ISLPP IS A VIOLENT & UNDEMOCRATIC PARTY FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL
By Charles Lagao
The SLPP Eastern Regional Chairman Hon Philip Tetema Tondoneh has said on both radio and TV that the SLPP is the most peaceful political party in Sierra Leone. He made this remark during interviews on both the Good Morning programme on 98.1 FM and the Podium on SLBC respectively.
Interestingly, he also declared his support for Maada Bio against the other aspirants, claiming that his candidate is the most popular among SLPP supporters across the country. But what Tondoneh failed to realise is that if the SLPP is the most peaceful party and the Pa O Pa camp to which he belongs is being frequently accused of violence and disrespect to party elders by party stalwarts, what is the Honourable saying then?
The former chairman and leader, John Benjamin, the current chairman Sumano Kapen, Kandeh Yumkella, John Karimu and many others have all tasted and testified that the Bio phenomenon is distastefully violent and disrespectful.
On the other hand, the Bio (the Pa O Pa) camp has accused the JOB camp aka Game Changer as the violent ones. Hon Tondoneh did not mince his words yesterday on 98.1FM that JOB took a gang of thugs to a meeting that was supposed to be quiet and peaceful because they were there to discuss and resolve party problems. But we all know what happened. A young man was murdered in cold blood by a bodyguard of Julius Maada Bio, although Bio claims he was, in fact, touring the northern province and therefore there was no way he could have known or participated in the act, which he himself openly condemned. Yet Tondoneh claims their party is the most peaceful in the political history of Sierra Leone.
There's this argument that because Sir Milton Margai had an intimate relationship with the British Colonial administration, he pursued similar policies as his Colonial masters.
According to renowned historians such as Oliver and Atmore, the policies practiced by the British Colonial Government were dastardly despotic and they were pursued for over 150 years. So Milton Margai pursued similar policies of oppression and repression of opposition views.
Christopher Allen argued in his work Sierra Leone Politics Since Independence; p.310, that the SLPP leadership (under Sir Milton Margai) were both impatient of opposition and used the Native authorities to eliminate all forms of opposition to their rule. To compel opposition MPs to cross, "they or their supporters could be jailed by Native Authority Courts and in other ways harassed by traditional authorities...Thus in Kono, the Sierra Leone Progressive Independent Movement (SLPIM) leader P. C. Tamba Mbriwa had been suspended when his party announced its alliance with the APC, and was then deposed and banished after the election." Furthermore, deliberate efforts were made by the SLPP to strangulate the newly formed APC which had broken away from the United National Front to serve as a formidable opposition to the SLPP-led coalition government. "Only in Bo could it campaign in the South, in the North, the traditional authorities and courts...were used extensively against it. Permission to open an office in...Makeni, was refused; prominent APC supporters in Bombali and Kambia were banished to the South; the APC MP for Kambia West was imprisoned by a native court; the office in Port Loko was closed soon after its opening, and the organizing secretary jailed." - C. Allen, Sierra Leone Politics Since Independence; p.310.
The creation of the United National Front was, in fact, meant to facilitate Dr Margai's desire to "effectively decapitate all organized opposition within the country, and thus ensured his own and his party continued dominance for some time to come." This policy of intolerance of opposition propagated by Milton Margai, especially when he adopted all forms of despotic strategies to stifle any form of organized opposition proved to be calamitous for the flourish of democracy in Sierra Leone after independence.
As for Sir Albert Margai and his reign of power at all costs, the little said about him, the better. One commentary noted that "To perenate his stay in power at all costs, Albert Margai unpatriotically, self-aggrandisingly and selfishly dispensed with the principles of democracy, and barely two months of his reign, pursued a policy of politicising the police and military." He was the first to attend the SLPP National Delegates Convention in the company of the Commissioner of Police, William Leigh and the Acting Force Commander, David Lansana. Dr. Gustav Deveneaux also once observed that "following Mr Albert Margai's ascendancy, successful attempts were made to convert the army into a partisan institution..." G. Deveneaux, Power Politics in Sierra Leone; p.35.
It was Albert Margai who passed the Public Order Act in October, 1965 to cow the opposition APC. He even jailed four APC MPs for a whole year thereby enabled the SLPP to reduce the Parliamentary representation of the APC. Albert Margai didn't stop there as he was very much unperturbed and unrelented. He prevailed on parliament in 1965 to review "its standing orders so that absence for more than thirty consecutive days of a session without reasonable excuse led to the loss of one's seat....since imprisonment was not a reasonable excuse, the four (MPs) lost their seats." Sir Albert even declared a state of emergency in some sections of the country on the eve of the general elections in 1967. Moreover, APC supporters in Moyamba were seriously beaten and arrested while others were expelled from the area or deprived of market stalls. Out of desperation, "SLPP supporters were urged to fire on APC vehicles." - C. Allen, Sierra Leone Politics Since Independence; p.318.
So, what does Hon Tondoneh mean when he's claiming the SLPP is peaceful and very democratic? From the very beginning the SLPP has always been violent and very undemocratic even under Sir Milton Margai who most claimed was a Democrat. He wasn't dear readers.
Watch out for part two...
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MAADA MUST GO!
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SLPP IS A VIOLENT & UNDEMOCRATIC PARTY FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL - Part 2
By Charles Lagao
From day one, the SLPP had displayed leadership deficiency in coping with democratic principles. They were only used to what the Colonial Government bequeathed to them; the politics of DOMINATION. The British dominated the political and socio-economic life of our people for over 150 years. The Governor, in political terms, was a virtual dictator in Sierra Leone. The Executive and Legislative Councils were until the dying moments of Colonial rule, crammed with British officials. As for Paramount chiefs, they were appointed, disciplined and deposed at will by the British. For instance, "some chiefs at Bandajuma were imprisoned for failing to pay their taxes and, one of them, Francis Fawundu was deposed." - W.S.M. Jones; Legal Development & Constitutional Change; p.123.
This is just a backdrop on where the SLPP inherited their intolerant and violent political character.
Coming back to the issue at hand, Sir Albert Margai, like I mentioned in part one of this piece, relied on traditional authorities, intimidation and fraud to win the 1967 general elections. He hated the APC so much so that it was under his rule a military vehicle was shot at because it had red markings which was accidentally the APC colour. Since they failed in their efforts to rig the elections due to divisions between them, Sir Albert Margai, Madam Ella Koblo Gulama and Brigadier David Lansana carefully and deliberately orchestrated the coup of 22nd March, 1967. - G. Deveneaux; Power Politics in Sierra Leone; p.52.
Granted the APC opposed the SLPP for toying with the idea of a single party state, which the former eventually introduced after eleven years when the proposals were first postulated by Albert Margai in 1967 But when the people finally decided at a referendum in 1978 to introduce a one-party state in the country, the SLPP didn't take things lying down, especially when all SLPP MPs save for one, joined the APC. "In 1982 the so-called Ndogboyosoi (bush devil) war erupted between the APC government and the SLPP in the south." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone_People's_Party
In addition, when the SLPP returned to prominence under the leadership of former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, it didn't take long for them to showcase their violent and undemocratic side once again. After the AFRC coup and the ensuing interregnum years (1997-1998/1999) that followed, the SLPP coordinated the large scale killing of innocent Sierra Leoneans on the streets of Freetown because they had no means to run away to neighbouring Guinea. People were slaughtered in cold blood in the name of "COLLABORATOR". Anyone who couldn't go to Guinea was a collaborator and therefore, according to some accounts, were to be treated like fouls/chickens. "Ar lek nar foul ar meet, ar go rule am," the late President Kabbah was once reported to have vowed.
When the opposition leader - Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC crisscrossed the country to campaign in 2006-2007, his convoy was violently attacked by SLPP members and supporters in both Kenema and Segbwema. Windshields were shattered and people wounded, although there were no fatalities. No reports were filed of similar incidents in the northern province.
As for intra-party violence, the SLPP is a mentor. The persistence of rivalry and conflicts between leading members of the SLPP have always remain. Intra-party rivalries have always escalated into wounding, mammy cussing and polemics. And with the arrival of the likes of JOB and Maada Bio on the scene, intra-party scandals and bickering have assumed a new meaning in Sierra Leone’s political history. Day in day out, there is some fighting either at the SLPP HQ at WALLACE Johnson Street or wherever they gather whether in Bo, Kenema or Kailahun. The party is fantastically lawless even when it comes to adhering to police rules and regulations to maintain public order.
JOB has accused Maada Bio of violence and thuggery and vice versa. Dr Bernadette Lahai has also accused Bio of thuggery and violence. Chief Sumano Kapen on the other hand, believes JOB is the violent person. So, no one should be surprised that the SLPP chickens are now coming home to roost. RIP Daddy George.
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