Why Sierra Leoneans must vote wisely: this election is about the heart and soul of our country
There is no shortage of spin on the streets of Freetown, the SLPP pundits and their echo chambers have shifted high gears, their spin hobos are at the top of their game in the countdown to this crucial elections.
What is at stake in this election is not just EBK and Maada Bio, but the heart and soul of our beloved country. It is imperative that all citizens of voting age galvanize and go to the polls on Saturday. They should go to the polls not only to vote, but vote wisely. And by so doing, eliminate with the power of their votes every semblance of tribalism, verbal or physical from our national politics. We are sick and tired of tribalism. We are sick and tired of regionalism in national politics. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired of mediocrity in our national politics. ‘Politics does not have to be a blood spot’.
Fellow Sierra Leoneans, be wise and remember that a vote for Maada Bio is a vote for tribal hegemony, a vote for Maada Bio will bring back sad memories of the past. A vote for Maada Bio is a vote for tribalism, mediocrity, regionalism, nepotism, and eventual failure. Not only that, it would send the wrong message to the international community that Sierra Leoneans have learned relatively nothing from the horrors of the rebel war. I am confident we want to move forward with the agenda of attitudinal change. Every peace loving Sierra Leonean, should therefore cast his/her vote for the only presidential candidate with the credibility, the charisma, the judgment and foresight to deliver the goods, bring our people together, respect the rule of law, and treat each and every Sierra Leonean as they would want to be treated. That candidate, my fellow Sierra Leoneans is EBK.
This election is an opportunity for you to send a clear message to the SLPP that in this millennium, and in 2012, we would not tolerate conflict-ridden campaigns that are designed to divide our people; that in searching for a president we don’t care if he is a Yalunkah, Kurankoh, Loko or Susu; and that even if he is not an alumna of Bo-school is irrelevant. We are not voting for school prefects.
Your message on Saturday should prick their conscience of the SLPP, if they have any, it should enable the SLPP to go back to the drawing board and design an all-inclusive agenda. An agenda that would embrace every Sierra Leonean, irrespective of tribe. It should enable the SLPP to embrace all the tribes in the country, and give each and every member the opportunity to vie for office in the party.
Your vote should send a clear message that it’s high time the SLPP became a political party and not just a tribal cabal or a Mende party. Your vote should enable the SLPP to become a true political party with a genuine political agenda, seeking an extensive drive going forward, not just one that is centered on electing the first Mende president from Bo school. The SLPP needs a shellacking as the one coming to them on Saturday November 17, If the SLPP should remain a credible opposition in our fledgling democracy then they would take their defeat in good faith and not use it as an opportunity to wreck havoc, or stir violence.
Today, the SLPP has become intolerant of dissenting views in its ranks. It is difficult or almost impossible for members with opposing ideologies to share the same platform. This has led to a massive defection of major players in that party with untold followings to the APC. The main reason they exit in droves is because they know the country is bigger than the SLPP. As true Sierra Leoneans, they realize there is no future for them in the SLPP just because they are none Mendes and they never attended Bo School. This is a rude awakening that is even laughable. The slogans ‘tormentor’ and “pa-O-pa” ‘one-Mende-one Temne’ would come back to bite Bio in the rare and Saturday will tell the tale.
Although staunch supporters of Bio are shouting on cyberspace that he is going to win, yet all of them are doing so with made-up avatars and pseudonyms, a strategy suggesting to all Sierra Leoneans that these guys are jokers at best . But more importantly, their agenda is about lining their pockets and not in the best interest of the country as a whole. If the people who know Bio best are running away from him where do you think he is going to get the votes to win this election? I don’t know about you but think about it, if you cannot win elections in your own household why should your fellow citizen go out and vote for you?
It will make sense if Bio declares after a deserving shellacking on November 17th that he will no longer seek the presidency of this country, and he should make every effort to stay away from national politics. This will enable him to not only go about his daily business as a private citizen, but also enable the SLPP to look for a well deserving candidate to lead the party, bring all the factions in that party together, work with the incumbent president to move our country forward, and forget every aide-mémoire of the gruesome rebel war.
I see a lot of good ideas from the opposition but Bio is irrelevant and he is not the best advocate for those ideas.
by Mohamed Mansaray aka Medmans
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