A mass murderer’s quest to become president – Julius Maada Bio should be put on trial for crimes against the people of Sierra Leone

Julius Maada Bio - Should be put on trial

Some people do have the audacity to challenge the resolve of a nation. Julius Maada Bio must believe deep within himself that the Sierra Leonean people are daft and can be taken for granted. This daring former junior army officer, who connived with others to overthrow a legitimate and democratically elected government, is seriously nursing the pathetic ambition to become head of state in a country where he was part of a regime that perpetrated the worst atrocities on innocent men and women our country has ever witnessed from those it expects to protect them. It is indeed laughable that a man with the track record of Bio, will ever contemplate holding power again in Sierra Leone.

Despite the extraordinary efforts in attempting to re-invent himself, Maada Bio understands he has to take responsibility of the heinous crimes him and his junta colleagues presided over. The question should not even be whether Maada Bio should run for political office; rather, it should be how soon he can be arrested and handed over to the ICC to answer to charges of crimes against humanity. Those who conducted the elections and voted for Maada Bio in the last opposition SLPP convention, should be ashamed of themselves and hang their heads in disgrace, as their actions were a mockery of what our country truly stands for: Justice. Voting without a conscience as some in the SLPP did, is clearly reflective of what has become of our country’s oldest political party. Reports of delegates selling their votes for a few hundred bucks tells a sad story of a party in total breakdown with no principle and no substance.

The SLPP has also shown that it knows no better when it comes to managing its own affairs. You simply cannot govern a few million people when what you preside over is in total disarray. They have not demonstrated leadership by example. With the SLPP, there is a carefree approach to politics right at the heart of their administrative machinery. The leadership structure has been marred by scandal after scandal, and the serious divisions of tribal and ethnic disparities have reduced a once credible political union to shambles. There is no shame in how business is conducted within the SLPP. When a party can decide that out of all the competent and honourable aspirants who threw their hats in to become flag-bearer, to choose a mass murderer as their candidate for the next election, it is a clear demonstration that they have no respect for the electorate, no regard for the hundreds of families whose loved ones were slaughtered at the hands of the NPRC thugs, a class of barbaric individuals and brutes that the face of  Maada Bio truly represents.

The innocent blood of those who were mercilessly executed in such horrible fashion, with no trial and access to justice, will forever haunt those who cast their votes to secure Maada Bio the candidacy of the SLPP. Maada Bio is not only a murderer, he is a thief who as head of state, along with others, looted our country’s coffers with no remorse or sympathy for the suffering masses. After leaving office, he used money meant for the welfare of our people to buy mansions in the U.S. and elsewhere that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; money he did not earn, but was stolen without a moment of hesitation. How can someone like this be given another chance to assume the leadership of our country?

As a country, we should not put our state in a position were our relatively new democratic experience is traded for barracks-oriented politics. Our country is experiencing a new beginning. One that has ushered in desperately needed change that  addresses the ills of our societies which has in the past threatened our progress and future as a nation. What is at stake here is the building blocks of democracy and infrastructural development good governance, accountability and transparency along with a determined anti-corruption agenda that is being implemented across Sierra Leone by no other person than President Ernest Bai Koroma, the leader and Chairman of the APC party. There will be no turning back to the days, when medical doctors, civil servants and many distinguished men and women were undressed and lashed by vindictive NPRC men at a time when Maada Bio was part and parcel of the leadership of that illegitimate regime. Maada Bio’s election must enable a sombre reflection of our recent brutal history: the  massacre of eminent Sierra Leoneans including former Inspector General of police, Bambay Kamara, army officers Col. Jalloh and Kawuta Dumbuya; and a host of others and of course not forgetting Salami Coker.

The SLPP has embarrassed our country once more to the international community. With all the pain we had to endure as a nation under their leadership when we were in constant blackouts, no free health care, no efficient road networks; a free for all government administration; badly managed contracts that left donor funded projects in stagnation; and corrupt politicians looting our country’s resources as if it was their personal bank accounts; the SLPP once more has redesigned its destructive agenda, albeit this time in the form of a fake Brigadier who is no doubt a thief and human rights abuser, posing as a gentleman with a different kind of camouflaged attire that has the blood stains of those who were mercilessly killed at their hands all over, and an unfinished agenda!

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