Sierra Leone on Mortgage

Sierra Leone is our country that we love but most of the time do not have control over its administration. That has to do with a long term history. It started since the Portuguese came and imposed a name on the country and we foolishly accepted the name and continue to be called Sierra Leone (Lion Mountain). That is the first mistake our forefathers made. It means that Freetown is the only place called Sierra Leone because Pedro Da Centra referred to mountains of Freetown as Lion Mountains not the whole of Sierra Leone. It also means that Pedro Da Centra founded the country. That is a bitter fact to accept as far as I am concerned. The thing I know is that, there were dynamic people living in the country before the arrival of those Portuguese explorers. But our grandparents sat there and watched a single man from afar to lie without protesting.

Well, history has repeated itself. In the 2007 elections, some United Nations officials (names withheld) blatantly and openly insisted that Sierra Leone must have a change of government. It was a resolution that was taken to remove power from the ‘People’ of the country to those that these UN officials thought they can manipulate at any time. These UN officials did everything to make sure that the SLPP government was removed from power. They started with the demarcation of the constituencies, registration of voters, printing of ballot papers, campaigning systems, training of elections observers and the announcements of elections results. The Tejan Kabbah led SLPP government foolishly sat by and watched these UN officials messing up the country and allowed it to happen in the name of peace and democracy. Tejan Kabbah himself being a product of the UN hadn’t the guts to warn those officials of the UN to stop doing what they were doing. He thought those kinds of action were going to contradict his orientation of a free and honest system. Even though most of the SLPP officials knew that a kind of plan was being marshaled against them, no one stood up to prevent it from happening. That was because of the elitist way of politics the SLPP practices and this must change. 

 Personally, I am unable to comprehend the reason Tejan Kabbah and Berewa subdued themselves to these UN personnel and others and allow their people (Kailahun) to be robbed of their legal rights. In the laws of Sierra Leone, there is no room given to any electoral commissioner to annul election results. Christiana Thorpe was allowed to meddle with people’s right and go unpunished. I have not seen the signs that anybody will take up that matter to courts and challenge Christiana Thorpe for the records. In other countries precedences are set so that it can be referred to as examples. I see no reason the Kailahun people not to take Christiana Thorpe and her team to court for depriving them of their rights.

The tradition of silence is so embedded in us Sierra Leoneans that we have become cowards. This is the reason I referred in this piece earlier to the manner in which our fore parents allowed a single Portuguese to carry all the pride in naming the country and going further to claim that Sierra Leone was founded by him. It is the same way the UN officials and Christiana Thorpe are claiming that the present government of the APC is ushered in by them. I have an experience with one UN official when I was brutally attacked by late Almamy Kamara and his thugs that I will share with you. When I ran for my life to the UN compound, one of its officials that received me mistakenly confided in me that he had worked with Ernest Koroma for four years to bring the former to power. I gasped at him and it was then that he realized he was talking to a journalist. It was since then that I realized that the ‘Back to Power’ slogan of the APC during the campaign period came out of the assurance that had been given to Ernest Koroma, Victor Foh and others by the UN and the rest of the international community representatives.

Basically, this is how Ernest Bai Koroma and the incompetent APC team came to power. This is the reason Sierra Leone is suffering now. It is the reason the country hasn’t got any direction other than bringing electricity to Freetown. All the resources of the country have been directed to satisfying the people of Freetown leaving the rest of the country to suffer. As for President Ernest Bai Koroma, there is nothing developmental other than giving electricity to Freetown. He believes that Freetown is Sierra Leone and Makeni is the mini paradise of the world. He will not resist being in Makeni every weekend for the obvious reason of having good time.   The country has been handed over to people that are never serious with development but just political promotion. I listened to the immature Minister of Transport and Aviation, Pat Sowe, the other day on the radio, the only thing he was talking about was how it is the APC that is in power and therefore he should make that known to the people of Sierra Leone. This kind of conception is something universal in the minds of all APC ministers. There is the idea that all of them should protect their party than the country. The whole thing about the Ernest Bai Koroma rule is partisan not nationalistic. The APC can’t talk of Bumbuna because the Minister of Energy and the Minister of Information had said that Bumbuna was 90% complete before the departure of the SLPP.

I am of the belief that Sierra Leone has been dumped by some UN officials. It is now that most of them are realizing that they made a mistake. A mistake that is very hard to repair. It is that regret that has led some of the donors to give stern warning to Ernest Bai Koroma. That led to the suspension of the Commissioner of the National Revenue Authority (NRA). It has prompted the wild rumor of cabinet reshuffle. It has prompted the isolation of the country of further help. This action of those UN officials has brought us a government that believes in violence and has security personnel that rape women in broad day light. It has brought the dark days of vicious attacks on sober critics of the government. It has led to Ariogbo, Matorma, and other evil things to live with the President in the President’s Lodge. It has led to a gambler Aide de Camp (ADC) to live with the President.  The President’s ADC right now with vehicle number SLP 100 is always  spotted at 101 Campbell Street where guys gamble almost every night. That is the reason when it is reported by neighbors that the place is a den for criminals, it is not treated seriously. Our country has been mortgaged to the APC who are destroying it. It is a pity that Tejan Kabbah and Berewa gave in to this kind of arrangement.

Sierra Leoneans should start arranging their ballot papers to remove this incapable bunch of people that are brought to power by other foreign explorers.  We should be putting aside all other things and look out for competent Sierra Leoneans that will replace Ernest Bai Koroma and his Baa nya fakie system. All those that contributed to the installation of this APC government owe it to Sierra Leoneans to come back and repair the mess they had put in place.

By Umaru Sitta Turay, Atlanta, USA

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