Sierra Leone: Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh Independent Presidential Candidate For The 2018 Election

By Alimamy Bakarr SANKOH

In the name of ALLAH the most gracious and most merciful, we praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.

“WHY I WANT TO BE NEXT PRESIDENT OF SIERRA LEONE”.

After prolonged discussions about the deteriorating political and socio-economic situation in our beloved country, I have deemed it necessary, by the Protection and Guidance of Allah Almighty to declare today, 26th April, 2016 to the people of Sierra Leone, Africa and the world my decision to contest the 2018 election for the president of the Republic of Sierra Leone. This decision was taken out of a deep consciousness as a son of the soil in Sierra Leone to enter into the search for antidote to the current mess in which our country finds itself today.

After series of consultations with stakeholders in and outside the country, I discovered that the Sierra Leonean people are eager now than ever before to do away with the misrule of the APC cum SLPP. That Sierra Leone can only move forward with new crops of leaders and not with those old, corrupt, shameless, tribalistic, visionless and insensitive men and women in red and green party colours. My immediate objective is to mobilize Sierra Leoneans everywhere to rally behind me and to build an independent political platform to contest and win the 2018 election, and to go straight to lead a government that seeks to invest on people and not on repressive apparatus against the people.

My secondary objective is to lead a government that is really of the people, by the people and for the happiness of the people and a government that is not about espousing a regional, ethnic or religious agenda. And above all, I want to lead an elected government that seeks to restore the lost dignity of the Sierra Leonean people.

I want to lead an elected government that owes no obligation to big party gurus, but sensitive to the plight of the people and a government, which at the end of the day will be accountable to the people for its stewardship. I do have a strong appetite for politics and deeply inspired socialist ethos where the welfare and prosperity of Sierra Leoneans come first before any other parochial interests.

History of Man has proven that Sierra Leoneans were never created poor, but the APC/SLPP bandwagon has made every Sierra Leonean poor and a mockery of the international public. As a socialist, I am of the conviction that, genuine democracy is not only about recycling old, corrupt and wicked politicians through the ballot box but also about wiping the tears of the downtrodden, fighting and winning the war against mass poverty, providing free and quality educational at all levels, providing free medical to school going Sierra Leoneans and the elderly, providing potable water, uninterrupted electricity, providing a roof over every Sierra Leonean family, building infrastructural facilities, investing on agriculture for food self-sufficiency and income generation, preserving our cherished culture and ensuring respect for tradition and most importantly, improving the living standards of Sierra Leoneans.

This decision did not come out of choice, but as a matter of necessity to save Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leonean people from abysmal collapse.

The biggest challenges facing Sierra Leone today generally are enormous. These challenges which include consolidation of peace; general political stability; national reconciliation and unity of the people; rehabilitation of the displaced people, destitute, orphans and the disabled, as well as former exiles and refugees; empowering the people to have control over the political and economic sovereignty of the country; honesty, prudence, accountability, transparency and probity at all levels of governance; the democratic construction and reconstruction of infrastructural facilities in the country; security of life and property; promoting progressive ideals and norms and laying the foundation for sustainable environment and happiness of present and future generations of Sierra Leoneans must be the cornerstone and guiding principles for the New Sierra Leone which would inevitably emerge out of the ashes of the old, corrupt, vicious, wicked and decadent system or status quo.

Most Sierra Leoneans have concluded that the APC and SLPP and their proxy political organs have lost direction and no longer capable of steering the affairs of the country. Those who believe that Sierra Leoneans have no remembrance; that we have a short memory towards the inept and ineffectuality of our leaders; and that we cannot hold accountable our leaders for the stewardship of our country are themselves the opium of our people. To those good for nothing people, I say Sierra Leone has come of age and that there are Sierra Leoneans outside the APC/SLPP bandwagon capable of changing the country’s bogus independence into real freedom.

We have in Sierra Leone today a decadent political system or status quo that seeks the degradation and dehumanisation of the people. A greedy, faithless and unprincipled leadership that has vested power in the hands of a single maximum party dictator and thus discrediting the morality of cherished institutions such as Parliament, Judiciary, Civil Service, the Media, Chieftaincy, the National Army and Police.

When power becomes so concentrated and personalised:

i. The self-egoistic interests of the few at the helm of affairs become priority, while the interests of the majority masses are ignored.

ii. The few belonging to the ethnic based ruling mafia determine everything, including what are supposedly the general interests of the people.

iii. Routine human rights (political and civil, economic, social and cultural) violations are committed at all levels of governance with impunity.

iv. Democracy is a sham.
v. Blind loyalty to the maximum leadership is made by force, even when such leadership by all standards is ineffective.

vi. The principles and practice of public accountability and probity are ignored in favour of opulence and immorality.

This is why greed, aggrandizement, corruption and rude tribalism have eaten deep into the fabric of the Sierra Leonean society over the last 55 years of independence from colonialism.

To conceal these evils, the conventional politicians have had to manipulate and lie to the people, using precisely international instruments and connections to achieve personal and selfish ego.

From the above, it is clear that our APC/SLPP big gurus have become obstreperous, tenacious and obsessed with power and are doing everything to prop the decadent system or status quo against the people. While rude tribalism dictates the political direction of the country, only a few opportunistic individuals belonging to the ruling establishment have access to the wealth of the country. These are not the marks of freedom, but evidence of a failed state.

Having suffered so much pain, agonies and tribulations all these years, the Sierra Leonean people still are continuing to express dismay at the failure of the government to address their concerns, which include:

i. The unending violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

ii. The growing incidents of rude tribalism and youth restiveness.

iii. The merciless looting spew of the country’s rich mineral resources by Multinational companies.

iv. The visibility of political gangsterism, political prostitution and political oppression in the national body polity as well as the deprivation of the masses in the country. And,

v. The lack of a clean, healthy and conducive environment to pursue policies and programme aimed at restoring the nation's dignity.

The Sierra Leonean people love democracy. This is no exaggeration. Democracy is designed to involve the people at all levels of governance, and not to marginalize, exclude or neglect them, and it is also designed to protect the noble rights of the people, to a decent and happy life, something, which is totally lacking in Sierra Leone under the current dispensation. This belief is inspiring me. Democracy is part of my life. It is in my marrow.

Sierra Leoneans are suffering under the APC/SLPP bandwagon, with unemployment, bad management of the economy, poor management within the agric sector and poor living conditions in the country. Now a dynamic and visionary leader who can positively transform the economy of Sierra Leone is needed. And that leader is no one else other than Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh.

Sierra Leone is not looking for the United States to save it, but rather to be partners in the global village. Sierra Leone needs people who will believe in themselves and who will say no to a culture of rude tribalism and say we can do something. I believe as any Sierra Leonean does that all those who have come out to declare their political ambition as either APC or SLPP presidential flag bearers are the very same thieves and sycophants who have been prostituting with the country’s national body polity and who have been at the forefront looting and plundering money in meetings where they take thousands of Sierra Leoneans for a shopping errand.

I am not in politics for the fun of it. What motivated me has been a sense of consciousness and desire to end the misery and hardships suffered by Sierra Leoneans over the years. I mirrored myself as a clean, efficient, effective and moral alternative leader capable of-not only to salvage the ravaged system caused by 55 years of misrule, but also capable of changing Sierra Leone's bogus independence into real freedom. I am determined also to provide for Sierra Leone first in its post flag independence, a credible leadership for the purpose of ensuring and promoting democratic good governance and welfare of all persons living in the country on the principles of unity, freedom and justice.

The core of my vision is to participate fully in, and win the forth coming elections in a free, honest and transparent atmosphere, and go straight to provide for Sierra Leone a new, purposeful, grassroots democratic leadership and effective system of government that would commit itself to:

i. Affirm the Sierra Leonean people as the only legitimate source and proprietors of all political authorities in the country.

ii. Uphold and defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination of Sierra Leone.

iii. Strengthen unity and sense of common belonging amongst Sierra Leoneans.

iv. Protect the basic human rights and democratic freedoms of Sierra Leoneans everywhere.

v. Guarantee the economic empowerment and well-being of the Sierra Leonean people.

vi. Guarantee religious freedom and the rights of free expression.

vii. Ensure honesty, transparency, accountability and probity at all levels of governance.

viii. Ensure a truly free, clean, moral and respectable judicial system.

ix. Guarantee security of life and legally owned property.

x. Maintain peaceful and prosperous relationship with Sierra Leone's neighbours; promote the noble ideals of the African Union (AU) and defend the rights and democratic freedoms of black people everywhere on this planet.

Many people are now asking this question- What is the essence of all the agonies, brutalities, tribulations and traumas suffered by Sierra Leoneans during the anti-colonial campaign in the country? For instance, instead of translating our flag independence to become real freedom, the conventional politicians have not only produced and imposed on the nation a leadership of sorrows and bitter pains.

They have as well plunge the entire length and breadth of Sierra Leone into the following unlimited fundamental vices and degeneracy: dictatorship unlimited; political intolerance unlimited; political rancour unlimited; political obsession unlimited; directionless unlimited; deprivations unlimited; rude tribalism unlimited; tribal tensions unlimited; nepotism unlimited; sectionalism unlimited; rural neglect unlimited; rural marginalisation unlimited; electoral frauds unlimited; rural disenfranchisement unlimited; ghost voters list unlimited; ghost census figures unlimited; misguided beliefs unlimited; secret political arrests unlimited, secret political detentions unlimited; secret political trials unlimited; secret political executions unlimited; political assassination unlimited; political murders unlimited; political persecutions unlimited; mass arrests unlimited; unlawful detentions unlimited; political witch-hunting unlimited; torture unlimited; lawlessness unlimited; violence unlimited; armed robbery unlimited; disorderliness unlimited; mass agony unlimited; tribulations unlimited; psychological traumas unlimited; frenzies unlimited; restlessness unlimited; suicide unlimited; economic mismanagement unlimited; inflation unlimited, economic insecurity unlimited; greed unlimited; graft unlimited; money laundering unlimited; capital flight unlimited; skyrocketing in the prices of essential commodities unlimited; pillage unlimited; debt unlimited; corruption unlimited; bribery unlimited; smuggling unlimited; squalor unlimited; poverty unlimited; backward mentality unlimited; hunger unlimited; food insecurity unlimited; mal-nutrition unlimited; homelessness unlimited; internally displaced persons unlimited; endemic diseases unlimited; fake hospital drugs unlimited; child mortality unlimited; child labour unlimited; narcotic drugs trafficking unlimited; bad roads unlimited; accidents unlimited; poor telecommunications unlimited; epileptic electricity supply unlimited; epileptic water supply unlimited; mass retrenchment unlimited; unemployment unlimited; ghost workers unlimited; ghost pensioners unlimited; brain drain unlimited; gambling unlimited; prostitution unlimited; homosexuality unlimited; lesbianism unlimited; rape unlimited; female infanticide unlimited; sex slavery unlimited; compulsory heterosexuality unlimited; forced pregnancy unlimited; dowry burning unlimited; human trafficking unlimited; forced labour; child porno unlimited; showmanship unlimited; personality cult unlimited; opulence unlimited; immorality unlimited; indignities unlimited; injustice unlimited; cracks unlimited; fear unlimited; want unlimited; collapsed of cherished institutions unlimited and insecurity of life and property unlimited.

Sierra Leoneans are even more frustrated today at the sorrow state of affairs in their country. They have lost confidence in the government. They have realised also that the government relied heavily on the tactics of rude tribalism to stay in power at all means and at all costs. Whereas the few conventional politicians, their families, friends and external mentors swim in abundance in ostentatious living, the bulk of the citizenry wallow in pains and misery.

To save Sierra Leone from further degradation and dehumanisation at the hands of these greedy, avaricious and directionless leaders who aggrandise political and economic power, I want to say enough is enough.

Sierra Leoneans must now bury their minor differences and unite against their common enemy, which is the cancer of an oppressive and unjust system that is tearing the nation apart. This collective cancer is eating deep into the fabric of our society, and needs as drastic a treatment as does an individual suffering from this dreadful disease.

This can only be possible if the factors responsible for the spread of this cancer can be removed, and they being none other than the conventional politicians and the anti-people administration. Only the removal of these conventional politicians and a change of our bogus independence into real freedom can move Sierra Leone forward.

Lacking resources, denied access and demonization in the corrupt media, I am aware of the difficulties ahead in the shape of our domestic conventional politicians and corrupt officials who have piled advantage upon advantage by abusing its control of the machinery of governance and expenditure, the print and electronic media, money politics and mafia tribalism.

Nevertheless, I will not be thwarted by these greedy and robot politicians and that for the first time in 55 years, the majority oppressed people of Sierra Leone from all ethnic groupings desire change. And with the increasing mass support from the rural poor and marginalized communities behind me, Sierra Leone will soon find her lost dignity, freedom and happiness.

That is indeed, my mission to play a leading role to save Sierra Leone from further destruction and devastation under APC/SLPP misrule. This is only an introduction. Formal declaration would be made very soon in Lunsar town, Port Loko district, Northern Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone must take its place in the comity of nations as the anthem of West African civilization. This is a clarion call and a naturally acclaimed demand for God to send another Moses on earth, to lead the people of Sierra Leone out of the precipice. I have listened to the cries of our people in every corner of Sierra Leone, yet I still see hope in the face of many challenges. The 2018 elections are about Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leonean people.

I conclude by praying that Allah Almighty may guide President Ernest Bai Koroma to come to terms with the prevalent reality, so that his name could be written in gold as a Man of honour.

Sierra Leone must live, God willing!
Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh
Tel: 00232-76-937252
Email: [email protected]