Analysis
By Sekou Dauda Bangura, PV Special Correspondent, New Jersey, USA.
Five years ago the Sierra Leone Peoples Party was voted out of office by the people of Sierra Leone in a General Election that was described by international observers as “free and fair.” The defeat came as a shock to many SLPP supporters who all along had capitalized on the dismal record of Siaka Probyn Stevens and Joseph Saidu Momoh to ensure a third term in office. But for the majority of Sierra Leoneans, the poor performance of the grand old party was a foregone conclusion - the party had failed the people during the almost eleven years of its stewardship. Thus on September 8, 2007, Solomon E. Berewah suffered a very humiliating defeat in a presidential run-off with Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People’s Congress.
After five years of that awful performance by the SLPP, the questions still linger - What went wrong with the grand old party? Why and how was Berewah, a veteran politician who served as vice president and acting president of Sierra Leone, clobbered by Ernest Bai Koroma, a man comparatively new in the politics of Sierra Leone? Coming out before the 2012 elections slated for November 17, this commentary reflects on the combination of factors that led to the defeat of the SLPP – factors that are going to determine the outcome of the 2012 election..
Aside from the obvious factors (the filth and squalor and the total blackout in the city, the rampant corruption and the conspicuous display of ill-gotten wealth) that led to the paralysis of the SLPP in 2007, the defeat of the SLPP can also be viewed against the backdrop of “Creative Destruction” – the perpetual cycle of destroying the old and less efficient product or service and replacing it with new more efficient ones. Joseph Schumpeter, a former Austrian Minister of Finance and Harvard Business School professor came out with this concept which has gained currency in today’s era of globalization.
Like a businessman who embarks on continuous improvement to ensure his competitive edge or maintain his market share, the people of Sierra Leone also believe in continuous improvement for a better Sierra Leone. This explains why the SLPP lost the 2007 elections. In an effort to create a more efficient, effective and more economically-viable nation, the inefficient, unproductive and effete regime of Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabba and Solomon E. Berewah must give way to a more efficient and effective political party.
The people of Sierra Leone needed a change for the better; they want to chart a new direction for their country. The only way forward was to get rid of the SLPP, which after ten years of political chicanery and an economy in tatters, had outlived its usefulness.
Representing a political watershed, a significant milestone in the annals of Sierra Leone politics, the 2007 elections were a clear indication that Sierra Leoneans are a vibrant and dynamic people, capable of adjusting and readjusting to meet the demands of the times.
Never again will they allow an inept and corrupt political party to be in power for more than one term.
The message sent in 2007 had that staccato effect - one strike and you’re out!
“Yu shake, we wap!” There is no longer any room for corrupt and half-baked politicians who thrive by playing on the destinies of the masses. The people demonstrated in 2007 that “power lies not with those who control the means of violence; real power lies with the electorate,” for they can make and unmake a government.
The notion that the incumbent party has the advantage of winning should now be seen as thing of the past. That obnoxious and unsavory idea that power emanates from the barrel of a gun, fired or silent, no longer has a place in the politics of Sierra Leone.
Elected officials are expected to serve the people; to work in the interest of the people. If they are found wanting by the people, the people have the power to peacefully remove them through the ballot box. This is why the 2007 election should also be seen as a kind of a revolution; for a revolution by ballot is still a revolution!
Those elected to serve the country should understand that ultimate power lies with the people for they are the ones that determine whether a political party will continue in office or be removed from office. The people of Sierra Leone undoubtedly exercised their political sovereignty by voting overwhelmingly against the ruling SLPP in 2007. Defying all forms of intimidation, coercion and even naked bribery, the people said “no to the SLPP!” The message delivered was loud and unequivocal. We can no longer tolerate corrupt politicians whose only reason for being in politics is to fatten their pockets at the expense of ordinary people.
For far too long the ordinary people have been taken for granted. Politicians only come around when they need their votes. They even use some of the ordinary people at election time as thugs; political hirelings to intimidate political opponents. In their senseless zest for power, the politicians put money into the pockets of the people and food into their mouths to win their support. After elections, the people are completely forgotten.
But in 2007, the people became a little creative. They played along with the SLPP which had more money to throw around by turning into what was dubbed “Watermelon SLPP supporters” – green on the outside and red on the inside. The people graciously accepted the money and food offered to them, and put on SLPP paraphernalia (T-shirts, earrings and jeans). But on Election Day, they voted against the SLPP. While they gave the impression that they were SLPP supporters (green on the outside), they were actually APC supporters (red on the inside).
Sierra Leoneans have definitely come of age in this new era of globalization – an era in which the whole world has been integrated through technology. They are well informed about the world today than they were twenty years ago. The manipulations and maneuverings that worked under Siaka Stevens cannot work today because the rest of the world is aware of what goes on in Sierra Leone today. Ask former Minister of Presidential Affairs in Liberia, and he will tell you “there is no hiding place today.” Caught in a very compromising situation with two women at the same time, he was sacked because of the big embarrassment he brought to a whole nation.
In today’s information age, politics can no longer be seen as a kind of Osmosis, whereby the stronger solution absorbs the weaker solution; it’s no longer a matter of intimidation, victimization or molestation of your opponent to cling on to power. It is now a battle of wits! The vast majority of Sierra Leoneans are more politically conscious today; more enlightened about the world because of the use of the Internet, cell phones and digital cameras and camcorders. Empowered by technology, they are free to communicate at any time and anywhere in the world today.
Completely slow in understanding this fact, the SLPP stuck to its old strategy of “Divide and Rule,” playing both the regional and tribal card. That strategy was not only outmoded in 2007; it was totally reprehensible to Sierra Leoneans who put a high premium on patriotism and nationalism. For those true patriots, the only way to save Sierra Leone was to deny the SLPP a third term. And this explains why the SLPP was not able to win a single seat in the Western Area. The party’s archaic message could not just resonate with the people in Freetown and Greater Freetown, who are not only more enlightened, but who are also a reflection of the ethnic configuration of Sierra Leone.
The All People’s Congress and the People’s Movement for Democratic Change, fully aware of the people’s level of political maturity, made use of technology to expose all the illegal methods, and strategies of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party to win the election. The SLPP, despite the staggering amount of money and the government resources at its disposal, did not see the need for a radio station to win the hearts and minds of the people. The SLPP leadership realized the need to have one only after the APC radio station started announcing the election results ahead of the Electoral Commission. By then it was too late; the APC was already winning the propaganda war.
In retrospect, the All People’s Congress went into the 2007 General Election with a competitive edge over the Sierra Leone Peoples Party. While technology proved to be a curse to the SLPP, it was a big blessing to the APC. As a matter of fact, technology was a big advantage to both the APC and the PMDC in getting across the political message to Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. Supporters of both parties in the Diaspora were on their cell phones on Election Day urging friends and relatives not to vote for the SLPP. At the All People’s Congress Election Command Center, there was a big power-point display, showing the results of the elections as they are received. This made it impossible for the SLPP to doctor the results.
Unfortunately, supporters of the SLPP in the United States of America could not figure out why Cocorioko, one of Sierra Leone’s widely read electronic publications, was able to publish election results before the official announcement by Dr. Christiana Thorpe, chair of the national electoral commission. With a Cocorioko reporter right at the polling station where the counting was conducted, the results were immediately made available to the paper for dissemination world wide through a cell phone and a digital camera.
Since the grand old party, the SLPP, was slow in realizing the importance of technology in the 2007 election, it went into the race as a turtle; a road-kill (the slow animal that got trampled upon by those bigger animals that are running very fast). The SLPP became a victim of “creative destruction”- a victim of globalization!
The people had lost confidence with a party that was completely out of touch with reality; a party completely oblivious of the basic needs of the ordinary Sierra Leonean. Instead of providing those basic necessities of life (electricity, pipe-borne water and low-cost housing), SLPP operatives were competing putting up gated mansions and castles worth over 300,000 American dollars. The International Community, which had been very supportive in the reconstruction of Sierra Leone after the rebel war, was outraged by the reckless spending by Berewah of donor funds during Election Day in a bid to win votes. Even nature was not on the side of the SLPP in 2007. During the party’s final rally at the national stadium, there was a heavy downpour that significantly diminished any major impact the rally would have had on the people.
Even though the All People’s Congress garnered more seats in the parliamentary election (59-43), and despite the big lead of Ernest Koroma in the first round of the presidential election, Berewah and his cohorts were convinced that the SLPP will win in a presidential run-off. Most SLPP supporters were of the strong conviction that in a presidential run-off with the APC, PMDC supporters will transfer their allegiance to the SLPP. Members of the SLPP were also banking on pulling the biggest votes in Kenema, Kailahun and Pujehun where in the previous general elections (1996 and 2002) the SLPP had over one hundred percent of the votes.
Unfortunately for the SLPP, Dr. Christiana Thorpe had new rules for the 2007 General Election. Any vote count exceeding the national average of 74 percent raises a red flag; calling for investigation. And any vote count exceeding 100 percent constitute outright cheating. Because the SLPP was banking on massive cheating to win, it suffered a severe blow in those areas when Dr. Christiana Thorpe declared the votes void. That was the last nail that sealed the SLPP coffin in 2007!
Henceforth, all Sierra Leonean politicians and aspiring politicians should learn from the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections that “political power – albeit enlightened, progressive, reformist or reactionary – is but temporary and transitory.” What is permanent in the equation of power-politics is the state. Leaders come and go, but the state is permanent.
The SLPP propagandists and apologists who embarked on the most vicious campaign against Charles Margai and Ernest Bai Koroma in 2007 should have learned by now that “what you are speaks louder than what you say.” They should have also learned by now that “inner cleanliness is what society needs and not a lot of deodorant exteriors.” A well-written and voluminous party manifesto is worth nothing to the people if the leaders are not honest and sincere about what they stand for.
With Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio as the SLPP presidential candidate, the 2012 Election will be an easy victory for Ernest Bai Koroma and his All People’s Congress. Bio’s poor human rights record – being part of the military junta that carried out the extrajudicial trial and execution of Bambay and others – is a big factor that will deny him the presidency. The poster child of NPRC corruption and that locally-pandemic disease known as the arrogance of power, the majority of Sierra Leoneans will not forgive Maada Bio and they will not forget the past!
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