By Mohamed Kamara
The culminating exodus of aspirants in the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) with an expected similarity in the incumbent Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) for the scheduled 2028 multi-tier elections has posed unbelievable questions comments, views and opinions about their true intentions based on decades’ old experiences born out of rhetoric repeated at each convention.
Dr. Fatimate Madukew formerly Kanu is a lecturer in Peace and Conflict at the prestigious Ahmadou Bello University in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In her complimentary note to Sierra Leoneans, she said there seems to be a great moral defect on Sierra Leone when it comes to politics time. She said politics time is financial times wherein aspirants display their financial wealth. She said the masses count on the most popular financial booster as the fittest. On the other hand, others count on the fabulous post-election benefits to be derived and only a small conservative class of people show little or no interest to the tirade of speeches and headlines on newspapers.
Dr. Maduekw said no one questions them as to why they kept their financial wealth for so long without attempting to create investment that would have facilitated employment for the growing youth population and why now. She said why did they fail to complement development and boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the socio economic boost of the population? Instead, it is only now that they pretend to be unique in solving the country’s ageing problems. She said in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was voted because, before vying for civilian rule, he had already succeeded as the most prosperous agriculturalist in Nigeria and even beyond. She said Tinubu was equally voted based on his financial well-being serviceable to the people and that if Dangote should have contested any presidential elections, she said it would have been better to declare him a winner than going to elections based on his investments beyond the continent. She cited US President Donald Trump and his predecessor of blessed memory Jimmy Carter also a successful agriculturalist in the state of Geordia.
She said the Sierra Leone political landscape is a complete paradox. Aspirants show you the money when their focus is on State House and shortly afterwards you will begin to hear news of massive embezzlement of state funds. She said little attention is paid to the usual rhetoric of aspirants which would have been the essence to achieve peace and national cohesion. But alas! She said Sierra Leoneans have a dependent virus which later on gives way to a chain of criticisms which is too late. She said in the Sierra Leone political landscape, praises of all kinds are far more than a critical look. She said this is why many fall victims of stress as they support men who pretend to be solution providers and later on turn out to be the wrong ones.
