Recent appointments by President Julius Maada Bio have sparked huge comments embedded with some derogatory amusement from the people around especially the replacement of Dr Ambrose Sovula as Inspector General of Police.
Another appointment that attracted keen attention and has sent out mixed feelings and reactions from the people is the positioning of Alhaji Dr Alpha Bakarr Sahid Kanu (aka Alpha Khan) as Presidential Spokesman for President Bio. And according to the President’s Press Secretary Keketoma Sandy, Alpha Khan has been appointed to play that role mainly to march up with the upcoming multi-tier national elections.
Mr Sandy also seized the opportunity to paint a picture of ethnic and regional competence being exercised or displayed by the President in appointing Alpha Khan, contrary to the perception that the Bio-led administration is thriving and treading on the wings of tribalism in the running of state institutions and the affairs of government.
Well said and tarred, whether it was to promote ethnic and regional inclusion or to nullify the perception of tribalism or otherwise, the appointment of Alpha Khan as Presidential Spokesperson for the President may do no good to the image and record of the President other than his good work and exemplary service to the people and nation of Sierra Leone.
Alpha Khan, it must be noted, is already an old gorilla in the bush of politicking and daunting propaganda. He has served in this capacity as Presidential Spokesman for the leader of the previous government now in opposition. In that capacity, he also embarked on a massive propaganda campaign for the now major opposition party against the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and its leaders, who are now in control of state power. So what else would Alpha Khan say, as a messenger or spokesperson, about the President that the voiceless but wise people of Sierra Leone would believe or not take with a pinch of salt?
Couched under the spirit of inclusivity and reconciliation, the various appointments of Alpha Khan as then National Coordinator for NaCOVERC, current Resident Minister for the North Western Province and now Presidential Spokesman do not make him a good material for political inclusivity and national cohesion or reconciliation between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party and the major opposition All Peoples Congress party.
As much as Alpha Khan is yet to prove to be appropriate to represent the people in the North West, a stronghold of the opposition APC, he may also not be able to win the hearts and minds of the masses of Sierra Leoneans to consider the president well and upright or to give him a clean bill of health as regards his service to the nation and the work of his administration.
If the President and his Press Secretary want to portray the appointments of Alpha Khan as a way of winning the hearts and minds of particularly the people of the Northwest and opposition supporters, they should think again. Trying to get the massive support of the people of the Northwest and diffuse the perception that the Bio administration is tribalized and ethnic incompetent cannot really be achieved through using people like Alpha Khan, as he has not proven to be a good player yet – though he boasts to be one – and wouldn’t be a good messenger too to carry the president’s message to the people of the North. Doesn’t the President and his press secretary know that there is a communication theory that says the messenger is the message?!
One thing that the people of Sierra Leone know for sure is that Alpha Khan is believed to have acted as a desperate politician who wants to always enjoy the kitty on the corridors of power.
It would be recalled that when his party lost power and they found themselves under the sledgehammer or corruption probe of the ruling SLPP government, Alpha Khan became one of those politicians who chameleoned themselves and appeared as plain preacher of the truth. And many believe, to save his head and to protect his interest and wealth, he decided to turn his back on his party and stooped low by paying feigned allegiance to President Bio and the SLPP-led administration, thereby making himself a fifth columnist to the APC and a bootlicker to Bio and his regime.
If at all he could be mirrored, Alpha Khan could only be considered as “enemy of the people of the North West”, who believe Khan has betrayed them, that he is a desperate politician who is vehemently trying to protect his wealth from being placed under the radar of investigation and probing.
Certain facts must be hammered home for posterity and to shame the devil, as most people keep saying, that Alpha Khan has really outlived his time in the political space of Sierra Leone with nothing much good to write home about on his behalf, except that he has been using rhetoric and political gimmicks and propaganda over the years to survive on taxpayers’ money. And it is exactly the same thing for which President Bio has been appointing him in the body politic of Sierra Leone; nothing really developmental for the people and Sierra Leone as a nation. And just because he has succeeded in spinning and skewing things over the years in his political life, with no better returns for Sierra Leone, Alpha Khan is being used again today by the President that has come with a “New Direction” to transform Sierra Leone, all in an effort to fight the opposition APC! What a mishap indeed to appoint Alpha Khan as Presidential Spokesman for President Bio!
Forum would like to reiterate that we do not possess the truth more than others do but would continue to say the truth that will set us free, since the truth is what unite us in suffering and in joy.
