SLPP has lost the plot

President Koroma and his troops will be laughing and preparing to be re-elected next year as they enjoy the hullabaloo going on with the opposition SLPP. The fumbling and bungling in the handling of serious party affairs by the party executive seems to be the main factor that will spell doom for them at the 2012 elections. If the current trend persists, the SLPP will not have to waste funds campaigning for votes to be able to return to power and it’s not as if they will be a better option, though.

The SLPP is just the other side of the political coin that depicts the negatives in Sierra Leone politics that the government is currently exemplifying.

After the 2007 debacle, I thought the SLPP would have learnt a lot from that and make sure they put in place policies and personnel that will be ready for 2012 years ago, but alas they stupidly repeated the same mistakes and especially now that they are not in governance for the law to be muddled.

Some analysts have been advising them to choose a presidential aspirant two years before elections so that the leader can take one year to unify the candidates and the party and the other year to campaign, but those in the party executive thought they are brilliant than others, thereby refusing to change for the better.

And that’s one big problem of Sierra Leone. People just can’t accept changes; they always tell you that ‘since I was born it has been this way so you can’t change it’. If we refuse to venture into the unknown how can we develop? It is because of risk taking that many countries and individuals have succeeded today all over the world.

If they had organized the presidential aspirant elections last year, they would not have been going through all this fighting and abuse within because the executive mandate would not have expired. Now that their own son has exposed them to the public they are now having all sorts of melee within that is going to tear the party apart and make room for many to jump ship.

The late Siaka Stevens once said ‘only God and fools don’t change’, this is a perfect example of SLPP who after 2007 should have looked into the pros and cons and work to improve their party for the better.

19 aspirants have been campaigning and they all have their delegates that are now going though party elections, if they fail, their candidates too will fail, so the candidates are now interfering into these elections to the point that the party has now become open to ridicule.

It is evident that by the time these constituency elections are through maybe some of the candidates will want a refund of their money because they would have seen their demise.

Ghana should be a perfect example for them as retired president Kuffour’s party has elected their candidate two years before elections so he can have enough time to campaign and meet with Ghanaians all over the country.

But for SLPP candidates that will win the flagbearership, how much time would he/she have to unify the party and campaign for next year’s elections. SLPP would be participating rather than competing next year, because Ernest Koroma is now way ahead of them even though Sierra Leoneans are suffering. We will prefer a leader and party that are well grounded and have no infighting than one that will be fighting till Election Day.

SLPP has been preaching against violence, but now they are at the center of it as everyday there are stories of candidates and their supporters fighting abusing journalists and party members because John Benjamin and his team failed to look beyond their nose.

I want to advise them to start preparing for 2017 because 2012 they have no ‘LOCUS STANDII” to win that election. They might do well in Parliamentary because there are lots of hopeless APC MPs that we need to flush out, like the one representing my constituency in the Mountain Villages.

This is the time they should work to amend their constitution once again so they can elect their candidate two years before election and get themselves well prepared. That is what APC did with Ernest Koroma last year. He has been re-nominated by the party two years before elections, why because they are smarter and wiser that the opposition. Even PMDC did the same for Charles Margai.

They have lost the plot and I am in sympathy for all those 19 men and women who have invested such huge sums of money in their party for them to be treated this way, because John Benjamin and his executive failed to prepare well. ‘Where there is no vision the people perish’.

Whoever wins the contest has a hell lot of job to do to even take the elections to run off because I am very optimistic that some of the 19 candidates would have jumped ship and joined the APC in the pretext of getting their Le50 million back by getting a job.

I just hope that we will not suffer as bad as we are now because in the next five year term, the iron ore cash will be flowing and who knows the crude oil too might have started, so we hope Ernest and his troops will use ‘some’ of the cash to alleviate poverty in the country.

Charles Margai in my opinion would have been the best alternative for us if in 2007 had not supported APC, but that was his mistake and he will have to live with it as he lost majority of his members to them. Today he is just trying to raise his head above water by flattering himself that he will win 2012.

We have to contend with the reality that APC is the only united party presently and they are well grounded to continue in power the only alternative that exists is the people’s power that has been going on in North Africa.

This is a fact that we have to contend with, SLPP has messed up and they will have to pay for their ignorance and we the people we will have to continue to suffer or prosper under APC if they cannot enact policies that will improve our economy and social infrastructure.

Why I am saying this is because day-in-day-out, the government’s failure to take advantage of obviously beneficial situations to regain public goodwill suggests that it is gradually losing grounds. I want to remind President Koroma that what will win the 2012 election for him the first round is not mere “character”, how humble or God-fearing he is.

Character might have done so for him in 2007 but having felt the impact of his rule, the people know very well that character alone doesn’t put food in anybody’s plate. That’s where the disillusionment sets in.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I uphold the maxim that “A good name is better than riches.” There is nothing bad about humility but when it turns out to be a problem for productive governance, it can’t be appreciated as an asset. It loses its value; and a government led by someone with that trait is not retained in power once the electorate dismisses him as a liability president

It is a fact that our politics is still crude. It is hardly issues-based, which is why the electorate are easily cajoled by politicians with sugar-coated vibes who make sweeping promises to win their votes. So bamboozled, the electorate go for such charlatans only to regret long after the fact.

Our politics is largely based on such superficial factors as ethnicity, personality, and hindsight from issues related to candidates connected to personalities or issues that the electorate refuses to let go.

That is why a government that seeks to be retained in power must be careful it doesn’t annoy the electorates. But this one, the picture is clear, because SLPP are a bunch of losers they have failed to look beyond their nose.
Undoubtedly, our politics is heavily shaped by ethnic allegiance. We can tell from the so-called bastions of support for both parties to confirm that this voting pattern will not easily change. Once the people take a stand for or against, it seems to be set in stone. Such has been our attitude to politics over the years.

The winner in Western Area always win the election and I am pretty sure that majority of the undecided voters or those sitting on the fence are watching closely the unfolding events within the SLPP and soon they will make up their minds to continue with what we have now because of the rubbish going on in the opposition or they might opt for a change again.

by Austin Thomas, China

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