THE WORST GOV’T IN LIVING MEMORY”
…Samura Kamara undresses SLPP Gov’t
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
The presidential candidate of the All Peoples Congress (APC) party at the 2018 General Elections, Dr Samura Mathieu Wilson Kamara, has come to the open and vehemently undressed the Julius Maada Bio SLPP Government for all to see its ineptitude.
In a New Year’s address to Sierra Leoneans on 1st January, 2022, he titled “Message of Introspection for Transformative Change in Sierra Leone,” Dr Kamara said it’s time for introspection, reflecting, planning and identifying the lapses the country has incurred to make amends, as well as, pray for better results as we progress into the future.
He described the new year, 2022, as one to celebrate the beginning of the end of arguably, a regime he dubbed as “most extraordinary, challenging, unprecedented, and repelled” in the living memory of Sierra Leone.
He further reproached the Bio Paopa Government for what he referred to as “conscious policies of generating tribal and regional divide,” and lambasted same as one that is anchored on persistent hate, blame and vengeance, political intimidation, arrests, incarcerations and harassment of opposition members, as well as, deepening state capture of both public institutions and strategic business enterprises, human rights and constitutional violations.
He further unveiled the Paopa Government as one of overzealous Police brutality often meted against peaceful demonstrators in the face of untold hardship and deteriorating social and economic conditions being wreaked in the country.
Dr Samura Kamara lost the 2018 presidential elections to Dr Julius Maada Bio, but he said that almost four years down the line the New Direction aka Paopa Government has left the country to painfully witness unbearable suffering from the effects of a complete reversal of the bold and envied achievements the country had made in the 15-year post-conflict era.
According to him, during the said 15-year of reconstruction period Sierra Leone reflected on the perceived root causes of the devastating civil conflict, noting that assiduous work was focused on peace building and peace consolidation, national cohesion, the re-establishment of local government, guarantee of civic rights, authority and supremacy in public governance.
He furthered that work was also directed towards increased access to improved delivery of basic services, such as healthcare, education, water and sanitation, including inclusive economic growth and participatory governance, youth development and women empowerment, political and religious tolerance and open government, media freedom and mutual respect between government and the people, greater accessibility to predictable and stable electricity and turning the entire country into an extremely busy works yard with many kilometres of quality highways as well as city, town and rural road networks constructed.
The APC top notch affirmed that in the 15 years of post-conflict reconstruction and nation rebuilding, especially in the last ten years of APC rule, war-torn Sierra Leone made a solid footing on the path from war to peace, democracy and socio-economic recovery.
But Dr Samura Kamara noted, however, that due to the Paopa Government’s poor administration over the past 3-4 years, the country has sadly witnessed what he called “deliberate and systematic deterioration and the re-birth” of the major factors that were blamed for the country’s 11-year civil strife, stressing that the conduct of the Paopa SLPP Government in its existence is nothing but an intensification of these odds.
Dr Kamara, who reaffirmed his presidential bid ahead of 2023, said that ensuring peace, security and national cohesion is the bedrock of sustainable development thus, allowing institutions to work independently, encouraging inclusive governance, freedom of speech and expression, Parliament and the people being able to hold the Executive accountable, and creating the right environment for productive investments, trade and business enterprises.
Acknowledging the socio-economic impact and multiplier effects of affirmative action on gender and youth empowerment and of positive responses to climate change, the APC presidential hopeful said all these are key development areas that can contribute immensely to the socio-economic well-being of the nation.
But he critiqued that the improperly and unconstitutionally suspension of the Auditor General with a high national and international repute, to attempting to run away with a Mid-Term Population and Household Census which makes no sense and which even some of the staunchest of the nation’s development partners, as well as vibrant and people-centred civil society organisations and the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties in the country had course to challenge its unprecedented occurrence, its technical inadequacies, and suspected political abuses, infractions and infringement of rights, only reinforce that the Maada Bio paopa government is past praying for, and has no listening ears or respect for voice, legitimacy and relevance of its people and development partners.
He alerted Sierra Leoneans that 2022 is a defining year for the country’s democratic process, stating that the forthcoming Local Council this year, and the subsequent 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections will put the country on the world electoral barometer once again, and admonished all and sundry to be part of the electoral process, assuring that with him becoming the presidential candidate of the APC everyone’s vote will be protected.