By Ezekiel Nabieu
SLPP, the party that led this country to a ‘premature’ independence is at present a pitiable entity moving from disaster to disaster of inscrutable proportions. One such disaster was when the Minority Leader, Dr. Bernadette Lahai took it upon herself to second the motion for the election of the new House Speaker.
What vicarious service is this for an opposition leader to be acting in favour of the ruling party when all of them were present and not struck with the disease of dumbness? And yet she could claim to be a sincere member of the SLPP. Wonders never cease.
She would defend herself to the skies and never claim fallibility because she has a Ph.D. and is the first woman to be so and so and so. She has got her reward at the national awards ceremony at State House similar to the Logus reward. But how long can she be running with the hounds and hunting with the hares? Let conscience speak for itself.
Returning to the core of this piece, the SLPP started to suffer from its misfortunes during the rule of Sir Albert Margai who failed to award party symbols to Kutubu Kaisamba and L.A.M Brewa who subsequently caused the party to lose that crucial election by their dual option to stand as Independent Candidates. Thus began the rule which we are enjoying/lamenting depending on which side of the political spectrum you are.
After virtually wrestling peace from the rebels following an 11-year war that he had no hands in causing, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah had all the power in this country to let the SLPP rule almost in perpetuity. But he had other ideas. He was trying to be so just that eventually he loved his neighbour more than himself instead of just as himself as the Bible says. But could he be excused or justified because he was not a Christian? Judge that for yourself! In all his life, he said, he had been a member of no other political party but the SLPP, unlike Ernest Bai Koroma who had been hopping from one party to another and having anchored himself in one, becomes the ultra-advocate of its worst policies businesslike.
Though not a Christian, Tejan Kabbah was still giving Ernest Koroma almost whatever he asked, according to the biblical edict "Ask and it shall be given unto you”. Or was he mesmerised? I don’t know. He was virtually co-president. Ernest Koroma and Co asked for a radio station at a time when Tejan Kabbah’s own party did not have one and they got it just like that. They could have got half of the airtime of the then SLBS if they asked for it. But they seemed to have developed cold feet somewhere along the road. They protested the first electoral commissioner and they got our Lady of Fatima, the inimitable canceller of elections. The party newspaper Unity was ignored and could have ceased publication but for the zealousness of Frank Kposowa. Instead the government of SLPP gave a grant to the independent SLAJ then headed by I. B. Kargbo a buddy of the late Tejan Kabbah who even took him on pilgrimage to Mecca.
If a party could cede such powers to the opposition while in governance what does one expect while it is in opposition? Total surrender? It may not be so if successors to Tejan Kabbah are determined to turn the tables. Came the swashbuckling John Oponjo Benjamin with his purported vuvuzela of reforms. His publicity for the party was centred around himself and recent events have taught us the reasons why these things were so. He has declared for the flag-bearership clearing all doubts. He just shunned publicity about the SLPP lest they slant the news in favour of then flag bearer Julius Maada Bio. The bane of egoism surfaces here. He hired mediocre staff for the Unity newspaper and depended heavily on the pro-SLPP independent press whose services were neither acknowledged nor rewarded. So that it became a matter of the same “kasada soup”. Same as Tejan Kabbah ate.
Meanwhile Vice President Sam-Sumana had ordered the shutting down of the party radios mainly because of the growing influence of the SLPP radio. That may improve his chances of “After im nar you”. Good luck! Maada Bio took the cue from his surreptitious rival J.O.B with the same syndrome of complacency in propaganda. He took his groundswell of popularity for granted.
A concerned SLPP member who is all agog for a return to power by the party has suggested "the urgent need for the party" to establish at least two online newspapers - one based in Europe and the other based in the United States - to sell the SLPP ideology and manifestos and explain “our achievements and successes. Inadequacies, failures and lies of the APC and show the people the way forward.”As far as I know these people who are being coaxed for their own good are allergic to propaganda. With him I commiserate: “Blow for you yah!”
These people did not care a damn even when they were solidly united; when they were real SLPP and not fake SLPP. How much less now? The concerned member also advised the party to set up a whole department responsible for propaganda purposes which he hoped shall appropriately respond to the APC propaganda and also design, develop and implement their own propaganda. That was a splendid idea from that idealist for which he should be commended though his innuendo rules out Julius Maada Bio. But the man is entitled to his opinion.
The rift in the party has gotten so bad that the chairman and leader of the party, Chief Sumano Kapen has called on the Interreligious Council in Sierra Leone to intervene and resolve the imbroglio that is plaguing the party. This move is far better than resorting to sorcery like the Ariogbo to find out whether some wicked witches have cast a spell over the party and how it could be removed. The advice is that the SLPP should continue to pray without ceasing but meanwhile it should not rest on its laurels but work relentlessly at reconciliation. Never tire! In so doing all will be well; all manner of things.
Semi-literate journalists
Literacy by dictionary definition is to be able to read and write. In that case all journalists are literate. The headline here is for better understanding but my accent is on education. By this I mean that the education of the vast majority of persons posing as journalists leaves much to be desired conforming ineluctably to the general drop in standards of education. But journalists are patterned after by the populace in terms of language and reliable information. Therefore they ought to be very careful about what they say and write.
That said, let me come to the thrust of this subject which is the vogue of omitting names of constituencies and their replacement by numbers. The fact is that many journalists are so unintelligent that they would never bother to know the effect of what they are doing as long as someone else has done it. This is obviously due to the influence of Christiana Thorpe who was, rightly, only carrying out her official function by numbering constituencies for official record purposes. She did not issue a decree that names of constituencies should no longer be mentioned. But ah! The poorly educated journalists have made it a fashion to name constituencies by numbers without mentioning their locations. Christian Thorpe’s influence should stop at election cancellation.
How do they expect for instance listeners to relate numbers to constituencies or to know for instance that Moyamba South is Constituency 107 and so on? This is not unintelligent and should be stopped immediately. Sierra Leone is No. 100 in the UN membership but is referred to as Sierra Leone when is necessary. Constituency numbers should be given only after the names of constituencies for intelligent readership consumption.
(C) Politico 15/05/14
