By Kabs Kanu:
After listening to all the dramatis personae in Sierra Leone’s political imbroglio, including the flip- flopping U.S Ambassador, I am beginning to believe that instead of sitting down and blaming political figures and the international community, if electoral justice as we wanted it turns out to be a mirage after this Tripartite Committee, the people must act to redeem and reclaim their democracy.
As we saw during Arab Spring, the buck starts and stops with the people.
Political scientists may have been right to say that people get the governments they deserve. America can only do as much. The international community can only do as much. The key factor in any redemption struggle is the people.
If Maada Bio remains in power until 2028, it is on the people. That is my perspective. I might be wrong but that is the way I see it and that is what history has taught me. Power belongs to the people. It all boils down to the resolve of the people.
The people of Sierra Leone can have their democracy back if they really want it . It is beginning to look like the fulfilment of the old saying: IF YOU WANT SOMETHING BEST DONE, DO IT YOURSELF.
Snatching back our democracy must start with the APC first making it very clear that the statement by the U.S. Ambassador is unacceptable. His statement that emphasis must be on the 80 recommendations and not the points of divergence between the SLPP and APC is unconscionable and unacceptable.
Does it mean that President Bio must be allowed to get away with bold – faced elections robbery? Should we allow a dangerous precedent to be set in our country? Sierra Leoneans who love their country must not accept it in the interest of the nation.
The APC must unequivocally register our protest that we have been shorthanded and shortchanged and where necessary, we can start by withdrawing our MPs, councillors, and mayors from the Maada Bio charade he calls governance.
When that has been done, the people must back the APC by resorting to civil disobedience to reclaim their democracy. Nobody needs to go on the streets to fight and get killed by the Bio Tonton Macoute.
A sustained sit – home strike will have their voices heard. They should not cause any street chaos or disturbances. Just staying at home is sufficient. Since Bio wants to retain power by all means, let us give it to him to go it all alone and see how long it lasts.
The Ambassador is feeding on our acquiescence. He is saying that all is well and the SLPP and the APC have pledged to work together and so he is going to inform his nation that all is well in Sierra Leone. Is he right? Is everything well in Sierra Leone? We all know it is not so.
I am sick and tired of fanciful tales and highfaluting and unrealistic expectations being peddled by comrades as nothing they had conjectured had ever come true.
Where is the ECOMOG force they promised was coming to defend our democracy? Where is the multinational force they said was being put together by the U.S to come and tell Maada Bio to step down?
Where is the declaration from the international community that was promised to come on June 29 that Dr. Samura Kamara is the winner of the 2023 elections and inaugurated as President?
All have turned out to be a bunch of baloney and all the peddlers of these cock- and – bull stories have gone and done is make themselves modern day Bagdad Bobs, to the derision of the SLPP.
Let us stop fooling our people. We are taking advantage of their gullibility. This is wrong.
This is dangerous. Listening keenly to the U.S Ambassador yesterday, I do not see the possibility of any of the scenarios being painted by our Bagdad Bobs happening in Sierra Leone, under the present circumstances.
What I am saying will not go down well with our comrades, but it is better the truth than continue to build mountains of lies and false expectations.
Let the Sierra Leone people take matters in their hands and demand their stolen democracy. Again, they do not need to go into the streets to fight and get slain by Maada Bio. Let them just stay home and protest peacefully and seamlessly.
To me, that is the only way forward. I am no longer going to throw stones at the U.S. Ambassador. His statements yesterday were facilitated by the meek surrender he has seen on the ground in Sierra Leone. He must have been testing the waters, for all we knew. Let the Sierra Leonean people speak with one voice and let us see if this ambassador will not change his tune.
