Overcoming ‘The APC’s Internal Enemy’

THE OSWALD HANCILES COLUMN

In his “agendas”, and “attitude change” assault, “transformation” clarion call, President Ernest Bai Koroma in his rhetoric, and some of his actions, is determined to make a difference in Sierra Leone’s, and, indeed, Africa’s history – and bequeath an enviable legacy. The President can do well to take leaves from the political book, and, workable experience, of Singapore’s first post-independence Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Like President Koroma, Lee was a man of soaring vision. In the 35 years of his premiership, Lee transformed natural- resource-starved Singapore – a developing nation almost at the same developmental state of Ghana and Sierra Leone some sixty years ago – into one of the world’s most developed countries today.

According to the National Geographic magazine, in an article titled “The Singapore Solution” , it is stated that Singapore’s per capita income for its 3.7 million citizens exceeds that of many European countries (it is about $28,000 today – compared to about $500 for Sierra Leone); the education and health system can compete with anything in the West; government officials are pretty much corruption free; 90 percent of the households own their own homes; taxes are relatively low; the streets and sidewalks are pristine (it would be almost impossible to find a single sweet peeling on the Singaporean city center where millions of people would daily transverse); and you do not find homeless people or slums. Singapore also boasts an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent. Singapore has often been referred to as an economic miracle, because it has achieved so much, in such a short time – a feat President Koroma appears to want to replicate.

Singaporean-type Discipline in Sierra Leone?

President Koroma’s vision can only be speedily transformed into concrete reality with a dramatic change in the discipline ethos of the citizenry – hence, early this year, the President launched a ‘war against indiscipline’, code-named Operation WID. This appears to be another leaf from Lee’s political book. Economic growth is encouraged by what some Singaporeans refer to as the “big stick and the big carrot.” Everyone can see evidence of the big carrot, by simply witnessing Singapore’s impressive economic growth, its dazzling skyscrapers comparable to that of New York’s. The big stick is another matter: this is done by creating and enforcing many rules that are foundational for a well ordered nation. Prime Minister Lee believed that man can be trained and needs to be disciplined. This is accomplished by lots of rules. The enforcement of these rules have always been extremely strict in Singapore. They are enforced with anything from fines to occasional outings. They also believe in practicing corporal punishment. In Singapore caning is mandatory for at least 42 offenses.

Corporal punishment? That appears a wonderful idea that could serve as a deterrent in Sierra Leone. But, would our society give support to it? Police grabbing a man and whipping him in public for dropping a banana peel on the city street, for example? So fed up are the generally of the citizenry with the indiscipline in the society – and its gnawing effect on their lifestyles – that they would likely support extreme measures to instil discipline in our society. The main resistance President Koroma would face in trying to inject rigid discipline into our society would not come from the masses, it would be energized by the privileged elite who are his ‘enemies’; especially those who are within his own APC party, or, those who are high ranking government officials claiming to be supporters of his party – who I term here as ‘internal enemies’.

The ‘Internal Enemies’

In the politics of Africa, even when a country is physically at war with external aggressors, or, embroiled in civil war, it is relatively easy to identify the ‘external enemy’. It is the ‘internal enemy’ of an African government that is extremely difficult to define… is almost spectral. As physical forms, the ‘internal enemy’ is all too often the most intense and vehement of party executives; appears to be the most loyal of friends to the President. Sometimes, the ‘internal enemy’ to a governing party in power is epitomized by the President himself!

The ‘internal enemy’ of a political party in power are largely those in leadership positions – who suffer from ‘forget-iasis! For example, in Sierra Leone, they have forgotten that the APC was in power for 24 years, and in the last four years of the APC, the entire system imploded. The ‘internal enemy’ of the APC today are beating their chests as to how the APC would ‘live forever’ – without exerting themselves to ensure that they create the systems that would significantly improve on the livelihood of the majority of the people. The ‘internal enemy’ of the SLPP between 2002 and 2007 grew arrogant (the SLPP presidential candidate, Tejan Kabbah, had won the 2002 elections by a landslide; and President was speaking as if there would be need to prop up the APC so as to create the impression that Sierra Leone were NOT a de facto One Party state), and complacent – they were certain that they had completely vanquished their main opposition, the APC, and whoever would clinch the standard bearer position of the SLPP would inexorably become president.

The ‘internal enemy’ is capricious and harsh, and, for him, performance is something to be joked about – as what matters to him (or her) would be his ‘own cut’ of every deal. The ‘internal enemy’ overtly, or, in some cases, subtly discourages the learned and productive within his ‘domain’- and empowers the sycophantic and the gossip peddler. The ‘internal enemy’ soon saps the morale of nearly all the staff in his ministry or agency; fear reigns supreme; most who do any form of work would only be posturing, so as not to be too visible as not doing anything. A year to General Elections, the ‘internal enemy’ would become very generous in donations to the governing party’s central coffers – but, he would have stashed a fortune in government money stolen…just in case. (In the 2002, 2007, and 2012 elections, there were indications that some of the ‘internal enemy’ would give financial support to all the major political parties….Just in case….).

There are other innocuous, but, equally virulent, ‘internal enemies’. These ‘internal enemies’ are the apathetic civil servants. In their air-conditioned offices they would be bemused about the antics of the cabinet minister ‘internal enemy’. They would collaborate with the minister, or, anyone, to fleece the country. They would not bother about productivity.

There are other much less visible, more amorphous, ‘internal enemies’ – those who hoard information. Even when a ministry/agency is achieving something positive, they won’t release relevant information to the public to burnish the ministry/agency, or, to stimulate positive action among their stakeholders.

There are probable ‘internal enemies’ among some parliamentarians – especially if the party in power is the majority in parliament. These ‘internal enemies’ as parliamentarians are supposed to monitor the executive. They are inclined to swoop into a ministry/agency, legally demand all documents, probe, and, would ferret out sordid information on corruption and inefficiency. Most often than not, such information would not be publicly debated, and no outcry would be stimulated – rather, these ‘internal enemies’ as parliamentarians would ‘reach a deal’ with the senior executives of the government ministry/agency, and get their own ‘cut’ of corrupt deals.

The delusion of ‘internal enemies’

In Africa, ‘internal enemies’ are most likely to be deluded by power that lasts a decade, or, two decades, and they talk and act as if their political party is immortal, and they are invincible and inviolable. This perception is reinforced when they win elections, then, they are disdainful of any person or group who seeks to clean up the system, and check their diabolical predation on the country. Ephemeral popular support of the people simply gets the ‘internal enemy’ drunk, and more irrational. They forget certain historical lessons.

In Sierra Leone, the APC won all the parliamentary seats in Freetown and the Northern province in the 1967 elections, and determined crowds outside State House were ready to sacrifice their very lives to challenge a group of military officers who wanted to rob them of their earned power – yet, in 1992, when the NPRC military crowds booted the APC from power ecstatic crowds in Freetown hailed them. Master-Sergeant Samuel Kanyan Doe bludgeoned to death the Rev. William R. Tolbert in his pyjamas in the Executive Mansion in 1980, ending 130 years of oligarchic Americo-Liberian rule; and for two months adoring ‘native people’ from all over Liberia revelled on the streets of the capital city of Liberia, Monrovia, hailing Doe – yet, after just five years of rule, Doe was massively unpopular, and his brutal rule plunged the country into a miasmic civil war in 1989. The SLPP Leader, President Tejan Kabba, won the 2002 elections by a landslide, winning over 62% of votes cast in Freetown, which is traditionally an APC stronghold – just five years later, the successor who Kabba had ‘anointed’, Solomon Berewa, lost the presidential elections; and, in the same Freetown which Tejan Kabbah candidate had won by 62% in 2002, the APC presidential candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma, polled 72% of votes cast in 2007. The ‘internal enemy’ has failed to learn that the people must never be taken for granted!!

Prosperity only when the ‘internal enemy’ is tamed, reined…

President Ernest Bai Koroma has floated a vision of a disciplined Sierra Leone embarking on an Agenda for Prosperity that would make the country into a Middle Income country in 25 years, and a donor country in 50 years. The President’s vision even within the next five years would remain just fantasy if these ‘internal enemies’ are not confronted, neutralized, or, vanquished. There are structures, and/or agencies already in place legally mandated to do combat with these ‘internal enemies’ – but, these agencies lack potency without overwhelming ‘people’s support’. To even mildly replicate ‘the Singaporean experience’ in Sierra Leone, President Koroma has to be resolute in overcoming the wile and guile and poison of the ‘internal enemy’ within his own APC. The President’s 25 year and 50 years vision for the country is intrinsic with a Lee-type political longevity for his APC. To ‘be a Lee’, President Koroma has to be as tough as Lee – firstly, with his own ‘internal enemies’, before he can have the moral authority to address the ‘lesser enemies’ of the political opposition, and the generality of the ordinary people who would be all too easy to discipline once the President can bridle his own ‘internal enemies.

Oswald Hanciles

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!