According to Tv News 24,In every democratic nation, it is expected that power should change hands from one leadership to another via the decision of the electorates. It is also worth noting that when a new government comes to power, it unavoidably inherits the assets, liabilities and protracted problems of the previous regime.

Considering the aforementioned, one thing that many patriots and governance specialists have been finding very funny and illogical is how the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) keeps taking credit for every major development under the President Julius Maada Bio dispensation.

As a propaganda mechanism, the APC has been claiming that most of the development activities taking place in the Bio dispensation were initiated by them either through securing donor support, budget allocation or commencing the said projects. They will always say all the works done within the eleven-year rule of ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma. As far as the APC is concerned, President Bio’s government should not take credit for any recently completed or ongoing development in all sectors.

Many analysts have described the propaganda move by the main opposition as childish and laughable. The justifications for the President Julius Maada Bio led government taking credit for all developments under his leadership are obvious and rooted in common sense and logic.

Let’s go a little bit into recent history. Immediate former President Ernest Bai Koroma, who governed from November 2007 to March 2018, succeeded ex-President Ahmad Tejan Kabba of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP). Tejan Kabba led Sierra Leone from 1996 to 2007 when he democratically and peacefully handed power to Ernest Koroma and retired from active politics. What a true stateman!

Now, the first question the APC need to ask themselves is, did Pa Kabba (as he was fondly called) directly or indirectly say or do anything tantamount to taking credit for all the much trumpeted “developments” under the APC government? The answer is a resounding no. Who does not know that most of the developments the APC bragged about were initiated and started by the then Pa Kabba government? Everyone who has been following Sierra Leone’s politics for the last two decades knows that very well.

Even though the SLPP Pa Kabba government secured the funding and began most of the finished and unfished projects of APC Ernest Koroma government, neither Pa Kabba nor the SLPP took credit for such.

They allowed the Ernest Koroma and the APC to take all the glory and praises. In fact, when some patriotic Sierra Leoneans were calling on Ernest Koroma to pay homage to Pa Kabba and the SLPP for paving the way for him, he responded with what became a popular saying in the Krio parlance “action pas intention,” which loosely means action surpasses intention. It is seriously ludicrous to see the same APC saying they intended to do or started doing most of the development projects President Bio has been rolling out for the past four years. If you said yesterday that “action pas intention” how can you say the opposite today?

Also, come to think of it if the APC really finished the development of any sector, can any enlightened Sierra Leonean who has been following governance for a while point at any sector fully developed by the APC for almost eleven years in power (2007-2018)?

Take the five priority areas of the APC 11-year regime: energy, infrastructure, health, agriculture and education. Having prioritized theese areas for eleven years, the incumbent SLPP President Bio government still faces challenges in enhancing accessible quality education, food sufficiency, road construction, health care delivery and uninterrupted energy supply.

Which government will inherit a truly developed country and willfully decide to punish its people? If the APC had really constructed 60% of roads nationwide; provided uninterrupted energy supply in every district; realized food security; addressed most of the health delivery challenges; provided safe drinking water in every chiefdom; and adequately strengthened the educational sector, President Bio would have had an easy ride. It is worth emphasizing that no government in this day and age would premeditatedly decide to punish its people.

For the past four years, the APC continues to assume that they are still in governance. Any time the incumbent launches or commissions a project, they would either say they secured the funds or began the project. It is like running a parallel state. Very undemocratic and sad! Governance is continuity, isn’t it? The incumbent is still settling external and domestic debts borrowed by the APC regime.

The Sam Sumana saga caused by the APC is still confronting the incumbent. All liabilities and problems in the APC governance were inherited and are still being systematically addressed by the President Bio government.

If Pa Kabba and the SLPP were all over the place fighting to take credit for developments under Ernest Koroma, then the APC government would have nothing to point at. Who does not know that about 90% of democratic institutions in the country were established by the Tejan Kabba SLPP government between 1996 to 2007.

The same can be said for securing funds for most projects partly or fully carried out by the Ernest Koroma led government.
May Common Sense Prevail!!