By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
Some residents of the southern district of Pujehun have expressed disappointment over the cancellation of a planned visit by President Julius Maada Bio.
The expression of disappointment by these people is a culmination of a long standing frustration over the long overdue visit by the president to the district since his election in April last year..
Besides being a traditional stronghold of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Pujehun voted overwhelming for Bio in the 2018 general elections.
The people therefore feel that after visiting several other districts, including in the same southern region, as part of his Thank You tour, it’s a betrayal to Pujehun that Bio is yet to visit them..
Five of the six Parliamentary seats in the district are SLPP, while 19 of the 23 council seats are also occupied by the party’s members.
Alhassan Jaiah Jalloh, an SLPP member who identified himself as one of the ‘Marshalls” on the ballot boxes for the party during the 2018 general elections, explained the level of disappointment among the people.
“Truly speaking, when things are going wrong, we need to say it. We voted for the SLPP for change, but since the President came to power, we are almost approaching two years without him paying a visit to Pujehun. Every now and then the people are considering his action as a way of sidelining the district,” he said.
Jalloh said many of the people are wondering if the President really appreciated the way the district voted for him.
“So many party supporters have lost confidence in the party,” he added.
Bonthe, Bo and Kenema, three other SLPP strongholds, which the President has already visited, all share direct routes to Pujehun.
Pujehun, home to some of the poorest citizens of Sierra Leone, continues to be one of the worst performing districts in public examinations. Crime rate and rape are also known to be high there. Like many other districts in the region, it lacks basic social infrastructures like electricity and pipe borne water.
A visit by a Sierra Leonean president to such neglected districts is often preceded by emergency development works. Last week the contractor for the main road leading from Bo to Pujehun town, which had been abandoned for about 10 years, hastily started paving the road following news about the proposed visit of the President.
Jalloh is not the only one concerned about this state of affairs of the district. Two other residents and party loyalists who expressed disappointment spoke to Politico on condition of anonymity. They said the whole situation has affected their confidence as citizens and party members.
One of them said: "Nobody is ever happy, the fact we were expecting the President to have visited Pujehun long ago. We do not need to beg for what we have worked for. We showed him love at the time he needed it the most."
The other one said: "Some of us will not leave the party for this action, but there is potential for others to leave. The SLPP must be careful not to lose popularity in their strongholds."
Amidst the growing concerns, party executives in the district told Politico that they are responsible for the delay in the President’s visit. District Party Chairman, who is also the Ambassador of Sierra Leone to Liberia, Eddie Sidikie Massally, said they have been differing the President’s visiting date for a while now due to the weather situation.
“Two months ago, the President came up with a date for his visit and we told him to wait until after the rains. We are now talking about November for his visit. So, the fault is not with H.E at all, the fault lies back with us,” he said.
Ambassador Massally said he has been in the media trying to explain to people in the district that the President still has four or five more districts to visit and that his decision not to visit Pujehun was not based on neglect.
Clearly Massally’s efforts have had very little effect on Jalloh and several other people. As Jalloh put it: “Our people on the ground are not happy. To be honest with you that’s the fact.”
After the cancellation of President Bio’s visit, it emerged that First Lady Fatima Bio will now be visiting the district as part of her ongoing campaign against gender based violence, dubbed ‘Hands off Our Girls.’ Even though her visit is a high profile one, it is not a political one.
It remains to be seen how far Mrs Bio’s visit could go in quelling the dissatisfaction among residents and party stalwarts in Pujehun.
© 2019 Politico Online
