By: Winstanley R Bankole Johnson
From my layman’s perspective this is yet another faux pas of our esteemed Comrade Basita, and unless the situation is analysed for clarity, the gullible public (including the perceived opposition) risk being unjustifiably tarnished.
First off as Comrade Basita herself may very well know and under our present cosmetic nay ad-hoc political situation, it is fallible if not deceptive to even talk about an Opposition.
And anyone harping on the absence of, or deafening silence of Opposition Voices under our present circumstances risk being downgraded to the category of our Agenda 2028 Detractors. And that is not being disrespectful for a number of reasons among which are as under:
1. All present governance structures are cosmetic, nay ad-hoc and awaiting regularization, subject of course to recommendations from the various committees set up to address all issues impacting the June 2023 elections and arising from the eight (8) Pillars of the Bintumani Accords of October 2023 – all of which should be actionable and implementable
2. In a political situation as hopeless as ours in which Heads of Civil Societies (the supposed voices of the voiceless) are publicly begging the President for regular employment, official opposition voices can be useless, unless and until the correct government environment and structures, not reflective of tribal. regional and or hegemonic dominance are restored. And we cannot dissect that away from ECSL ultimately adhering to their Constitutional and other Legal obligations of releasing all the granular results for the June 2023 multi-tiered elections.
3. This further means disconnecting any or every perceived umbilical leashes between the Judiciary (and the Legislature as well) and the Executive, thus restoring public confidence in our justice sectors delivery services. It has to be further noted that unless the provisions enshrined in Chapter 3 of our 1991 Constitution that safeguards individual rights and freedoms are respected and practicalized to the letter we cannot – and should not – be talking about democratic pluralism
4. So in our present wait and see circumstances I honestly think it is premature to be blaming the official political voices to wit: parliamentary opposition camps for seemingly remaining silent when in actual fact all the bizarre actions of this very government such as- (A) Reckless domestic and foreign borrowings resulting in huge debt burdens and balance of payments deficits, (B). Non-recognition internationally as a de-jure government (C). Unconstitutional removal of a Rt. Hon Speaker of Parliament, (D). Unnecessarily delayed payments of monthly salaries to all sectors (E).Persistent shortages of portable drinking water (F). Epileptic electricity outages, (G). Poor healthcare delivery services countrywide (H). Disqualification of thousands of eligible students from taking their WASCE Examinations by a government that claims to prioritize human capacity development (I). Poor, inefficient public transportation snd worse more – are already speaking far louder for us the suffering masses than any suppressed official parliamentary opposition would ever do.
Honestly us having come thus far Comrade Basita, let us continue to keep our heads above waters as we (I mean all true peace loving Sierra Leoneans) and wait patiently for sanity to be restored to this country at last.
And patience being a virtue. the only civil and expedient political purgatory for that will emanate – not from stirring up public unrests to disturb peace and good order of society or igniting suspicions and discords within Camp APC, but from the full implementation of (more particularly) the expected recommendations of the Tripartite Committee.
At present there’s far more to be expected from the Tripartite Committee that cannot – and should not – be divulge, but I assure everyone that once sanity is restored, it might not even be necessary to critique a good number of those in Opposition now being suspected as 5th Columnists.
