By Kabs Kanu
I want to call on all Sierra Leoneans who are presently hurting because of the bold and shameful daylight robbery by the Sierra Leone People’s Party – SLPP during the June 24 general elections to remain patient and watch how this impasse between President Bio and the U.S , EU and the International Community will pan out.
It is not over yet and President Maada Bio himself knows that.
Do not be carried away by Maada Bio’s bluffs. Wey kpehkpeh wan die, e dey begin fly around the room. You know that about the cockroach. Though he knows that he has made the world too small for himself and his government, Bio is trying to create a false appearance of normalcy by traveling to different meetings, even when he is not invited. He wants to impress his misguided and low-minded supporters in Sierra Leone that everything is normal. Enty una know say Bio and his SLPP cronies are getting used to getting away with merciless killings and maiming of innocent Sierra Leoneans, Human Rights excuses and grand larceny and corruption. Well, they are making the wrong calculation this time.
Anybody can sense that by his laughable impunity as the walls crumble around him, Bio is showing that he has no iota of care or sense of duty to Sierra Leone. Bio has hurt the national and international interests of nation badly but he does not care as long as he continues to cling to power. He does not care about the economic and diplomatic hurt our country is about to go through. As long as he continues holding power, he is fine with everything.
Bio does not think he is running a country. The man is so daft , dumb and “munku” that he thinks he is running Pa Wonie Bio’s farm, where he can do whatever he likes. But he is mistaken this time. And he has started feeling the heat but he is pretending that everything is alright.
I attended a meeting with an international U. S stakeholder group yesterday by Zoom and I listened very carefully to all the remarks made by the American and Sierra Leonean stakeholders, including one of them doubting the sanity of Maada Bio. She wondered whether Bio is mentally normal and whether he should not undergo a psychological evaluation, because, according to her, only a mentally imbalanced man would think that he will outrage the international community the way he had done and get away with it.
The United States and the European Union member states strongly believe that liberal and representative democracy, in which the government is elected by the people, is the only viable formula for globalizing the world and for promoting the peace and security of the universe. Democracy promotion around the world is therefore the key element of their foreign policies. It was President Obama who drummed home the much- cherished American axiom that “There is no right more fundamental than the ability to choose your leaders”.
Bio is now perceived by the U.S, the EU and the International Community as an existential danger to peace and security in the world. That is why they have steadfastly refused to accredit the rigged results of the June 24 elections or to even congratulate Bio for his self- given “victory” or to stop hammering home the fact that the elections lack transparency and credibility.
Therefore, the international community will make an example of President Bio. They know that they cannot let Bio get away with this brazen assault on democracy to add on top of his grave Human Rights abuses because doing so will set a dangerous precedent that other countries in troubled African and third world countries might follow.
By setting an example of Bio, the International Community will send a very strong message around the world that they will not allow any upsurge of tyrants and dictators in a world in a world already at serious risk from terrorism, extremism and political, religious and ethnic intolerance.
Bio will ultimately be punished, the only problem being how it could be effectively done without bringing more excruciating suffering on poor innocent and hapless citizens. Anybody who is Au fait with contemporary geopolitical trends know that America and the EU, especially, will not renege on their commitment to ensure that democracy and human rights prevail in conflict- prone countries like Sierra Leone that face the prospects of falling into the hands of terrorists if tyranny and dictatorship were to raise their ugly heads once more in these states. To them, democracy is the form of government capable of creating not only durable and sustainable security and prosperity but will stop terrorists from creating more cells in vulnerable countries.
Sierra Leone, which is of strategic diplomatic , political and economic interests to super power and world power- play on account of her tempting mineral resources which could be used by terrorists to fund their operations around the world , will not be allowed to become a pariah state endangering their vital interests , all because of one man’s petulance and stubborn – headedness .Bio will be made to ship up or ship out.
