Ernest Koroma Should Apologize

By Edie Vandy, USA.

It is now public knowledge that Ernest is on a vicious mission to re-write history, playing the blame game, shifting responsibility and handing down indictment of bad governance to people he calls ‘traitors and saboteurs’. He has fallen short of naming the ‘bad guys’ he castigates as creators of a monstrous APC, the APC he now seeks to glorify.

Overconfidence has gotten into Ernest’s head, and he is taking people for granted on false assumptions and around cheap politics, instead of policies. Quite frankly, a good number of Sierra Leoneans have never been amused by the APC’s failed ‘politricks’, now being marketed. Putting aside political bickering, the burning issue is the calculated attempt by Ernest to change historical facts by his glorification of a party that caused so much harm to the people of Sierra Leone. A heinous rebel war, dubbed as one of the world’s deadliest civil wars was unleashed on innocent citizenry under the APC’s watch. These scars will persist for many years to come.

Ernest should be reminded that more than 70,000 compatriots were under arms by the end of the war, due in part to the APC’s failed political process. Another harsh innuendo worthy of note is the innocent slaughter of more than 50,000 men and women, including some 6,000 ‘Freetonians’ who perished from Freetown’s January 1999 massacre.

Has Ernest forgotten too soon that some 15,000 compatriots are now amputees, and have had their limbs hacked off because of the very stupid rebel war, which never would have occurred had the APC pursued a pro-people policy?

The NPRC coup d’etat of April 29, 1992, was widely acclaimed and hailed as successful, because of disenchantment. The hunger for change was timely and constructive, as it would never have come cheaply or handed on a silver platter. The coupists were granted entrance legitimacy, by the students,supported people from all walks of like.

Is this not enough justification that things were pretty messy during the era Ernest wants to take the nation?
The TRC report slammed the APC on their tenure, the misuse and abuse of power to strangulate the democratic process.

Siaka Stevens was faulted on his high handedness and authoritarian rule, the sustained corruption, nepotism and the plunder of state assets and resources, their lack of accountability, elimination of any form of opposition, and prolonged economic decay; all of which were key ingredients igniting a conflict that brought doom upon the nation. Late President J.S. Momoh was not spared either. He was spanked for his ‘dictatorial’ and ‘abusive’ mismanagement to accelerate the demise an ailing economy.

This denial by a major presidential hopeful on the very fundamentals that define Sierra Leone, is an affront to history, an obvious insult to the intelligent mindset, and should be challenged by well meaning patriots, who know what is at stake and can foresee what’s coming, if left unchecked.

Sierra Leone’s renowned professor and historian - Dr Joe A.D Alie has weighed in and dings the APC’s flag bearer’s diatribes, reminding Sierra Leoneans that the APC’s past was not glorious, but ugly and painful. The learned professor and many other state actors (including this author) should not stop at making mere statements in their writings, but should demand a public apology from Ernest Koroma. He should be seen to be held accountable for dodging the truth.

The APC leadership manifesto promise to ‘follow on an established tradition of the twenty four years of rule of late President Siaka Stevens and late President Joseph Momoh’ mimics power desperation. They are making us believe that their governance style was cool and cozy, and accomplished so much, where their track record is plainly visible. In some ways, they might be right, for the party’s ugly deeds are well cataloged. No amount of spinning or denying by the APC leadership will re-write this gloomy chapter. Wikipedia - the online resource library highlights corruption and the mismanagement of diamonds, as pivotal to the emergence of conflict.

Ernest’s vision for a better Sierra Leone remains unclear, looking at the mixed signals he is sending. On one hand, he is trigger happy bragging of mainstreaming the old APC agenda, considered destructive and painful, whist championing a violent campaign, which is a constant cache of the ugly past people want to get away from.

Visionary and wise as Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh were, as the APC leadership wants us to believe, their politics were plainly destructive. Those that have a ‘crush’ on Ernest should be reminded that they too will be held accountable, if this nation goes down the drain for another lousy election cycle.

What the APC Leader is doing could not be far from the actions of the Iranian leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who attempted to deny the holocaust, and calling it a myth. He was condemned and chastised in harsh tones from all quarters.

Kofi Annan, in a statement marking holocaust Memorial Day Jan 27, 2007, described those who questioned whether the holocaust took place as "bigots".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent comments questioning the existence of some 200,000 comfort women mostly from Korea and China who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II, was vehemently condemned. These women had in fact demanded a formal apology from Japan in 1991, prompting a UN investigation and findings that held Japan culpable of “violations of customary norms of international law concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, slavery, and the trafficking in women and children".

Sen. John Kerry on November 2, 2006 apologized for his poor choice of words he described as a joke, aimed at US President George Bush, but perceived as a bad shot on U.S. troops. His crime was to have told college students they would end up “stuck in Iraq”, if they didn’t get an education. Kerry’s slur and the heat he received from within his Democratic party, cut short his presidential run.

Hon Victor Reider received some tongue bashing from the TRC Chair - Bishop Humper over his disagreement with some report content, and was asked for unreserved apology to the TRC, the nation and the international community. The TRC Chair went further to demand his resignation from the nation’s parliament. Though Reider never did apologize, the TRC was making a statement that Reider, like any other Sierra Leonean, should not be in denial of historical facts, for only bigots are held in such contentions. The question now is: should Ernest Koroma suffer same standards and upraiding the TRC inflicted on Hon. Reider?

Please don’t tell me Sierra Leoneans cannot now ask public officials to apologize and be held accountable for their deeds. In fact, the call for and demand for accountability is a necessity for all, regardless of status. What Ernest said about taking back the nation to the so-called ‘good old days’ of the APC is plainly unacceptable,deeply repugnant and an assault to common sense, for which he owes this nation an apology.

For the APC to be taken seriously and accepted by all across the political divide, their leadership has to accept personal responsibility of it’s deplorable past and show sensitivity over historical facts.