BY VIDAL BULTMAN
Coercive policies and actions have no place in Sierra Leone’s nascent democracy. Any elected and legitimate government that worth its salt should ensure the people are consulted and brought onboard before embarking on actions that touch their lives. And, the fact that from April, 2018, the ‘elected’ SLPP government of President Falstafian Brigadier Julius Maada Bio has not been able to win the support of the masses let alone the cooperation and goodwill of opposition parties, especially members of COPPP, because of the government’s policy of ‘Paopaism’ and ‘Juntarism’, makes the SLPP administration unfit for purpose.
A clean example of this failure is the fact that a so-called mid-term census of Bio did not get the endorsement of citizenry, neither the support of credible donor agencies and multi-lateral bodies like World Bank, nor the cooperation of compatriots in most communities of the country. Reports are that the pilot phase of the unconstitutional, unprecedented and unjustifiable mid-term Census was a mess; enumerators running away with tablets and refusing to venture into homes of many residents; coupled with the ulterior political motive of the project, will definitely makes the data non-credible and unfit for purpose! The bottom-line is, in modern day Sierra Leone, no political party, be it SLPP will be able to lord it over the people
