PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili SLPP: CRY THE BELOVED PARTY - TopicsExpress

PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili SLPP: CRY THE BELOVED PARTY Countries cannot be fully free until they have an organised opposition. It is not a long step from the absence of an organized opposition to a complete dictatorship. -Quintin Hogg It is one of the oldest parties on the continent. It was in the avant garde of the independence movement in Africa. The forbears left a legacy of inclusiveness, tolerance and patriotism, enshrining these in their laws, with the hope that their lofty ideals will transcend the ages. Sixty years and more have gone since the SLPP was founded. Unfortunately these lofty ideals have got thrown out the window and the party itself faces an existential threat. I was tempted not to write about this for two reasons. The first was that I felt we should not wash our dirty linens in public. The second was because, as a former Presidential Flagbearer aspirant, my views may not be considered dispassionate by some. The first, I can now discount as the party has washed its dirty linens in” Kindo Wata”, “Red Pump” and any conceivable public place you may think of that is not even a “watasai”. The second I can also discount as the problem within the party has got so serious that it is a grave national issue. A preponderant number of independent people that I meet lament the fact that the SLPP is so torn apart by puerile internecine warfare that there is in fact no effective opposition. Last week’s “suspension” of the Chairman and Leader, and the Secretary General in what has been termed in the Local tabloids as a “palace coup” is a source of ridicule to the party. One press release states thus: “The recent suspension of the Chairman and Leader of the Party (Chief Somano Kapen) and the National Secretary General (Mr. Sulaiman Tejan Sie), instigated by the four regional Chairmen, a group of National Officials and a so-called “Grassroots” group within the party and reflected in support of the action in various interviews in the print and electronic media by the Deputy Chairman, Dr Prince Harding and the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Musa Tamba Sam, is a blatant violation of the SLPP constitution.” Hon, Musa Tamba Sam has said in interviews that the action was taken because the two officials had been grossly negligent in their duties and Chief Karpen had for a considerable period not held any meeting of the National Executive. Others, including the Chairman and leader of the “grassroots” organisation have mentioned that both gentlemen have become “tools” of the APC. Another Press release from some senior members of the party is more scathing in its criticism of this action: “...... this particular group of National Officers and the so called “Grassroot” have constantly professed their support for only one aspirant for the flagbearer position of the party and are viciously intolerant to all others and their own supporters.” In a strange twist, Chief Karpen has suspended Dr Prince Harding, Hon. Musa Tamba Sam and the Western Area Chairman, Hon. Manso Dumbuya for “undermining the constitution”. Over the past one and a half years in particular since the end of the General elections, senior members of the party have been at daggers drawn with each other; this has cascaded to the rank and file of the party. Violence and intimidation have marred the SLPP political landscape. Irrespective of which part of the divide one is on, there are certain things that are patently true: 1. The SLPP’s share of votes in Presidential elections has dwindled progressively from a 70 percent figure in 2002 to 38 percent in 2012. Several senior members including MPs and Presidential flagbearer aspirants left the party after the last elections. 2. The party is essentially divided in the middle and without unity, going into an election with one faction will lead to non collaboration by other factions and consequent loss of the election. Any post internal election reconciliation would be unlikely to be effective, judging by the intensity of hate and mistrust currently prevalent. 3. The present spate of violence, intimidation, inflammatory statements over the media, court cases, discordant views on important national issues in parliament and other schisms have led to a lack of confidence in the party by middle of the roaders who do not consider us an effective opposition and certainly not capable of forming the type of government that will move Sierra Leone forward. 4. The recent bye elections reinforce the fact that if anything the party’s fortunes are dwindling further as indicated by the loss of a Ward election in Bo to PMDC, the loss of another election in a marginal ward in Moyamba to APC and the loss of Constituency 100 in Freetown by a margin of 2 to 1. The populace may not be convinced that we are a viable alternative to the government in moving the country onto a qualitatively higher development plane. An apt description of the Party in Politico is provided below: “The Green Movement is sinking deeper and deeper into the unnecessary mess it created for itself. What we call the main opposition party is an intoxicating mix of opportunists, anarchists, people with an exaggerated opinion of their self-worth and badly-led able-bodied young people. Nobody should take them seriously. They are stuck in their past while the rest of us are moving on.” Tierney, a commentator mentioned a century ago that “the duty of an Opposition is to propose nothing, oppose everything, and to turn out the government”. SLPP’s actions since the last elections give credence to this statement. An opposition party however has four roles it can perform: to give voice to the voiceless, be an alternative to the government in power, oppose and be a critical partner in nation building. As aptly put by a commentator “As the voice of the voiceless, the opposition expresses the view of a significant section of the electorate and helps to ensure that concerns of the various groups and other interests not represented in government are not forgotten or trampled upon. It also serves as a vent for the pent-up expression of those whose grievances and voices would otherwise go unheard.” The electorate ought to be reminded that there is a viable alternative to the government in power. As another commentator put it: “One that has a real or imagined potential to improve the quality of life of the people and let them realise their aspirations. It can do this by presenting an alternative ideological platform or simply show that it has a greater competence to govern.” It is also the opposition’s duty to oppose the government in power. The opposition must persuade the electorate to vote out the incumbent government and put the opposition in power so that it may pursue the policies it believes are best for the nation. For this purpose the opposition should highlight and expose those aspects of the ruling government’s policies and nature, which it believes not to be in the national interest. In matters of real national disaster or misfortune, the opposition has a responsibility to assist government in addressing the problem. Unfortunately, the SLPP only seems for now to want to come to power without letting the public know what can be done differently. The party practises opposition by opposing willy-nilly and expecting it has a God given right to govern. We speak with discordant voices on issues and there seems to be no reasoned authoritative voice. SLPP in its present state is a great disservice to Sierra Leoneans. It is all the more surprising because major stakeholders seem to be totally oblivious of the threat faced by the party. Instead of addressing several problems faced since the last election we seem to be in denial accusing NEC for all our problems. Some of our ardent but misinformed supporters have the view that all is well with the party and all we have to do is to ensure that NEC is an honest broker during the next General elections. One can cite a whole host of things that need to be addressed. SLPP has no Parliamentary representative in the whole of the Western Area and Northern Province. The party has only one Councillor (from Port Loko) in these areas. APC had a 22 percent vote tally in 2012 in the SLPP heartland of Kailahun. The party faced immense Administrative and financial problems and possible malpractices-al l self inflicted during the last elections. This situation still continues. This week’s events indicate that the party structures are being brought down like a pack of cards. The mediation mechanisms, especially with venerable party members which were once the pride of the party have fallen apart and the party has become a one issue party-the Flagbearer issue. It stands to reason that the Party has no alternative but to unite. Without this, any “victory” by a faction will be a pyrrhic victory with the winning faction being cannon fodder for APC. There are peace overtures on the horizon but the current fiasco played out in public does not engender hope in the sceptic. Notwithstanding this, the SLPP has to respect its own constitution, however flawed this may be, allow a level playing field in the flagbearer and other elections and adopt and practise its time-tested mediation mechanisms in resolving conflicts. If there is any comfort in what persistence and a united front can do to a party, we only have to look over our shoulder at APC which came from a lowly figure of 6% in 1996 to ten times this figure in 2012. We owe it to the people of Sierra Leone-without an effective opposition, we will be encouraging a dictatorship. The message to SLPP is simple: Unite and reform or die! Ponder my thoughts