By Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara
Since April 2018, our country has been awakened to vengeful governance using state apparatus to suppress objective dissent and opposition to the current government of President Maada Bio.
The course of the last eight months have witnessed, the killing and burning of homes at Tonko Limba; unlawful dismissals without due process (the removal of the Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Ady Macauley and the Ombudsman-Melron Nicol-Wilson, to name a few), and the use of the Police to intimidate, harass and detain any form of dissent to the ruling Government. Not forgetting the assault and forceful removal of Members of Parliament, from the very Well of Parliament, in full televised view of the panicked and shocked public.
The recent arrests of Mr. Williams, Vice President of the Labor Congress, and seven other leading members, in the execution of their legal mandate smirks of absolutism and repression of dissent. Also, the growing tendency to forcefully displace Market chairmen/women suspected of not being supporters of the Government continue to spark chaos, and undermine law and order.
Without more, these worrying trends if not abated, will lead to unexpected and unwanted consequences, which must be avoided at all costs for the benefit of the nation. We need to reject any politics that targets people because of party or regional affiliation. Certainly and without argument, the notion of “do me ar do you” or that “the previous regime did the same”, is no justification to repeat ills or wrongs of the past. Our innocent people continue to suffer at the peril of settling political scores. The cycle of vengeful governance must end. The nation must move on together as one. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what will make us strong as a nation. As B.R. Ambedker, once stated, that “political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life.”
Indeed, generations in the future, are not going to ask us what political party were you in, but rather, will put it to us, what did you do about it, when you knew the fire was burning! The only thing necessary for ‘the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, all tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent’, Edmund Burke reminded us in the 17th Century.
Today, we have chosen to stand up, speak and seek justice for our people. When future generations shall come to judge us, the verse “praise we the wise and brave and strong, who graced their generation; who helped the right, and fought the wrong, and made our folk a nation” will resonate in the halls of the Cathedral, during the requiem mass!
