‼️The Bintumani 3 Question: A Governance Tourism or Search for National Identity?

By: Ibrahim Jalloh - (Jallomy)✍🏾
The Bintumani 3 national conference is upon us. A situation that was largely speculative and incredibly controversial is now a reality.

The reason and reasoning for Bintumani 3 is predictably sound and informed by historic and contemporary happenings. Admittedly, the small West African State of Sierra Leone is on the brink.

What brought a seemingly innocent and resilient nation to this unpardonable state can be found in a confounding contradiction of deflated mindset and a classic awkward attitude.

A handful Civil Society groups, some private citizens and the main opposition party were and still in denial of the urgent and compelling need for a national dialogue.

Their reasons are not only narrow but shallow and run the risk of being dismissed as interested based and institutional specific. Mercilla Samba of the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) was deceitfully off tune and in complete disconnect with the reality of Bintumani 3.

Her analyses were saddled by an imaginary political mind that speaks to the equally polarized state of civil society in the country.

The Institute for Governance Reforms (IGR) is obsessed with time and timing of the Bintumani 3 and was harping on limited consultations.

The rest of the skeptics are drowned in a pool of the need for broad based consultations.

The fundamental question is how much time and what depth of consultations needed to articulate problems that have placed Sierra Leone on the runway for take off to a permanent state of national wreckage.

What additional time and engagement do we need to address a package of governance deficits that have aggregated for 58 years.

The opposition APC has put herself in a seemingly permanent state of political denial with callous resistance to the current political Dynamics in the country.

The recurrent disengagement of the main opposition APC from the processes of democracy and state governance is not only worrying but consolidate the deepening polarization of the country.

The current position of the APC to boycott the Bintumani 3 is not necessarily a threat to Bintumani 3 but a justification of the compelling need for the Bintumani 3.

We may just need to remind our brothers and sisters in the APC that their concerns are legitimate but isolated and party based.

The Bintumani 3 is a vigorous search for national identity. It is about the anomalies and consequences of state polarization. We have created and nurtured a bad governance culture. We have de-acceleration national loyalty and accelerated tribal, party and regional loyalties. This is the bane of our national tragedy.

Bintumani 3 is not and cannot be a governance tourism or a political adventure but another golden opportunity to redefine the essence of our nationhood and build a sustainable roadmap for the future of our country.

The principal questions to answer in the conference are not high flown but practically familiar:
1. Is this the desired state of our country after 58 years of self rule?

2. What went wrong?

3. Who is responsible for what?

4. What does it take to fix the problem and return to a normal state?

5. Who does what, how and when?

6. The action plan, outputs, outcomes!

The TRC and CRC are early windows of opportunities but they suffered the critical deficit of political will.

The Bintumani 3 is hopeful for the simple reason that the political protagonist of Bintumani 2 is also the protagonist of the  Bintumani 3.

The Bintumani 2 enjoyed significant political will from a leader that is also now leading Bintumani 3. 23 years ago, the people country collectively aspired for Elections before Peace and it was granted.

We expect and hope for the same resounding political will from president Bio. He did it yesterday, he must do it today.

History is incredibly interesting.
Hope to see some of you at Bintumani 3.

©: Northern Times Newspaper✍🏾