By Joseph A. Kamanda
President Julius Maada Bio and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) came to governance on the podia of restoring disciplines and expunge lawlessness from the Sierra Leonean society he blamed the All People’s Congress to have ‘tolerated’ over the years.
To his utmost dismay indiscipline and lawlessness continue to raise their ugly heads in communities and are rapidly becoming the orders of the day, though much is expected from the president and the incumbent SLPP party to restore some amount of discipline first of all in governance structure right across the country.
Rather, things keep flying out his very control; from the first family at presidential lodge, Hill Station, State House, ruling party national secretariat and everywhere in the governance structure, though much is expected to have reform by now considering vows made by president to curb indiscipline.
Such moves should have been seen right from the mitigation of corruption in public and private sectors as indiscipline in itself, by way of restraining and correcting the culture of indiscipline of dishonesty in governance system and the society as a whole. Those ideas were well spoken of but are now hardly seen put into actions by the ruling SLPP and Bio as promised before assuming office as president.
Is it because we fail to practice what we preach, captured in a video on the social media when the president was admonishing his followers to continue to remain intolerant to opposition members and supporters whiles he keep his silent with a ‘pretended peaceful diplomatic face’. That was just a tip of numerous militant and violent indoctrinations supporters have been receiving from their leader.
So why wonder and worry about the spate of violent you now called ‘terrorist’ behaviours, whiles in fact you were the very busy taming all these gangs? Like the wise saying always goes; ‘you hardly teach old dog new tricks. That is impossible Mr president. You can’t sow apple and reap mango…you reap what you sow and the doctrines to propagated to your boys before becoming president are the result you are now receiving from them, nothing less than that.
Discipline is expected to been realized in the performances of cabinet ministers, public and civil servants, heads of departments and agencies, but such are seem to be lacking across structures in the present Bio led administration.
A clear instance in point was recently manifested in gross indiscipline and weaknesses of the country’s security sector-Sierra Leone Police in the impoverish fishing community at Tombo in the Western Rural District and Lunsar in Port Loko district as well as prisons guards, who failed to handle incidents that caused mass killing inmates from gun shots at central prison.
The matter has led to the malicious selectively sacking of the former Internal Affairs Minister, Hon. Edward Soluku, along with tem senior police officers.
Most people however referred Hon. Soloku’s removal from cabinet as ‘self-resignation’ by the modest politician himself because of what is widely believe that he fears not to share blames for the unruly behaviours of his deputy, National Patriotic Front of Liberia war veteran, Lahai Lawrence Leema. No reasons were stated in the State House press release for the dismissal of the former Internal Affairs who is being replaced by the underperforming former Chief Executive Officer of the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA), David Maurice Panda-Noah, whose appointment is subject to parliamentary approval.
Panda-Noah is another SLPP United Kingdom/Ireland diaspora chapter member, one of those who bank rolled president Bio’s campaigns, though has very little to offer considering where is coming from. Hon. Soloku’s expulsion from government or ‘voluntary resignation’ emerged following sporadic shooting that cost the lives of so many prison inmates, though actions were slow to come against political heads manning those departments and agencies.
The public therefore expect more heads to roll from the SLP, Prisons/Correctional Services and other national security sectors with no exemptions Office of the National Security for their collectively failures to meet the needful demands of their jobs, not just Hon. Soloku and those vulnerable ten senior police officers.
Based on the low level of performances of minister, heads of departments and agencies, most people were imagining massive reshuffle by president Bio by the time his government clock second year in office, especially following blunder after blunders leading to the sporadic shooting at the central prison that led to the mass killing of so many inmates, leaving dozens injured. But only one former cabinet minister-Soloku and ten senior police officers were selectively fired last week by the man who hires and fires.
Yet, speculations in new and traditional media are that president Bio even before the ‘voluntary resignation’ has not been in good books with Hon. Soloku. Most political analysts viewing the issue with pro-government lenses opined that it is due to the deliberate weakness of Hon. Soloku was why the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs NPFL war veteran Lahai Lawrence Leema was always rushing into actions without directives from his former boss. So that is why he was ‘fired’ by president Bio.
There have also been widely held views from among the public that president Bio has no reason to have even come this far with the former Home Affairs Minister, Hon. Soloku up till now, while internal security situations continue go out of hands at central prison, in Lunsar and Tombo in the Western Rural District, where lives and property were damaged due to lawlessness and indiscipline.
That Hon. Soloku is now out of the political governance system with the anticipations of sinking him down completely but he can hardly go to bed on empty stomach irrespective of his joblessness. He told this writer in a telephone conversation shortly after the announcement of his said sacking. He expected his firing long ago by president Bio having denied him party symbol in the 2018 parliamentary elections, together with the likes of former firebrand Hon. Dr Brima Morie Kamanda of constituency 018, Kenema North in 2012, Hon, Bernadette Lahai and good number of prominent SLPP politicians.
Incompetent Panda-Noah is replacing the well experienced Hon. Soloku, who had served as Member of Parliament before becoming a minister of Internal Affairs. President Bio has no alternative but replaced the knowledgeable politician with one of his inept SLPP UK/I branch errand boys with a lucrative job to recover what he-Panda-Noah spent on the re-elections of the SLPP and his as president.
He can be rewarded with all sorts of profitable jobs but can’t in anyway deliver at the Home Affairs ministry because he does not have what it takes to man that office nor to serve in the public sector.
Panda-Noah’s two years of underperformance at the SLRSA left the authority with multiple inefficiencies; ranging from lack of materials for vehicles and drivers’ licences, indiscriminate harassments of drivers, clamping down of vehicles and issuances of tickets to drivers leaving the department with bad reputation to the public. President Bio is well aware of those incompetence of his new appointee but has to recommend him to the Appointment Committee because of the obligations he owe the SLPP especially UK/I diaspora chapter members and supporters. So underperformances continue in public sector until the end time of his hegemony.
Meanwhile Hon. Soloku and the ten senior personnel of the SLP who are probably going home empty handed shouldn’t have just be the initial casualties of his house cleaning but a massive reshuffle as it is still expected by the public. And recent security lapses at Lunsar, Tombo and Correctional Services Centre should not be entirely blamed on the former minister and those ten police officers fired, leaving the Inspector General of Police Ambrose Michael Sovula unblemished.
The failures start from the top which is why president should have started his disciplinary actions from the very Office of the President with the Office of National Security-ONS down to the least security personnel in the sector. The top bosses are charged with the task of manning state security. Their indiscipline and blunders from the top have led to the setting ablaze public buildings including the police post, the community health post at Tombo and the resident of the Paramount Chief at Lunsar.
By every clues monitored and gathered by this medium, the unnecessary and untimely firings of the ten senior police officers by president Bio for the Tombo and Lunsar, as well as the voluntarily resignation of Hon. Soloku should not stop there but goes beyond that by making formidable reforms in the sectors from the Ministry of Defence right across not just because you wants to protect Hassan Kellie Conteh and certain people because you are eying votes in Falaba. And going forward as a peaceful nation, we don’t want to hear such misconduct anymore in Sierra Leone even when your era shall may have come to an end whenever. A word for the wise ‘e do so gbet’.
