OPINION > One Thing & Another Victory For The People Of Sierra Leone Posted by J.F. KAMARA on Aug 23, 2007, 03:20

....................….and the winner is, the People of Sierra Leone!

Hail to the people of Sierra Leone. Hail for the peaceful elections. Hail for the victory of the ballot box.

The elections in Sierra Leone have been won by the people. The message is still not loud enough for all and sundry to hear and understand. The voters do not hate the SLPP, nor particularly love the APC, and not quite comfortable with the PMDC either. The choice of the people has been a yearning for regime change. In their judgment by the ballot box, the SLPP has not delivered as promised. The chant in the streets has been ‘man de nor glady oh’.

The question that raises its ugly head for resolution is, how responsive has the Government being towards the outcry of the populace. Pro-government writers have labeled them the ‘riff-raffs’, an uneducated and illiterate bunch, yet it is this same group that have registered their dissatisfaction over the performance of the Government by voting for other parties. It is no gainsay that the SLPP like the Babylonian King Belshazzar failed to either decipher the writing on the wall or just refused to understand. One cannot escape the gaze of disgruntlement from disaffected youths, or the signs of naked hunger and poverty on the faces of the masses when driving or walking through the streets of Freetown or through to the provinces. These youths largely remain unemployed, uncared for, and unattended. Again, the chant has been-‘man de nor glady oh’.

How can the Government justify its opulent lifestyle as against that of the ordinary man? Corruption is blatantly evident in society, yet the Anti-Corruption Commission is still suffering from stillbirth. There has been assurance of food security come 2007, which is as much a farce in theory as it is in reality. The majority of the people still live well below internationally acceptable standards. Little wonder why the donor community withheld further funding to a government clearly unresponsive to the people’s plight particularly in providing them with the fundamental human needs for modern-day living – that of food, shelter, electricity, education, good roads and water supply.

The APC and PMDC have not offered a worthy alternative to the people, but incidentally, they jointly serve a credible challenge to the Government, thereby creating a choice of some sort, to which the people can lean on, as a last resort. Therefore, given the opportunity again, the people will speak in the same language and with more forcefulness than before. Let this victory sound a warning note to all democratic governments in future.  The lamentation of the people of Sierra Leone should never go unheeded.

May democracy live on in this our noble land!