Elevate the Debate: A Plea

Opinion

By Dr. Patrick K. Muana, Houston, Texas, USA.

Dr. Yusuf Bangura’s rather patronizing riposte to responses to his uncharacteristically dodgy "Dark Clouds" raises a number of perplexing issues that need to be discussed before we heed his call to change the focus of this debate on national politics:

1. Legitimacy: Dr. Bangura argues rather furtively that Julius Maada Bio’s election as Presidential candidate lacks legitimacy because he may well have been elected by “hardcore party chauvinists” – a rather elevated byword for tribalists within the SLPP. He fails to justify his argument with empirical evidence, falling back on the ambiguous, “it is said in party circles.” If Dr. Bangura had used an even-handed approach to discussing the question of legitimacy in electing the presidential candidates of the two largest parties, All People’s Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), he would have made a number of discoveries: a) that Julius Maada Bio, unlike Ernest Koroma, was properly nominated and elected in transparent national elections in accordance with all extant constitutional provisions and processes to be his party’s flag bearer; b) that President Ernest Koroma, Victor Foh, Chukwuma Johnson, Sani Sesay, and the majority of APC executive members were undemocratically announced unopposed and duly “elected” for 5 years (2009-2013) in line with the worst autocratic traditions of the APC, replicated best in the ornate halls of the party politburo of North Korea. I am surprised therefore that instead of commending the very democratic and transparent practices of our party, the SLPP, he seemingly joins the unenviable company of Victor Foh and APC regime propagandists in diverting attention away from the very unique democratic tradition and process of transparent elections within the SLPP (which is apparently tentatively adhered to in the APC) that confers legitimacy on our presidential candidate.

2. “Ethno-regional Hegemony” – Yusuf Bangura insists on forcing readers to imagine some “ethno-regional hegemony” in a possible Maada Bio presidency especially because he claims Maada Bio has been elected by “hardcore chauvinists.” One would expect however that Yusuf Bangura would start off by discussing the record of the incumbent President Koroma on ethno-regional hegemony and politics. Now, there is enough material to write about there.

3. The Reason for the NPRC Intervention: Yusuf Bangura’s attempt to repackage the National Provisional Ruling Council’s (NPRC) intervention in Sierra Leone politics as a mere illustration of Kaplan’s The Coming Anarchy collapses spectacularly. Even President Ernest Koroma in his 2003 address to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission acknowledged that the “coming anarchy” of the Sierra Leone civil war was caused by 26 years of state collapse under a repressive APC dictatorship. It is evident even in the most skewed of historical accounts of Sierra Leone that both the RUF insurgency and the NPRC intervention were responses to state collapse under the APC. To seemingly reduce the entire NPRC saga in Sierra Leone’s history to the admittedly sadistic killing of Bambay Kamara and other by an NPRC official (SAJ Musa) who has been dead for over 10 years is clearly absurd. In all of this, why am I not seeing the name of Valentine Strasser, the Chairman of the NPRC when Bambay was executed being bandied around? Why am I not seeing the names of somebody’s close protection bodyguard being bandied around especially as it is public knowledge that they carried out some of the most egregious atrocities from summary executions, wanton arson, rape, and inflicting inhumane harm on innocent civilians?

4. Democratic Credentials: It certainly helps that Yusuf Bangura contradicts Victor Foh’s rather dumb narrative that the NPRC overthrew a "legitimate and democratically elected" APC government. The repressive APC dictatorship that was overthrown in 1992 was anything but legitimate and democratic. Certainly, Victor Foh’s public record of rabid thieving and subterfuge as shown in Vouchergate records and his association with the horrors of the AFRC, speaks volumes of how much nothing has changed in the APC. Moreover, no matter what self-validating narratives may be advanced by persons selfishly trying to re-position themselves in Sierra Leone’s history, the FACT remains that Julius Maada Bio restored constitutional order and he facilitated the peaceful transition of power to a democratically elected government. That trend that has been unbroken through three elections cycles and hence becoming a tradition that is firmly entrenched in Sierra Leone’s democracy. WE MUST CREDIT JULIUS MAADA BIO THUS.

5. Maada Bio’s Judgment as Head of State: It is my view that Yusuf Bangura ignores the best intellectual traditions of rigorous objectivity and empiricism by needlessly insinuating that one cannot trust Maada Bio’s leadership judgment because it is tainted by “violence” and other such smear. If Ernest Koroma, the APC, and people of Sierra Leone should not trust Julius Maada Bio’s leadership decisions as a 26 year old, then what is President Ernest Koroma doing with more than five Maada Bio/NPRC appointees and state functionaries in his Finance (Samura Kamara), Justice (Franklyn Kargbo), Agriculture (Joseph Sam-Sesay), Employment (Paul Kamara) and Labor (Hindolo Trye) ministries in addition to other heads of strategic government institutions and agencies, from the ONS to the army and several other state institutions? Ernest Koroma must admire something about Maada Bio’s judgment 16 years ago. I can only imagine how much more Maada Bio has matured and how much more value he brings to the presidency with his post NPRC education, training, exposure to the best of international and regional leadership practices.

6. The Way Forward: Now that the SLPP convention is truly behind us, can we, as intellectuals, elevate the debate from the sundry salacious lies and smear initiated by such muddied political hacks as Victor Foh to current quality of life issues? Are Sierra Leoneans happier, healthier, and wealthier today than they were on September 17, 2007? What is the record of President Ernest Koroma on the economy, job creation, education, youth unemployment, gender, and corruption, among other things? These are the issues we must be discussing.