By: Ibrahim
Jalloh - (Jallomy)
+232
76865510/77939130
The political mood of the West Africa State of Sierra Leone has
been one of denial, résistance to change and the seeming politics of revenge
and retribution since the end of March, 2018. The members, supporters and
sympathizers of the two giant political parties, the ruling Sierra Leone
Peoples Party (SLPP) and the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party, are
enmeshed in a chain of protracted political upheavals unrivalled across the
political ages. Though not an entirely new dimension in the political landscape
of Sierra Leone, the ongoing political rancor is brutally revealing the country
as one of unrestrained instability. In the ugly circumstance, the country
is losing out in faith and confidence of potential investors and the enabling
environment for sustained development interventions. This is not good enough
and cannot be good enough for a struggling democracy.
Admittedly, our governance culture has been wrong and is still
wrong. If corrective measures are not taken, we run the risk of a continuum of
the ugly state of things in the foreseeable future. What we have all
contributed to is the establishment and nurturing of a bad governance culture
that has now proven hopelessly hopeless with significant threat to puncturing
the fabric of our society. The polarization of the state is catastrophically
obvious and debilitating. Our loyalty is over subscribed to the tribe, region
and political party at the expense of the cohesiveness of the state.
Few critical opportunities have been lost in the remote and recent
past. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) and the Constitutional
Review Committee (CRC) were among the earlier political opportunities for the
urgent and compelling need to reengineer the broken pieces of our nationhood.
Sierra Leone is obviously not in the best of moments and times. The rigidity of
the ethno regional divide, the wrong headedness of the opposition leadership to
give way to the wind of change and the obviously understandable position of the
current government to exert authority on an opposition in denial of the basic
tenets of democracy underscores the features of a state on the brink.
The Bintumani 3 underscores the extent and ferocity of the ethno
regional divide and placed a massive commentary on the collapsing sense of
nationalism and nationhood. Obviously, the Bintumani 3 inflated the leadership
credentials of president Bio. Whether it was well intentioned or just a mere
enactment of a political drama for prestige enhancement, the fact remains that
the indicators and the noticeable outcomes graduated president Bio who was a
key player and mastermind of the historic Bintumani 1 and 2. The positions
presented at Bintumani 3 were richly divergent but all pointed to the direction
of the compelling need for national unity and cohesion.
The absence of the APC
was catastrophically conspicuous. It was a scary absence with a colossal loss
to the spirit of the Bintumani 3 and the very APC. Had the APC attended the
conference, the mood and mirth were going to be exaggeratedly poignant.
Sadly, the APC lost a day that could have been theirs. The lessons are loaded
but certainly the truism is that you cannot always absent yourself from the
major events of history.
When is the end of the road? We need to urgently search for the national
lost identity. We need to search for the roaring beast. Our tomorrow is dying
fast.
Comments
Post a Comment