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If I were Dr Bernadette Lahai

Dr Bernadete Lahai

By Umaru Fofana

The ongoing conundrum in the parliamentary opposition, which mirrors what obtains in the entirety of the Sierra Leone People's Party outside the House, is sickening and disgraceful. It is not only emasculating our burgeoning democracy, it is also setting back the attainment of accountability in government and the attainment of genuine prosperity for the people of the country. Even at the height of their disagreement in the run-up to the 2007 elections, the then opposition All People's Congress party did not degenerate to such an abysmal position of crassness.

Under the full view of the party's national executive, perhaps with their acquiescence or even sponsorship, there is a huge and disgraceful rebellion and hair-splitting going on in the SLPP corner of the House. It does not border on ideological difference. It does not concern the people's welfare. It does not relate to the growth of the party. Simply, it is an obsession for leadership and, perhaps, access to the corridors of power which the country's opposition politicians, not least some of those in some authority, have come to represent these days in Sierra Leone. In sum total, ours is a failed political class with a poignant ramification for the hapless citizens who suffer amidst unchecked depravity.

I am not a fan of Dr Bernadette Lahai's leadership of the SLPP in parliament. A leadership that has caused this whole brouhaha over who should lead an clay-legged opposition or how it should be led. As leader of the opposition, she has been parleying with those she should be checkmating - the government - so much so that her position has become almost untenable. Not that the official opposition should always antagonise the government, but for a minority leader to see nothing wrong in what a government does almost since she was elected to that position one year ago would leave one with the impression that there has been a destructive compromise of principles.

That said, the manner in which the SLPP is going about replacing the House Minority Leader is shameful and probably bullish. It has to be said that Dr Lahai did not support the faction that currently leads the national executive of her party. But the goings-on also show that the party has no internal redress mechanism let alone discipline. This is a party that has exposed a lot of frailties and chaos instead of its internal democratic credential its constitution so much espouses. It is bad for a party to muzzle dissent in all its forms; after all that is only dictatorial and stupid, and is bound to lead to an implosion. But it is unacceptable for a party not to have any civilised method of providing redress amidst such dissent. So where is that internal redress mechanism within the SLPP?

All of the ongoing hoo-ha leaves me with the impression that the SLPP is leaderless - both in and outside parliament. So much so that I wonder thus: Where is the incandescence that should be illuminating in a party which just six years ago was in power? Where are the elders that were so all over the place before September 2007? Where is the notion that the party stands for what is right and the right ways of doing things? I say without compunction that the SLPP is on a nosedive, and with it will go the nation because democracy and accountability will also go down.

I do not understand or see how Dr Bernadette Lahai thinks she can function as House Minority Leader when the majority of her fellow party MPs want to see her back, or how she is even perceived within that party amid what is going on. This is a very well educated, brilliant lady who worked hard and rose on her own merit. She has been in parliament for the third consecutive term and has a world of opportunity ahead of her. I would rather she stepped down as Minority Leader and retained her seat in the House which - the retention of her seat - no simple majority vote in parliament can take away from her. If the party dares to chase her between now and the next election under the guise of expelling her to necessitate her removal from parliament as the constitution says, that will clearly be a witch-hunt. Then the progressives in our society who have no ulterior motive will join her fight for the respect of her right. But the one she is on now is unnecessary and does not bode well for the party and the country's quest for an effective opposition that will hold the government to account. A government that has so much to account for.

I empathise with the learned MP that what is happening to her now is humiliating. But it can only get worse the more she allows it to drag on. And the earlier she settles it - which seems to be only by her stepping aside - the better. She clearly does not have the confidence of her party members in the national executive or in the House.

When in 1990 the then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher had her leadership of the Tory Party challenged within her party in parliament by Michael Heseltine, she opened the issue to a vote. And that was an even higher position - not the Leader of the Opposition which Dr Lahai would be, using the same analogy. Prime Minister Thatcher won the first ballot but fell short of the 15% margin needed to avoid a runoff. She vowed to "fight on and fight to win". She could well have fought on and won. But following consultations, she resigned as party leader and as such as Prime Minister, for reasons of both her dignity and her party's survival. She did not cling on even though she could have got the numbers to win. Bernadette cannot secure the numbers with the odds so much stacked against her. Perhaps the words of Sir Geoffrey Howe as Deputy Leader to Margaret Thatcher in his resignation letter to his boss should teach Dr Lahai a lesson or two. "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find the moment that the first balls are bowled that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain."

I know Dr Lahai is not a cricketer but I suspect she knows a bit about football and I hope she supports Manchester United. Her continued stay as Minority Leader even with the groundswell of rebellion against her, is akin to Vidic hiding needles inside Robin Van Persie's boots ahead of a crucial penalty the Dutch striker is expected to take to win the Champions' League. Unless Bernnie does not like or believe in the SLPP, which I doubt very much.

(c) Politico 30/01/13

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