By Umaru Fofana
“…It’s a picture of an administration riven by internal conflicts…an administration in which the advice of experts was frequently ignored or dismissed, traditional policy-making channels were routinely circumvented, policy often took a backseat to electoral politics, accountability was repeatedly evaded, and few advisers dared speak truth to power. …”
If this sounds like present day Sierra Leone and what confronts President Ernest Bai Koroma – or what he has got himself into –you may not be too far from having your finger on the right button. Except that the above is how the New York Times paperbacks the aptly-named 2008 book, THE WAR WITHIN, written by the legendary investigative American journalist, Bob Woodward.
In it Bob talks about the wrangling among members of the Bush administration over the war in Iraq. It exposes the goings-on in the White House, the State Department and inside the US military over the Middle Eastern country.
“If I feel it, he feels it. If he feels it, I feel it.”Again this is not some praise-singing Sierra Leonean minister voicing out his uvula to show his commitment to his boss as is so often the case. This, according to Woodward, is what the then US National Security Advisor, Stephen J. Hadley said of his relationship with President George W Bush as the internal disagreement over Iraq deepened within the Bush administration.
While the divergent opinions in the Bush administration were over the interest of the country – USA – even if at the expense of another, in Sierra Leone it is not. It is about anything ranging from pettiness to the jockeying for political vantage points smacking of the vintage Siaka Stevens era. It is over bread and butter and who thinks who stands in their way to get what. Nothing to do with the good of Sierra Leone or its people.
In the Bush White House, it was ideological over what was the right way to respond to the Iraq Question between the neo-cons and the not-too-neo-cons among the conservatives. I will return to this in a moment but first…
… Such was the depth of the divergence in opinion between President Bush and his inner circle that his trusted Vice President, Dick Cheney also sometimes disagreed with him over same. In one of their altercations, President Bush said this to Cheney: “I’ve decided to replace [Donald] Rumsfeld”. As Defence Secretary, Rumsfeld was one of the most trusted members of the Bush administration. To that Cheney replied: “Well, Mr President I disagree. But it is your call”.
And the names of who disagreed with whom, and went to town with them over it, can pile up to occupy the rest of this page: General George Casey. James A Baker III. Robert Gates. Michael Haden. Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi. Etc. The depth of the differences of opinion and approach only got massive. So much so that the next president, Barrack Obama was caught up in the mire.
It reads like here: Alpha Kanu. Sylvia Blyden. IB Kargbo. Frank Kargbo. Samuel Sam-Sumana. Etc. At the presidential press conference at State House the other day it was interesting the outburst of information minister Alpha Kanu against the Special Executive Assistant to the president, Dr Sylvia Blyden. Whatever the level of disagreement, the minister’s utterances against his colleague government official were both shocking and surprising. And quotes attributed to the SEA implying that some ministers may be having something to hide and thus should resign were unbelievable. Never mind what came after.
During and after the press conference it was interesting to see the pleasure written, boldly, on the faces of many a government minister because certain questions put to the president about his special executive assistant were deemed ruffling. Clearly some of the questions were embarrassing for her but to see her colleagues so animated and excited as they seemed to be was unexpected. Whatever happened to the collective!
My inside sources say that the president is frequently ignoring or even dismissing some expert advice apparently because of the groundswell of disagreement within. Even some of those appointed by him are being left redundant. But in a society where conscientious disagreements with the president are a taboo, never mind resignations, they would rather continue putting up with the heat in the kitchen. This has brought about what the New York Times review of Bob’s book refers to as “traditional policy-making channels being circumvented”.
With the 2018 presidential election in mind, despite the last election just having taken place a few months ago, policy seems to have taken a backseat as electoral politics has come to the fore. And very few if any advisers are daring to speak truth to the president.
Prior to the recent developments, Minister of Sports Paul Kamara was on radio trading invectives with another presidential appointee, Unisa Alim Sesay a.k.a. Awoko of the presidential assets commission. Agreed it had nothing to do with Sesay’s political position but for these grown-ups and presidential appointees to be referring to themselves the way they did – I cannot mention it here – was shocking and probably indicative of what goes on behind the scene.
Unlike the disagreement within the Bush administration which had to do with the interest of America, here the overriding and overarching motive is over the survival of the self and the securing of positions.
It leaves one with the impression that the struggle for the soul of the All People’s Congress party and who succeeds President Koroma as party leader has only just begun. And the president is handling it abysmally.
At the recent APC delegates’ conference, two things were handled fundamentally baldy: the decision by the party to send democracy to the oven by apparently forcing interested candidates against running was the lowest any political party can go in a democracy. And this may just affect President Koroma’s bid for the Mo Ibrahim Prize. That singular action was very undemocratic.
As if that was not enough, he apparently threatened all those interested in leading the party ahead of the next election. In my view it would have been a bit more acceptable if he had advised all those serving in his government and interested in succeeding him, to resign so as not to divert their attention from governance. But again he would not have that moral high ground because he and his men orchestrated the return, unopposed, of many people who were and still are serving in his cabinet.
Having threateningly stopped them from embarking on any internal party politics to succeed him it should surprise no one that camps are being set up within his cabinet to do just that. I know a lot of ministers who think the president plans to impose a candidate on them ahead of the 2018 presidential election. There are those who support different candidates opposed to the president’s. So it has all boiled down to a cold war that is getting very hot, with trenches being dug. And my sources say it is spreading to the president’s kitchen cabinet.
The president’s calculations could prove costly. Sadly not just for his party. As Bob Woodward writes, “Every person has shortcomings. But a president’s shortcomings are visited upon an entire nation...” So he had better change tact to seek our interest, not just his or his party’s.
(C) Politico 16/07/13
