai and I was interested to read this article because I have not seen anything that the SLPP produced during their tenure in office. Headlines like this will attract a lot of people like me who are eager to know whether the SLPP can deliver when they are in the opposition bench what they have not able to deliver during their eleven years in power.  (Photo:  Abu Mankota Kamara)

To my disappointment, I quickly realized as I went through from paragraph to paragraph that, Mr. Festus has intentionally or unintentionally failed to outline what the SLPP claimed to have produced.  Instead, Mr. Festus focused on some SLPP parliamentarians’ attacks against the APC, which is normal in a country where parliamentarians are not bothered to do the jobs they were elected for, that is helping their constituencies.

In Sierra Leone, Parliamentarian’s job is one of the idlest jobs in the country. After elections, most of them disappeared from their constituencies until the next election campaign. This is because the politicians believe they are entitled to those positions. They pay people to vote for them so they owe no obligation to help their constituencies. Could you tell me how many legislative proceedings these representatives enact in a daily basis as compared to other countries? Could Mr. Festus or Honorable Musa Sam, since this is the name he mentioned in his article, tell us what he has done to help his constituency?

Now, on the issue of the APC purchase of 50 brand new jeeps for its officials, I wonder what Mr. Festus or the people he seem to be quoting say about the many vehicles purchased by the SLPP government when they came to power? Most of those government vehicles were damaged before they left office.

The ironic headline is a misrepresentation of fact because when it comes to infrastructural development, which is the fabric of any nation, the SLPP will not stand up and point to anything that they have developed for Sierra Leone. If the SLPP are sincere enough like most of us, they should be happy the direction our country is going despite the global economic turmoil.

During the SLPP regime, the country is at the bottom of the poverty index, according to UNDP. Sierra Leone was the third most corrupt country in the world. During the SLPP, Freetown was the darkest capital city in the world and the filthiest. Some foreign government officials even refused to enter Freetown because of its filth.

Within three years of APC rule, the country is no longer considered the most corrupt in the world, the country has moved from the bottom to a better position in the poverty index and Freetown is cleaner than before. The international community has restored confidence in the country, which was lacking during the SLPP because of the chronic corruption that was embedded in the government.

Many people, including SLPP supporters and members agree that the road system is in a better shape than during the 11 years of SLPP rule. If this is what Mr. Festus or his SLPP MPs called “turnombor”, the APC is proud to have “turnombored” the country this way within three years and I can hear loud and clear throughout the country, the appreciation of the people to this government for “turnombored” the country to the better.

Again, the SLPP needs to focus on reminding the Sierra Leonean people what they have done for the country during their eleven years in power. This is the only way that can make them competitive in the coming election. I know it is hard because the Sierra Leonean people are more informed than the politicians. So, the politicians can no longer mislead them with lies to gain their vote.

Attacking your opponents unnecessarily is not a winning strategy in today’s political spectrum.

By Abu Mankota Kamara

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