An opposition lawmaker of the All People’s Congress (APC), representing 059 Constituency, North West Region in the House of Parliament has Monday 23 May 2023 hotly opposed the divisive manner in which President Julius Maada Bio and his ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party government has run the country in closed to five years.
The firebrand Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara made the observation whist delivering his contribution to the first allotted day for debate of the President’s State Opening Address to the House, with the Motion of Thanks to President Julius Maada Bio.
Among several issues the outspoken APC MP highlighted were his doubts in the nexus between the manifesto of president Bio and that of the SLPP. He outlined massive governance failures of the Bio leadership and the ruling SLPP.
As stated a news release issued from the Parliamentary and Public Relations Department, Hon. Kamara asked the Leader of Government, Hon. Mathew Sahr Nyuma to make a clear distinction between the manifesto of President Bio and the SLPP.
Hon. Kamara condemned President Bio and his SLPP-led administration for deliberately ignoring dozens of unfilled manifesto promises made during his campaign in 2018. He further exposed government’s continuous deprivation of the vulnerable masses of basic social services deliveries.
Hon Kamara continued that services such as healthcare, electricity and water supplies, food sufficiency and agricultural productivity, national unity, economic deprivation and political instability, are hardly accessed by the people.
He blamed endemic state-sponsored corruption in the public sector on the Bio – led SLPP administration, and compared a mere renovation of terminals at Lungi Airport for the landing and take of Turkish Airline to that of the construction of a new airport on mainland Mammah.
Hon Kamara informed that the new airport at Mammah should have opened the country to more direct foreign investments in sectors as tourism, trade, commerce and investment among host of developmental potentials.
The APC MP also charged and urged government to scale up electricity and water supply at healthcare delivery facilities across the country.
Earlier proposing the debate, the Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Hon. Mathew Sahr Nyuma said President Bio interpreted his manifesto promises. He highlighted several development strides referencing the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said government is trying to cushion the economy and improve on human capital development, gender equality, women’s empowerment, enhance financial support to Smaller Medium Enterprise, anti-human trafficking and the disabled.
Hon Nuyma described the invitation of the private sector to health security, support to food security, and aquaculture, Climate Change, and infrastructure, as laudable efforts.
He asked opposition MPs to measure four years of President Bio’s infrastructural development strides to that of ten years of former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
He sounded frustrations over hike in prices of petroleum products and briefly touched his government’s weak efforts in the fight against corruption.
The Leader of Government Business in Parliament mentioned the improvement of the condition of personnel welfare, road safety, and ICT infrastructure, and government’s continued commitment towards supporting the aged with National Commission for Social Action projects.
Seconding the motion was Hon. Rev. Ishmail Sama Sandy of SLPP, representing 080 Constituency, South Region expressed delight at president Bio’s speech.
Hon. Paul Saa Sam of the Coalition for Change, representing Constituency 025, Kono district in the House, underscored the mandate of the speech in light of the Presidential statement, and entreated colleague MPs to bring out issues during the debate and proffer solutions. Similar contributions were made by both ruling SLPP and various opposition MPs and the House was adjourned for another secession to continue with debate on President Bio’s statement
