Outrage! as Opposition Appointed Civil Servants Sabotage the Economy of Sierra Leone

SLPP Chairman - John Oponjo Benjamin

It has come to the attention of this press, that civil servants appointed to key positions of authority and influence by the previous SLPP government in Sierra Leone, are alleged to have gone on the rampage to sabotage, destroy and ruin the economic framework that the President and government of Sierra Leone are instituting to return the country to a sound economic footing. If the allegations are true, then this is an economic crime against humanity. It is reported that these civil servants may have been directed by the opposition party’s machinery to unleash an agenda of sabotage to bring the economy of the country to a halt by failing to institute fiscal policies that will stimulate growth in the economy. And by diverting necessary funds meant for infrastructural development to their pocket, these civil servants are ill-bent on causing chaos and  tarnish the important work the present government led by Dr Ernest Bai Koroma is doing to salvage the opposition-battered economy presided over by former President Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah.

The people of Sierra Leone will not tolerate any sabotage of the already fragile economic situation the country is facing. The SLPP must be reminded that the Sierra Leonean people still have memories of the reckless way they handled the country’s economy and no amount of political gimmick will change that perception. When a civil servant does not consider the plight of the people and has not taken into consideration the important civil responsibilities that has been placed on his office, and embarks on a campaign to disrupt the government’s agenda to bring change, they are indeed culpable of the worst kind of crime against the people. Making attempts to portray the government’s weaknesses by engaging in criminal acts of economic squandering is in itself worrying to so many Sierra Leoneans who look up to civil servants as the custodians of administrative efficiency within the government structure.

This blatant move by the opposition must indeed be condemned. As many of us in the media have on several occasion called the government to account and are indeed prepared to expose corrupt acts by officials in positions of authority, we cannot just stand by and allow the opposition to terrorise the financial stability packages being put together by this government to safeguard the economic future of the country at the expense of the self-gratification of the opposition dominated civil service. The civil service must be purged of all who seek to destroy the country and the opposition must be investigated for this serious crime of economic and political manipulation of our resources. As a civil servant, one is responsible to the government in power irrespective of one’s political persuasion. That responsibility if not taken seriously can be considered an act of sabotage. The civil service is the people’s service. Civil servants are public servants of the people and are accountable to the people. Their performances, if executed with the public’s interest at heart, will ultimately lead to the administrative efficiency of the government.

Corruption poses a serious development challenge for Sierra Leone because it increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments to corrupt individuals. And the consumer ultimately pays the price as a result of high cost of goods and services. The management cost to businesses of negotiating with corrupt officials, and the risk of breached agreements undermines the effective management of the cost of living in a country. In Sierra Leone, you often see Civil Servants trading their influence over the decision process of approving a government contract .Kickback’s are often offered in corrupt bidding of government contracts to the decision maker (often a top Civil Servant) to obtain a favourable decision.

Civil servants have in the past been at the forefront of plundering the country’s resources because they control the machinery of how funds allocated to government ministries are disbursed. They often create networks to device plans to embezzle funds that is meant for the welfare of the masses. This is indeed an act of apathy, As every one penny stolen from the public purse is one service to the people rendered incapable. This mindless act of by some in the public’s trust have been responsible for the continued poverty-stricken environment that the present government is trying to address. This malaise in society must be tackled and brought to an end. It doesn’t matter how hard a government is trying to alleviate poverty in a country, if determined civil servants are bent on causing havoc, it will undermine the success of any administration. It is true that the government itself  has serious questions to answer, but when the opposition that is meant to bring the government to account do not have any credibility and has corrupt elements within its own makeup, then how can this be achieved?

The opposition has proved that it is incapable of assuming authority in Sierra Leone. Instead of coming up with alternative policies that will demonstrate their ability to run a government and challenge existing policies, it seems they are engaged in innuendoes and media campaign through reckless newspaper editors to damage the Presidency. No one is claiming that the present government is perfect, but when a deliberate attempt is made to attack the President’s personal life for political gain, it sure does call into question the political makeup of those that run the opposition. In fact there doesn’t seem to be a clear leadership framework within the so called opposition party. What you have is a loose arrangement of corrupt individuals who have presided over the most extensive exploitation of the country’s resources.  If the record of the previous government is anything to go by, then the country can surely not hold its breath for an SLPP-run government again.

Some of Sierra Leone’s finest military officers were executed in cold blood by President Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah in the previous SLPP government. Their only crime? They did not accompany him to Guinea when soldiers overthrew his government in a coup d’état. On returning from Guinea after ECOMOG helped restore his government, Tejan-Kabbah ordered the arrest and detention of all whom he thought were not loyal to him and without a single evidence of complicity in the coup, he ordered the execution and continued detention of some of the most gallant men and women of the country’s military. In fact for him to be restored back into power, he ordered ECOMOG fighter jets to bomb Freetown, the capital, at random, without any regard for human life, in his quest to get the rid of rebels in the city and regain power. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed and homes destroyed. This is indeed a crime against humanity. And for this reason alone, I detest any attempt by international organisations like the U.N. or A.U.  to employ the services of this brutal dictator in any mediation efforts across the continent. Tejan Kabbah is not worthy of holding any public office anywhere in the world. Even prior to his election victory there were reports of him being convicted of corruption when he worked as a civil servant in the Siaka Stevens administration.

As a matter of fact, John Oponjo Benjamin, the current Chairman of the SLPP knows full well that his hands are not clean, as knowledge of his rampant corrupt activities when he was finance minister, is all in the public domain. And for someone with such a blatant record of corruption at the highest level to be pointing fingers at the presidency is not only laughable but disgraceful. For the SLPP to be in a position to call the government into account they not only have to re-define their manifestoes, but they may also have to get rid of the present line-up of the most disgruntled group of embezzlers ever put together with intent to run a government. The PMDC should have been a viable alternative to the SLPP, but it seems they have lost any sense of orientation and have been torn between their alliance with the party in power and their strong political roots with the SLPP. This lack of true identity places a serious question of any political aspirations they may have to position themselves as a credible opposition party.

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© 2010, Ahmed M Kamara. All rights reserved.

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Tags:  Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, APC, John Oponjo Benjamin, President Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone, SLPP

By Ahmed M Kamara