VIEWPOINT
Mr. President Time To Change The Players!
By David Tam-Baryoh
May 8, 2008, 05:59

When Ahmad Tejan Kabbah assumed political power in Sierra Leone after the 1996 general elections via proportional representation, he immediately embarked upon bringing into government what he called ‘technocrats’.By his own definition, every branch of his government was to be manned by a competent professional capable of not only understanding the field of game of the assigned institution(s), but one that is capable of providing solutions to the problems of the country.

Thus, like Siaka Stevens’ regime of 1982 where more ‘book men and women’ took over governance, Kabbah meant to help fellow Sierra Leoneans receive maximum benefits from various highly educated and supposedly motivated compatriots. As to whether the then president succeeded at all, is actually not the focus of this article.. Posterity will judge him better. Even when the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, SLPP did not and has actually never lacked high breed personnel to serve in every capacity of leadership in Sierra Leone, it was evident that Kabbah drew his team of technocrats, from outside the canopy of his party, the SLPP and within.

For committing this political chicanery and ungratefulness, the president came to be accused as being ungrateful and ignoring his own party in favour of strangers; as the so called technocrats came to be known. The Dr. Alpha Wuries, Dr. Julius Spencer, Dr. James Jonahs, Dr. Bobson Sesay,s, Dr. Kadie Sesay,s, Dr. Ramadan Dumbuyas, and many other high breed academics and professionals, came to be viewed as members belonging to the ‘outside committee of the SLPP’. According to some members of the inner core of the party, the SLPP had won (both 1996 and the 2002 general elections), and by all accounts, it was the duty of the SLPP to rule. So by Kabbah’s game-plan of ‘technocracy’, he had starved the serious and traditional members of the party from being included in the craze for technocrats.

For many few years, many ardent supporters of the party would see this as a serious mistake by Kabbah, being one of the key reasons responsible for the party losing political power at the recent polls. If the allegations were to stand, then there would be the need to prove that such ‘brought-in-technocrats’ did not mean well for the party, or at most, that they did not serve the interest of the party and by insinuation and inference, that of the interest of the country as well. But by every indication, such ‘brought-in-technocrats’ were accomplished success stories in their own right, before, and perhaps even after the end of their service to the party.

But again this is politics for you in Sierra Leone. And then comes in Earnest Bai Koroma of the All People’s congress party, the APC. So far, many key players within the APC are very happy with the president that he has adhered to an SLPP advice; namely, that the party that has won must be the one to rule. Thus, even when some SLPP members had accused the president of playing a lone Bombali squad game-plan interspersed with few Port Loko warriors, a lone Diamond stars player, and a few mercenaries from the Peoples Movement for democratic change party, PMDC, no one in support of this new squad is ready yet to ask: has any one married woman ever been able to produce one successful national football team?

Secondly, how do we discuss the allegation of Kabbah’s excessive love for ‘technocracy’ in all its ramifications as opposed to Earnest Bai Koroma’s alleged Bombali warriors?

What seems to appear clear to this writer, if one were to impersonalize this debate a bit, is that for any leader to succeed in Sierra Leone, he/she would have to be home with his/her party, while at the same time ready to fall out with same on many issues. Especially on the issue of reasons of inclusion from the ‘outside committees’ as Kabbah’s ‘technocrats became known, but more importantly, for example, to be able to impress upon the inner core hard liners unwilling to change the Bombali warriors approach to national issues, that failure to perform cannot be protected with a party card.

This is where Earnest Bai Koroma has to be strong. This is where he must open his eyes and act against the issues of graft and ministerial mishaps. It can be seen that most of the president’s men do not share his sound vision for the country. His dreams are not their dreams for Sierra Leone. That the President means well is a song, difficult to be unsung even by the opposition. But that some of his players have already lost steam and direction and are engaging in funny acts, is a song the chorus for which is not difficult to obtain anywhere in the country.

Mr. President, one great allegation against Tejan Kabbah was that he never had the courage to remove unscrupulous and unacceptable senior members of government; especially those who could not pass the temptation to steal public funds but continued to provide the public with news about their flamboyant living style while the rest of the populace are wallowing in squalor of poverty. Any country coming from war, immediately needs a determined and hard working leadership. We lost that opportunity during Kabbah, regime. But any leadership elected from popular will, must not fall in love with naivety and over protection of non performing members because the friendship of an expectant electorates is never sustained with disservice and graft.

That Kabbah was a fatherly figure, was never lost by the voters, but that he constantly dinned with non performers, rendered him  the awkward section of the history of the country’s national agenda. If you were to choose Mr. President, between being easily likeable by the voters and the urgent need to turn Sierra Leone around, I know readers will choose the later. This turn around can be engendered by a change of some players on the field of play, as they already stand the chance of receiving red cards, if not removed sooner.