By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
In his book, “The Audacity of Hope”, former President Barack Obama notes that, “….sometimes there are facts that cannot be spun, just as an argument about whether it’s raining can usually be settled by stepping outside.” Surely; sure. And this is truly true about the propagandistic spin which the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has tried, and still trying, to put on the facts and realities in the country.
Although the SLPP “Paopagandists”, “Drunkardnomists”, Media Kamajors, and Cyber Vigilantes have been trying to convince themselves that their government has done extremely well in solving the bread and butter issues, but there are facts and realities that cannot be spun, even by the best students of Dr Joseph Goebbels (Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda). So, the argument about whether the Bio administration has improved the country’s economy can be settled by the palpability of the empty pockets of ordinary citizens on the streets; by the foodless dining tables in the homes of the middle class, and by the reddish bank accounts of local entrepreneurs who have been suffocated by unreasonable taxes!
Under the watchful watch of the SLPP government, the price of a bag of rice in the capital, Freetown, is now Le475,000 and agonizingly higher in the provinces in just three years from Le200,000. Even the prices of “Fullah man” bread; Bo “gari”; Kenema cassava; Koya pepeh; Samu salt, and Waterloo “plasas” have all raced up the Bintumani Mountain. These are facts that are as factual as facts themselves. Yet, President Julius Maada Bio and his motley crowd of hangers-on keep on talking about abstract achievements. But common sense dictates that if majority of Sierra Leoneans are still unable to afford a square meal a day, then the SLPP government has shown that it is not fit for the purpose for which it was elected in 2018.
And as recent as recently, President Bio told a thin audience of investors, at the EXPO 2020 Dubai’s Investment Forum, that his government has “…worked hard…to make sure [the] economic fundamentals [are] strong….[in Sierra Leone]” (according to the State House press release of 15 October 2021.) My argument here is: if the SLPP government has made sure that the economic fundamentals are strong in Sierra Leone, then why is it that the country is facing hyper-inflation? If our Commander-in-Chief is claiming that Sierra Leone’s “economic fundamentals [are] strong”, then that should have reflected on the economic statuses of the bulk of citizens. And if the President says the country’s “economic fundamentals [are] strong” but the facts and realities are showing something quite the opposite, then right-thinking citizens will be faced with the realisation that their President doesn’t seem to be honest with them and himself! And the current fiscal recklessness and maladministration, which are the defining traits of the Bio administration, are some of those facts and realities that could not be spun. Even if the Bio administration employs the best Public Relations firm in the world to do image laundering and whitewashing!
But since President Bio and his collection of hangers-on have cultivated the habit of believing their own phantasmagorical fantasies; I’m not surprised that they still believe that their shambolic sham of a Free (minus “Quality”) Education is working. And it is that same dreamlike trance that our Head of State might have been in when he told the United Nations General Assembly this September that poverty-stricken parents in Sierra Leone were magically saving US$500 annually because of the SLPP government’s bogus Free (minus “Quality”) Education policy. It is laughably laughable that majority of parents who are finding it extremely difficult to provide an un-square meal daily, and who are living on less than a dollar a day, could save US$500 yearly! That is scandalously preposterous!
But again, what could be expected if a group of local “Fitters” at Kroo Bay is given Boeing 777X (the latest series of Boeing Commercial Airplanes) to repair. The result would be as predictable as the next Tik Tok posting of Sierra Leone’s current First Lady! And for the first time, in more than 25 years, the Guinean currency, the Franc, is more valuable than the Leone which seems to be as weak as a soaked toilet paper (courtesy of our “Drunkardnomists” who appear to be running the country’s economy from their rendezvous at beach bars in Freetown). Yet, the SLPP “Paopagandists”, Media Kamajors, and Cyber Vigilantes are still trying to convince themselves that Sierra Leone is doing quite well, economically, than neighbouring Guinea.
And the saddest thing is that the Bio administration has been trying to rewrite the history of Sierra Leone with an eraser. Just like how Sir Albert Margai planted the seeds of tribalism and all the negative “isms” in the country’s politics in the mid 1960s; President Bio seems to have nurtured those seeds to such a frightened level that even his so-called attempts at national cohesion appear like insulting provocations to members of the All People’s Congress (APC). Most—if not all—the presidential appointments and recruitments, since the SLPP took over State House in 2018 to date, are indicators that President Bio and his SLPP do not believe that Sierra Leone is “one country” with “one people”. An argument about whether this is not true could be settled by conducting an “Ethnic Audit” (to borrow Sylvanus Fornah Koroma aka What-a-Man’s phrase) of all government’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). And if that is done, you will realise that all what President Bio appears to be lording over is a sort of “the gathering of the tribe”!
And the fact that the Bio administration has opened the floodgates at the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL), after promising to “plug the leakages” in public expenditure, is as factual as the President’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for overseas travels! Again, this is a fact that cannot be spun. But I can understand when opinionated fools tirelessly defend a dysfunctional government based purely on tribal considerations. But the only thing I’m still trying to understand is why should some people defend a system of administration that is constantly denying them clean running water in their homes, uninterrupted electricity supply in their offices and business places, and the initiation of practicable policies aimed at actually solving the bread and butter issues.
But as my Sherbro mother would always say, “Nar suffer dorti God take make some pipul dem”; now I’m beginning to realise why most SLPP supporters are justifying their sufferings and hardships simply because it is their party that is sinking the country.
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