Dear William,
Wan seke yo!
Yes, the APC has a long history going back to the period which has been the source of personal grief to many people including you, a period from which you have lifted some of your acute examples. But let us turn our attention to the APC of the latest dispensation (the new APC) and note first of all that since he has been in office (2007) to date President Ernest Bai Koroma has not hanged or killed anybody.
During this period much has been accomplished such as the free healthcare policy which you must admit is a sound basis for APC popularity among all those in every part of the country, directly affected by such a policy. You are also aware of great improvements in the country's infrastructure through the road construction projects providing macadamised roads all over Sierra Leone and not only to the hinterland of Temne-land. Of course much remains to be done during the rest of President Koroma's second term, especially in the education sector.
The indefatigable Rev Wilfred Leeroy Kabs Kanu is not merely "owner and Editor of the online Cockorioko newspaper" - he is indeed Sierra Leone's Minister Plenipotentiary Coordinator of the Committee of 10 (C-10) and Head of the Department of Information and Public Affairs . "In his new capacity as Minister Plenipotentiary, Rev. Kabs-Kanu is supposed to deal with Press and Public Affairs, Commerce, Tourism and the Rebranding of Sierra Leone, a new government initiative designed to change the international perception and image of Sierra Leone. He will also internationally publicize President Koroma's other initiatives: The Diaspora, The Open Government and Attitudinal Change programs." (Awareness Times)
As Jesus is reported to have asked the opposition, "For which of my good works do you now want to stone me?" Not that I am about to elevate President Ernest Bai Koroma, leader of the APC (and a Christian gentleman) or indeed President Muhammadu Buhari the leader of Nigeria's APC to the status of Jesus of Nazareth. From the very beginning, the latter categorically rejected any such claims or aspirations or expectations from his disciples when he told Nigerians, "don't expect any miracles!"
You know the Motto of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, "The impossible we do immediately, miracles take a little longer", yet you have come out here, spitting fire. I should like to appeal to you not to be too hard on today's APC or the Rev Wilfred Leeroy Kabs Kanu the Hon. Servant either. He is only human and as you can see, he is doing his duty, serving Sierra Leone to the best of his ability
Sincerely,
Cornelius.
On Tuesday, 17 November 2015 21:01:17 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:
Kabs Kanu, owner and Editor of the online Cockorioko newspaper opined that the All People's Congress (APC) is "unconqurable" and their 'politics is made of, winning hearts, NOT SCORN'; why did they unconstitutionally ban the United Democratic Party (UDP) in 1970? Were the APC petrified of the UDP?
He also pontificated that the "APC remain on top by addressing the welfare of our people". What welfare did the APC address? Stevens made a mockery of education, "Den say Bailor Barrie, you say Davidson Nicol." He debunked the philosophy that "Learning was better than silver and gold."
When the people of the capital, Freetown were stampeding to purchase cups of rice that should have been given to them rather than be sold he ridiculed them with such crass statement, "Bo nar toe line a" (You have to jostle to purchase your staple food). Stevens appropriated the revenues from the sale of the rice.
"THEY understand politics better than the SLPP and the PMDC or what-have-you?" Didn't the SLPP win the 1996 and the 2002 General Elections?
"With Guinea's President Lansana Conte offering to help an APC counter-attack …": It was due to Guinea's President Lansana Conte's suggestion to support an APC counter-attack that led to the execution of Bambay Kamara (Stevens' Himmler) and 28 others.
Kanu also romanticized about the APC's 24 years of thievery, tyranny, maladministration and disillusionment. But Claire Short as Minister of the Department for International Development had a different conclusion of Stevens and Momoh's administrations from April 28, 1968 until April 29, 1992. Stevens and Momoh's APC did not allow a viable opposition with their one-party nonsense.
"When you are weaker, never fight for honor's sake; Choose surrender itself…Surrender gives you time to recover": APC's weaknesses can be attributed to their ideologies and policies which is demonstrated by President Koroma's intention to violate the constitution and run for a third term.
I "comprehend" Kanu's fascination with Sam Metzger because he is ignorant of the traitor. Metzger was not only the Editor of the Daily Mail, but also a supporter of Prime Minister Sir Albert Margai and his Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP)--1964 to March 1967--thievery, regional and tribal administration. Stevens knew that Sierra Leoneans such as Metzger were gullible and to quote Don Corleone in the Godfather, the former made the latter, "An offer he could not refuse." Metzger wanted to maintain his bourgeoisie status and consequently, he was not a true revolutionary. He lived in my neighborhood (at the intersection of Berwick Street and Priscilla Street).
I cannot comprehend Kanu's fascination with Stevens' collaborators such as Jusuf Sheriff, M.S. Mustapha, Dr. Joe Jackson and Michael Abdulla. As with Metzger they also wanted to sustain their "grandee prestige"
Kanu is either suffering from selective amnesia or has no clue about the intricacies of the "1977 No college, no school" demonstrations. Stevens as conceited as he was never thought that us--the students--(I was at the Prince of Wales School, Kingtom) would have the courage to demonstrate against him given the fact that he controlled all the levers of power. He had convened a meeting of his ministers and security forces when we (the students) made our way to the State House to dethrone him. Stevens and his APC were devastated by that demonstration.
But the gravest error of the "leaders" of the students' protest was that they never had any ears in Stevens' residence at Kingharman Road. Also, he had terrified the army and consequently, there were no radicals who could orchestrate a coup.
For three days Stevens lost all his powers of superiority and invincibility. He wanted to see no visitors who could advise him on how to manage the situation. All he did was getting drunk, eat and barely slept. He was haggard.
It was S.A.J. Pratt's persistence at the end of the third day that would change his fortunes. S.A.J. as he was popularly known told Stevens that he (Stevens) could execute the leaders of the students' demonstrations because it was his "right" in 'his' Republican constitution--S.A.J. had exclusively composed-- as an Executive President, who was above the laws and constitution of the country. Stevens demanded that Pratt repeat his statements and he did. Pratt had roused the devil from his slumber.
Stevens who went to work at his leisure, and mostly spent at six hours at work, was at State House (the office of the President) at seven that morning. He had scheduled a meeting with the "leaders" of the demonstration at nine in the morning.
Stevens informed the late Hindolo Trye, the leader of the protest that he could kill his entourage and him, because there was no one who could question him, because those rights were guaranteed in the Republican constitution.
"That is another tactic of the APC. They win over the opponents. They turn the other cheek and maintain control." I love it when the APC rewrites history. When the Taqi brothers (M.O. Bash-Taqi and Ibrahim Taqi) and Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna resigned from Stevens' APC in September 1970 they were arrested and jailed--and were not charged--at the infamous Pademba Road prisons until 1973. In June 1974 Dr. Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Brigadier David Lansana (the first indigenous Force Commander of the Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces), Paramount Chief Bai Mkari N'Silk, Lieutenant Habib Lansana Kamara and others were charged for a bogus coup.
That Treason Trial was dubbed "The Trial of Mohamed Sorie Forna and 14 others."
Kabs neither addressed the issues of why the APC never defeated the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, and why they (APC) were later overthrown by junior officers who established the NPRC junta.
"When the APC decides to fight, it defeats the enemy so completely and comprehensively that the enemy is rendered powerless and hopeless for long. That is strength and power in action." I blame my Temne/Themne people for this "karbaneh" (snootiness) from the APC. When the Temnes/Themnes voted overwhelmingly for the APC they won the 2007 and 2012 General Elections. In President Koroma's initial administration there were two Temne/Themne senior ministers Zainab Bangura--no relation--as Foreign Minister, and my late uncle Abdul Serry-Kamal as Attorney General. Bangura was demoted to the ministry of Health and Serry-Kamal was fired by Koroma.
Kanu "revered" S.I. Koroma who subjugated the weak. The SLPP that participated in the 1973 and 1977 General Elections were pathetically feeble.
The APC with the exception of the 2012 General Elections had never won free and fair elections. They stole the much vaunted March 1967 General Elections especially in the Western Area and the Northern Provinces. Most of the ballot boxes were stuffed because majority of the Electoral Commissioners and the Presiding Officers in these regions were very sympathetic--to put it mildly-- to the 1967 APC.
If Kabs party, "The APC is a political party that knows its stuff and will always remain on top because it understands politics better than its opponents", and is very shrewd why didn't they win the 1996 and 2002 elections?
It was the political idiocy of Sir Albert Margai's governance that enabled the APC to win the 1967 elections. After the death of Sir Milton Margai, he outfoxed that feckless Dr. John Karefa-Smart who should have been the successor. As Prime Minister, Margai wanted to subjugate the Temnes/Themnes who can never be suppressed.
He refused the advice of the last colonial Force Commander of the Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces, Brigadier Blackie who had recommended that Lt. Col John Amadu Bangura succeed him as the first indigenous head of the Army.
Margai also prosecuted Alhaji Gibril Sesay--who was very revered in the Temne community in Freetown--for corruption because the latter had sold excess building materials to pay the salaries of the teachers at the Muslim Brotherhood Secondary School. He also fired Yankay Sesay the only Loko in Sir Milton Margai's cabinet.
He investigated the governance of Paramount Chief Bai Farma Tass II--my great uncle--who was the founder of the SLPP, because he had casted the deciding vote for Margai's older brother Sir Milton Margai to be leader of the party.
These decisions compelled the Temne/Themnes to vote overwhelming for the APC in the 1967 General Elections.William Bangura
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