By Abu Shaw in London (08/03/2023)
Sierra Leoneans are currently visibly upset about President Maada Bio’s election poster pictures littering the streets in every cranny of the country.
These ridiculous Bio posters littering our streets are the strange phenomenon that Sierra Leoneans have noticed unfolding in the country less than four months before the crucial general and presidential elections. President Bio’s poster pictures have been hung all over the capital Freetown and other cities so much that motor drivers and cyclists could hardly see traffic signs on the roads. This is exactly what is upsetting the people of Sierra Leone even more. Rarely does one walk 10 metres around the cities these days without seeing large photos of the President displayed on electricity poles and street corners advertising the President’s massive pictures that are like unmarketable merchandise on sale. President Bio is so obsessed with his photos that he started hanging them in public during his first year in power. (Photo: President Bio’s poster pictures are everywhere, while pictures of opposition politicians are rarely seen).
Bio’s thugs are often seen tearing down photos of opposition politicians and going scot-free The majority of the people are not really impressed with the personal advertisement of the Head of State because of the visible disappointment in President Bio’s negative style of governance, a situation that has ushered in more untold suffering never experienced in Sierra Leone’s socio-economic and political sphere. Sierra Leoneans do not want to see more pictures of government officials. All they are interested in is having the bread-and-butter issues resolved. Food on the table, safe cleaning water, uninterrupted electricity, affordable medicines, jobs, proper education, human rights, civil liberties, freedom, justice for their families, etc the vital things the citizens are yearning for. Sadly, these bread and butter issues are conspicuously absent in Sierra Leone and that is why no amount of photo advertisement for electoral purposes would change the minds of the suffering people to vote for President Bio.
The broad principle of good governance and democratic rule and taking care of the people are qualities that the Bio presidency has failed woefully to deliver since 2018 when they came to power. Displaying personal pictures of the corrupt Bios rather than delivering the goodies has become a normal attitude in the last four and half years of SLPP misrule. Even items like sanitary pads are not exempted from displaying the pictures of President Bio and his rude and corrupt wife First Lady Fatima Jabbe Bio. Sierra Leoneans are not surprised at the flamboyant display of President Bio’s pictures around the country as only despots like President Bio would entertain such a waste of public funds. (Photo: Unlike the June 2023 elections under Maada Bio, during the 2018 elections under President Ernest Koroma there was a level playing field).
Suffering Sierra Leoneans are very incensed when they consider the colossal sums of taxpayers’ money being spent on Bio’s advertisement billboards. True that the election fever is on the horizon and the people expect such an atmosphere to be felt throughout the country but the numerous posters displaying President Bio’s pictures are giving the wrong impression that he is the only candidate vying for the presidency. Hardly would you notice posters showing photos of other political leaders vying for the presidency. This is indicative of the fact that the political landscape is far from being a level playing ground under the ruling SLPP government of President Bio. This has further exacerbated the anger of the citizens whose unhappiness has been made worse by President Bio’s pictures. It is a far cry from the era of the last APC government of President Ernest Bai Koroma who allowed a level playing field for all political parties to advertise their electoral posters.
Also, the fact that these advertisement photos of the President and his Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh are blocking the views of drivers from seeing traffic signs on the roads has not helped matters for the Bio presidency. These gigantic posters of President Bio littering the street poles in every roundabout, especially in the capital Freetown are dangerous as it is funny and laughable. As the crucial June 24, 2023, general and presidential elections come nearer, these big billboards displaying photos of Maada and Juldeh are increasingly becoming an eyesore as these unnecessary pictures are annoying the ordinary citizens. People could not understand why the SLPP regime is so desperate to exhibit pictures everywhere leaving no room for other political leaders to display their own electoral posters. (Photo: Ernest Koroma is a real democrat).
The popular saying that too much of one thing is good for nothing has been exemplified by the Bios, thus suffocating the voters. Citizens are looking at the photos and seeing a President who has inflicted so much pain and suffering on them since 2018. Instead of delivering the goodies to propel his SLPP government to the State House for the second time in June, rather, his failed SLPP officials are posting his pictures here and there as if these photos would convince the electorates to vote for President Bio again. The Sierra Leone scenario is likened to Communist China where Chairman Mao’s pictures are displayed shelter skelter. Even in Russia today, President Putin’s photos are not posted as much as President Bio in Sierra Leone. It is so shameful to see a so-called democratic leader behaving so shamelessly. “Your works will follow you. Posters will not win elections,” citizens warn President Bio.
