Commentary

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09 May 2023

The controversies swirling over the Concession Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) represented by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and Autospect (SL) Limited has reached such a nauseating level that some senior officials in whom the President has reposed much confidence in to supervise the Authority have resorted to drawing daggers, something very embarrassing to both the Government and the Authority unless the appropriate authorities intervene with immediate effect to save them from that conspicuous embarrassment.

It is an established fact that the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Government led by His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Dr. Julius Maada Bio inherited the Concession Agreement from the erstwhile All People’s Congress (APC) Government led by former President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma which was signed between the GoSL and Autospect (SL) Limited on 6th December, 2017. Some lapses were however discovered in the Concession Agreement and consequently, it was allegedly reviewed in the best interest of the two parties and an Addendum to the Agreement was also mutually agreed to and signed on 21st January 2019 respectively.

But no matter the fact concerning that Concession Agreement, many controversies have been swirling over it that have allegedly culminated in the sacking of not only the SLRSA Executive Director under the APC Government, but also the immediate predecessor of the current Executive Director that was appointed by President Maada Bio, who was reported to have vehemently opposed the Concession Agreement that resulted to some disagreements between the then Executive Director and the Chairman and Board of Directors. The Executive Director was consequently shown the door and the current Executive Director was appointed by the President.

But reading between the lines to unravel the paradox of the situation at SLRSA, it appears that the Chairman and Board of Directors are directly accusing the current Executive Director of SLRSA Rev. Smart K. Senesie of betraying the confidence President Maada Bio has reposed in him by “trying very hard to undermine the Concession Agreement even though he does not enjoy the support of the supervising Ministry and the Board,” according to a Short Commentary published in Global Times newspaper on Monday 8th May. It furthered that “Reverend Smart Senesie has been briefing some opposition media houses against the interest of Autospect and by extension the Government of President Bio,” adding that “He continues to argue that, Autospect have taken over the operations of SLRSA which has led to the near collapse of the Authority.”

The commentary warned that Reverend Smart Senesie should focus on his job and avoid attracting negative newspaper headlines for both the Government and SLRSA, noting that his immediate predecessor Ibrahim Sannoh got sacked as Executive Director of SLRSA for allegedly undermining the Concession Agreement. The commentary concluded: “Reverend Smart Senesie is advised to stop giving the SLPP Government a bad name. A word to the wise is sufficient.”

By and large, Government may have reviewed the so-called Concession Agreement in the alleged interest of the two parties, but given the incessant dismissals of Executive Directors of SLRSA over this controversial Agreement, one would suggest that all has not been well between the Management of SLRSA and the Chairman and Board of Directors over this Agreement. And with such Short Commentary in Global Times purportedly written by an insider that wields enormous power within the Authority, it is very nauseating that those who have been placed in that Authority by the President to ensure its smooth running are embarrassingly washing their dirty linen in public much to the trepidation of their employer and the public.

Though the insider claimed that Autospect (SL) Limited was meeting all its financial obligations including paying monthly salaries to forty-four SLRSA workers on secondment, other SLRSA workers were howev erf unduly worried when their salaries for March were unprecedentedly delayed to their greatest surprise. How come their salaries were delayed if the operation of Autospect (SL) Limited was not having any negative impact on SLRSA? Even the Honourable Speaker of Parliament early this year bitterly complained about the astronomical rise in the price of private licence and promised to invite both Autospect (SL) Limited and the Management of SLRSA to Parliament to explain why the price has suddenly increased.

We believe something is fundamentally wrong with the Concession Agreement which could not have been properly reviewed in a way that would foster a symbiotic relationship between the Authority and the company which the Chairman and Board of Directors are now capitalizing on as great beneficiaries. By making damning allegations from within against the current Executive Director of SLRSA, we believe there is now conspiracy to have him removed from that Authority for failing to pander to their every whim with regards Autospect (SL) Limited. That is why the Government should intervene now to stop insiders from discussing the private affairs of the Authority in public thereby embarrassing the Government.

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24 May 2022

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Save the Children Sierra Leone is reported to have been engaging some Members of Parliament and Traditional Leaders on how to tackle early marriage after it has been realized in Sierra Leone and across the African continent that teenage pregnancy isone of the serious problems affecting the development of young girls.

Nonetheless, I want to completely disagree with the statement of the Chairperson of the Gender and Children’s Affairs Committee in Parliament, Hon. Catherine Zainab Tarawally that “90% of girls in secondary school have given birth because of poor parental care,” as reported in the Monday 23rd May, 2022 edition of Awoko newspaper. Such erroneous assumption is unacceptable and untenable given the enormous progress being made by Sierra Leone in the education of girls.
My question to Hon. Catherine Zainab Tarawally is that if 90% of girls in secondary school have given birth because of poor parental care, why do we currently have more girls than boys in basic education? Or is she insinuating that 90% of the parents of school girls do not take better care of their children that often results to them giving birth in school?

In other words, Hon. Catherine Z. Tarawally is assuming that only 10% of girls in secondary school have not given birth because of good parental care. This is an erroneous assumption because since the Bio administration introduced the Free Quality School Education (FQSE) in 2019 as its flagship programme, enormous progress is being made by Sierra Leone in the field of education and the education of girls. For example, at the begging of the 2021/22 school year, the Minister of Basic and Senior School Education, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh stated emphatically that more girls are now enrolled than boys in basic education. This was recently amplified by the Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, who represented His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio at a recent international conference in Freetown, when he spoke highly about the enormous progress being made by Sierra Leone in the field of education and the education of girls.

The conference attracted participants from several countries around the world and its main theme was ‘gender equality through education’, hence one of the reasons Sierra Leone was chosen as host. Vice President Juldeh Jalloh disclosed at the conference that Sierra Leone has employed 8,000 more female teachers with more girls than boys in basic education. While such progress is being made under the New Generation Government, Hon. Catherine Tarawally is giving the world the wrong impression that 90% of secondary school girls have given birth because of poor parental care. For goodness sake, how come did this Honourable Member of Parliament arrive at such unbelievable percentage of girls giving birth in school? If that is the case, then our school girls would be procreating tens of thousands of children per every school year which is very impossible.

Verily, our Honourable Members of Parliament deserve serious respect as our representatives in that august body. As our representatives, we do rely on them for vital information about governance and the State. We don’t expect them to misinform us about what we are supposed to know and disseminate to the public; instead, we expect them to do thorough research on national issues they want to address through debates, discussions, discourse, seminars and other engagements so that the people would be well informed on them. But cooking up figures like what Hon. Catherine Tarawally did will give the impression that some of our lawmakers do not do research on what they actually want to tell the public. I will therefore advise that anytime Hon. Catherine Tarawally wants to address any pertinent issue of national interest, she must ensure that she is well informed on that issue through research before she addresses it.

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27 April 2023

The Security Sector last Wednesday called a press conference and invited all political party leaders, moral guarantors, traditional and religious leaders, media houses, women’s forum, peace networks, teachers, parents, guardians, young groups, civil society organizations and members of the international community. The purpose of the news conference was to underscore the need for nonviolence elections and support efforts geared towards making Sierra Leone stable and peaceful.

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17 May 2022

By Charlie J. Hughes

When Sierra Leoneans go the polls in June 2023 it will be the country’s fifth routine multiparty elections since 2002. Sierra Leone has achieved a great feat that would be the envy of most countries on the continent. While arguments can always be made about the quality of governance in any country, Sierra Leoneans still put their trust in multiparty politics (see Afrobarometer survey). Sierra Leoneans’ trust in multiparty politics however, should not disguise our unease with certain failures of electoral politics over the years. While every election since 2002 has been declared free and fair, they have been accompanied by circumstances of uncivil politics, mobilization of hate constituencies, and sporadic violence.

The upcoming 2023 general elections should provide us an opportunity to re-set electoral politics; with a fundamental purpose to minimise the utility of rancor, hate, and violence.

The opportunity for re-set of electoral politics lies in the parliamentary representation system that we opt for in 2023. All over the world countries do electoral engineering from time to time to respond to changed or emerging contexts. After four multiparty general elections in Sierra Leone, the evidence is abundant that single-member constituency representation is fraught with discomforts at several levels.

While other issues including high levels of illiteracy and poverty remain at play, it is also a fact that the challenges of uncivil politics in Sierra Leone are significantly hinged on thesingle-member constituency system. First, single-member constituency is immanently prone to the utility of rancor, divisivenessand hate constituencies.

In contradistinction to single-member constituency system, multi-member representation systems including Proportional Representation, dissuades rancor significantly in one critical way. The fact that everybody will be represented under their preferred party means there is no question of winning at all cost for anybody; a key driver of violence,rancor and divisiveness. Everybody wins irrespective of any imbalance in the proportion of representation of the different
parties.

Single-member constituency representation often warrants expensive campaigns by contestants.Some would cynically suggest that money does not guarantee success at the polls for those seeking parliamentary seats.

While this may be true, the abundance of experience points to the fact that a vast majority of candidates decry the cost of their elections campaigns. Proportional Representation does not bring huge campaign costs to bear on individual candidates. The high costs of single-member constituency elections also extend to the state. Take the case where at least a dozen bye-elections have been held in Sierra Leone since 2018; and the associated costs that the Electoral Commission and Law Enforcement agencies have borne. It runs into billions of Leones. An appropriately devised Proportional Representation system dispenses withbye-elections and the associated costs.

Single-member constituency representation is grossly inefficient in broadening representation across a constituency.Around the world representation democracy has been a default resort in the circumstances today where it is impossible to have every adult man and woman sit at the table to discuss public interest matters. The aspiration however, remains that as far as possible every citizen gets represented at the table where public interest matters are discussed.

Single-member constituency representation has serious limitations in broadening representationin this regard. Take the case where in a straight two-party contest,one person wins 51% of the votes and takes the parliamentary seat; leaving 49% unrepresented under their preferred party. A Proportional Representation system would ensure that both the ‘small majority’ and the ‘huge minority’ are represented in Parliament.

In the circumstances of other binding constraints, the single-member constituency representation is grossly inefficient in promoting women’s representation in Parliament. For instance, although the policy frameworks now exist for promoting women’s presence in elective office in the country, the single-member constituency system is going to remain unhelpful. Proportional representation on the other hand can easily accommodate our aspirations for increased representation of women in Parliament.

I am not oblivious of the difficulty of promoting consensus uptake of country-serving policy solutions in Sierra Leone today. While the ruling party has shown little interest in seeking or co-creating prior-legitimation of political decisions, the opposition has recklessly reduced its role to making sure that nothing works. Sadly, even civil society organisations, some intellectuals, and many ordinary citizensare now willfully stalled in this binary. It should be pointed out however, that any political stance won by the ruling government or opposition parties on the strength of disruption, force and disregard for prior-secured legitimacy is temporal and a recipe for discontent. Where the country chooses to go with Proportional Representation the first win for all Sierra Leoneans will be the annulment of the rancorand rudeness that await us around constituency boundaries delineation for the 2023 elections.

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13 January 2023

The 21-Man Interim Transitional Governance Committee (ITGC) may on behalf of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) face the High Court presided by Justice Adrian Fisher to request for an extension of the timeline for the conduct and completion of the party’s lower level elections ahead of the 24th June, 2023 multitier elections.

According to the Chairman of the 25-Man Transitional Independent Elections Management Committee (TIEMC), Lawyer Ibrahim Sorie, the APC was given 45 days by the court to conduct all lower level elections nationwide within the allotted timeline with eight more days to go.
Given the current brouhahas over the ongoing conduct of the lower level elections across the country, it would be extremely difficult for the APC to complete the conduct of the lower level elections against the stipulated timeframe. It is against this backdrop that the 21-Man ITGC are going back to court to seek for an extension of time in order not to breach the court order.

Though the main opposition APC is being torn apart by internecine warfare with spate of violence, intimidation, inflammatory remarks in the traditional and social media, court cases, dissenting views on pertinent national issues in Parliament and other vices, the court must see reason for the extension of time to enable the party to complete the conduct of its lower level elections and the National Delegates’ Conference (NDC) in order to create a level playing field for the conduct of the 24th June multitier elections. If we are talking about democracy, free, fair, transparent and credible national elections, we believe the APC should be given more time to complete the conduct of its lower level elections and the NDC to choose its presidential candidate.

Some unscrupulous APC youths have already started blaming His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio for craftily putting the strings behind the scene to dismantle APC thereby undermining democracy in the country. This could be a figment of their imagination but for the sake of democracy, peace and stability of the country, the court should extend the timeline for the APC lower level elections and the NDC so that they would not blame their numerous internal problems or shortcomings on the President or the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Government.

The delays in the conduct of the lower level elections will definitely prevent the APC from meeting the deadlines of the court, the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). But whatever the case with the delays in the lower level elections and the NDC, the Government should allow the APC to fully participate in the 24th June multitier elections as their non-participation could be translated into perceived marginalization and violence with grave consequences for the country.

The 21-Man Interim Transitional Governance Committee (ITGC) may on behalf of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) face the High Court presided by Justice Adrian Fisher to request for an extension of the timeline for the conduct and completion of the party’s lower level elections ahead of the 24th June, 2023 multitier elections.
According to the Chairman of the 25-Man Transitional Independent Elections Management Committee (TIEMC), Lawyer Ibrahim Sorie, the APC was given 45 days by the court to conduct all lower level elections nationwide within the allotted timeline with eight more days to go.
Given the current brouhahas over the ongoing conduct of the lower level elections across the country, it would be extremely difficult for the APC to complete the conduct of the lower level elections against the stipulated timeframe. It is against this backdrop that the 21-Man ITGC are going back to court to seek for an extension of time in order not to breach the court order.
Though the main opposition APC is being torn apart by internecine warfare with spate of violence, intimidation, inflammatory remarks in the traditional and social media, court cases, dissenting views on pertinent national issues in Parliament and other vices, the court must see reason for the extension of time to enable the party to complete the conduct of its lower level elections and the National Delegates’ Conference (NDC) in order to create a level playing field for the conduct of the 24th June multitier elections. If we are talking about democracy, free, fair, transparent and credible national elections, we believe the APC should be given more time to complete the conduct of its lower level elections and the NDC to choose its presidential candidate.
Some unscrupulous APC youths have already started blaming His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio for craftily putting the strings behind the scene to dismantle APC thereby undermining democracy in the country. This could be a figment of their imagination but for the sake of democracy, peace and stability of the country, the court should extend the timeline for the APC lower level elections and the NDC so that they would not blame their numerous internal problems or shortcomings on the President or the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Government.
The delays in the conduct of the lower level elections will definitely prevent the APC from meeting the deadlines of the court, the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). But whatever the case with the delays in the lower level elections and the NDC, the Government should allow the APC to fully participate in the 24th June multitier elections as their non-participation could be translated into perceived marginalization and violence with grave consequences for the country.

Details

26 January 2020

Under the dynamic astute leadership of President Bio and his no-nonsense Anti Corruption Commission commissioner, Sierra Leone is breaking records in the fight against corruption which the president and on assuming office in April 2018 described as single most destructive enemy of economic growth and development in the country.

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04 August 2022

HOW SINCERE ARE OUR HEALTH WORKERS?

Following an ultimatum by the Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) and other allied health professional associations to down tools for the recent reduction of monthly take-home salary and the weekly 45 litres of fuel, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has made tremendous efforts to not only pacify the irate health workers but to also ensure that the issues they raised are addressed.

Though the GoSL has through the Ministry of Finance responded realistically to the issues raised by health workers through the approval of the reinstatement of COVID-19 allowances and the weekly fuel allocation of 45 litres to eligible health workers, SLMDA is still adamant about accepting Government’s offers.

According to SLMDA’s disclaimer, “However, the SLMDA Executives and the executive of other allied health professionals (nurses and pharmacists) were summoned to an emergency meeting on the 28/07/22 by the Honourable Minister of Health and Sanitation. In this meeting, a document from the Ministry of Finance (signed by the Financial Secretary) was presented to the various representatives of the different associations.” It furthered that the correspondent presented via Ministry of Finance did not adequately address their concerns as stated in their previous press release.

They advanced that there are several lacunae/gaps with ambiguities for so many unanswered questions and concerns which they are pondering about going forward. Though the health workers have the right to demand for what they believe they truly deserve, their ultimatum for Government to meet their demands in twenty-one days came at a time when the country, like many other developing and advanced countries in the world, is going through some dire economic consequences caused by the external shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war on Ukraine. While the Government has agreed to reinstate the COVID-19 allowances in the form of salaries starting September this year, as well as agreeing to give eligible health workers the 45 litres of fuel per week by chits and not in the form of salaries due to proper accountability. The health workers are now demanding money instead of the fuel chits. This is where lies the political undertone in the skewed attempt by the health workers, notably the SLMDA members, in rendering the Government impotent in controlling the health sector. Why would these doctors ask for money instead of the fuel chits when all eligible civil servants entitled to fuel chits had never done such a thing?

It seems that these monetized doctors who are very insensitive to the economic challenges Government is grappling with are intent on undermining the gains made by the Government and its development partners in the health sector because of political reasons. Such ugly development comes at a time when Government has commenced the mobile clinic operations across the country to treat vulnerable communities.

Prior to SLMDA’s ultimatum to Government, the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) had also asked for salary increment and threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if their concerns were not looked into by the Government. The Government also did what it can to settle their impasse with the union. With such ugly development happening at this time of dire economic condition, who knows when another union or association will suddenly come up with its own demand for Government to address?

If the 45 litres of fuel per week which the SLMDA demanded from Government has been approved, why should they ask for money instead of what they had originally asked for? This is complete insincerity that is only typical of unpatriotic, monetized Sierra Leoneans who only care about lining their pockets rather than serving humanity and their country. But the day of reckoning will come.

Details

24 July 2019

The attitude of Sierra Leoneans generally to wish bad to happen to others made a disgusted late president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah as he was fighting tooth and nail to make peace with Foday Sankoh’s RUF rebels, whilst some in his government sought behind his back to derail the process made him remark that “Salone man get bad hart”.