The much anticipated June 19 will come and go, just like any other day. Despite what many people are concerned with regarding “bullet for bullet” including the disclosure and recommendations that the committee is expected to proffer, will President Julius Maada Bio be able to steady our poorly performing economy where inflation is running amok and steady the political tension that has been brewing since he was announced winner of the June 24, 2023 presidential elections?
Our economy or country is likened to a ship on stormy seas with the president as the captain. June 19, according to the terms of reference for the Tripartite Committee, is the day they are supposed to make their findings into the past and other elections going back to 2002 known for public consumption.
It is no gainsaying that the length of time waiting on the committee to investigate or review past electoral processes including the news or update blackout from the committee that is devoid of a public relations or information arm, has consumed a lot of our time going on a year now.
The wait and talk of street protests from some quarters of the society the ruling party government is insisting belongs to the main opposition, has consumed a considerable amount of the government’s time. Over the past year we have gone through many challenges in the socio-political and socioeconomic spheres that beg one to ask if all has happened because of the wait we have all had to subject ourselves to or because of poor management of the economy, our polity and social interactions.
Since the forming and start of the work of the Tripartite Committee we have had to deal with an attempted coup on the life and tenure of the sitting president and his government, the recreational and highly addictive kush has been allowed to run so wild that it has taken center stage in all public discourse on drug abuse across the country, the prices of goods and services have risen so high that in some cases we see a quadrupling of prices compared to just a year ago, this hyperinflation has led to consistent calls and threats of street protests to get the attention of our captain, who still travels a lot out of the country without the nation seeing the dividends for such travels, and consequently we have seen the militarization of street patrols with day and night time roadblocks.
Therefore after June 19, that is, at the end of the work of the Tripartite Committee, should the people expect fireworks or are we going to be sailing on quite seas?
Will our captain be able to steady and so stabilize all these tempestuous storms of socioeconomic issues and of expectations and fear?
So far we think that the captain has been much distracted by his opponents so much so that he has neglected to deal with what he has been hired to do by the mandate he claims he was given after winning the June 24, 2023 presidential race. But why is it that he has allowed for all these distractions to keep him away from addressing what is more important to the people of this country, which is our economy? Many or most people in this country survive on a day to day basis. There are few business people that can maintain a bank account balance from their businesses so all this talk of running street battles on or after June 19 must be nipped in the bud with our ship’s captain taking the lead by addressing socioeconomic issues instead of focusing on the “bullet for bullet” philosophy.
As a business entity, Forum is not like the rest because instead of drama we like most of our people in this country want peace so that our business will flourish. If our nation is on calm seas this will be good for business and our social interactions; we don’t foresee anyone taking to the street on a full stomach. The people that anyone will be able to convince to take to the streets will be the desperately vulnerable who see themselves as having nothing to lose.
Therefore the people of this our ship needs reassurance from the captain that all will be well, that on or after June 19 the nation will be steered or directed onto calmer seas. We need daily or regular updates from the captain and his crew on this and all other issues of national importance. This is one thing that must be learned from the work of the Tripartite Committee.
All the confusion about the work of the committee including all questions and doubts currently at play would have been averted had the public been getting or given regular updates on the committee’s activities similar to what has been happening with the weekly briefing the media gets from government ministries, departments and agencies.
This would have put to pay the ambitions or intentions of people spreading fake and misleading news, even loaded opinions to a sometimes gullible public. This has given rise to new demagogues (on social media) and continues to make those from the president’s first term more relevant to our present discourse.
Therefore to best manage the expectations of the people, the only way our captain can steady the ship is by regularly facing the public with news from the horse’s mouth, news from above instead of orders from above to a news and or information hungry public. This will be much desirable than the frequent flyer mileage the captain has been stacking up.
We are on rough seas at present, but we will not always be. The nation expects the captain to steer the ship to calmer waters where we all hope to find plenty of catch to meet ours and the needs of loved ones, friends and family.
