By Babatunde Rashid
In all multi-ethnic countries, the political fortunes or misfortunes of the smaller tribes lie in how they align their interests with that of the larger tribes. This has been the case also in Sierra Leone, particularly where the largest ethnic groups have always required the support of the smaller ones to gain and retain political power through the two dominant parties- APC and SLPP. It is in this regard that I am taking a look here at the political fortunes of the Krios, one of the smallest ethnic groups in the country.
The post-2018 political environment has been the most tumultuous in Sierra Leone since the country’s return to a multi-party system in 2002. The loss of lives, the vandalism with impunity, the fake demonstrations with intent to cause havoc, and the ‘mammy cuss’ on social media and within communities have touched every Sierra Leone. Essentially, every Sierra Leonean took emotional, psychological or physical loss from the raucous, tumultuous and deadly political environment of the last five years.
There is disturbing evidence, however, that the Krio ethnic group took the heaviest loss, inconsistent with their ballot power. Krio vote cannot affect any ballot outcomes in Sierra Leone, not even for the election of the headman of my Aberdeen village. Yet, the Krio ethnic group has borne the biggest brunt of the toxic and tumultuous politics in recent years.
Here are brief illustrations of Krios’ political misfortunes over the last five years:
In early June this year, 16 Tribal Headmen in Freetown unanimously endorsed the candidacy of Mohamed Gento Kamara to be the next Mayor of Freetown. It matters because it was the first time in the history of the city that such unanimity has been achieved in support of a Mayoral candidate. The unanimity was not a subtext. It was the bold text to say that all the tribes are united against us when it comes to the question of who becomes Mayor of Freetown in June 2023.
Over the past five years, a good number of persons who spent time in Police cells were Krios, incommensurate with our influence in the hierarchy of any of the two big parties. The most disturbing aspect of the incarceration of these people was the fact that their alleged crimes involved vandalism, attempted murder, and disorderly behaviour. Any defense of the circumstances under which they were taken into Police custody matters very little to me because it’s simply shameful for a Krio to be associated with vandalism, attempted murder, and disorderly behaviour.
Among the six Police officers deliberately killed by the rioters on 10 August 2022, two were Krios. It matters because Krios today account for no more than 0.1% presence in the public service in Sierra Leone. How do you explain that Krios accounted for 33% of the Police Officers killed during the 10 August riots?
When the 10 August riots broke out Krios bore the largest share of the psychological and emotional stress because Freetown is the only place we live. If Freetown was set on fire on that day, we the Krios would have borne the greatest loss of property.
In the APC, no Krio holds a position of significance in the executive structure of the party. It matters because a section of Krio society has been extremely vociferous in pushing the notion that Krios are for APC. These individuals have been some of the biggest propagators of rudeness and mischief on social media and other platforms. For all “the good works” of people like Cassada Kitchen, John Leigh, Winstanley-Johnson, Tunde Scott, and Femi Claudius-Cole, the Krios were only rewarded with the shameful position given to Ade Macauley, a lawyer who had vied for the position of Secretary General in the 2023 APC convention.
It is almost certain that the next Mayor of Freetown will not be Krio. It matters because Krio occupancy of that office has always brought sentimental relief for the majority of our people. I certainly do not share the ethnic entitlement mentality around the office of the Mayor of Freetown. I acknowledge, however, that Krio occupancy of the office of the Mayor brings to our people a therapeutic nostalgia and an assuring sense of belonging to Sierra Leone.
Leslie Allen died of a heart attack a few days after he was disallowed to stand for office in the APC elections for the Party executive early this year. It matters because Leslie Allen’s father was the only Krio among the founding members of the APC who met at Pa Kallay’s house those days to establish the Party. The APC got away with the disqualification because Leslie Allen was Krio. No son or daughter of a founding APC Limba or Temne father can ever be treated that way. Leslie Allen died in circumstances not unrelated to the disgrace and disappointment of being disqualified from seeking office in the Party that his father helped to establish.
Is it APC’s fraud against Krios or is it fraud against Krios perpetuated by a section of our own people? Answering the question is relevant to the way we extricate ourselves from political misery and do a re-set for a better political future. The answer for me is both ways: the APC has defrauded Krios and the fraud against Krios has been festered by a section of our own people.
Here is how it works: the APC will do something bad to a Krio person, but not a single voice would be raised by any Krio decrying the Party’s action and describing it as anti-Krio. Do you remember when the APC sacked two Managers of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority in succession, in the persons of Captain Bloomer and Benjamin Davies; and subjected them to corruption investigations? There were no angry Krio voices against the APC, and even KDU remained silent.
Do you remember when the APC sacked Mr. Oluniyi Robin-Coker as Minister of Energy, and openly accusing him of corruption? There were no angry Krio voices against the APC, and even KDU remained silent. Do you remember that land grabbing in the Western Area under Diana Konomanyi and the notorious Allieu Pat-Sow were the same as under the notorious Dennis Sandi? KDU was angered by Denis Sandi but never raised a voice in the cases of Allieu Pat-Sow and Diana Konomanyi.
Can’t people suspect that there is something wrong with the fact that 98% of all the Press Statements issued by the KDU President Mammy Cassandra Garber, seeking to hold the government to account for what she calls SLPP anti-Krio activities, have been in the last five years? I do not even want to contemplate the scale of the terrible impression left on the minds of less sophisticated rural supporters of the SLPP in the South and East of the country that the Krio ethnic group is patently anti-Mende.
Matters are made worse by the fact that all the noise made by the KDU has unashamedly not been on any matter of principle for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans but purely in defense of the so-called Krio interest. I don’t have the courage to write the impression about us that this behaviour conveys.
Krio politics needs a re-set, starting first with individuals trying to defend principles for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans, to replace the morally bankrupt collective use of our identity for the defense of individual members of our community. Second, Krio members of the APC must stop exploiting our collective Krio identity in their political efforts against SLPP. Third, the number of Krios involved in rudeness on social media must reduce drastically. Finally, APC Krios must copy SLPP Krios in the way they contribute to political and social decorum in the country. Have you ever seen a ‘Mammy Cuss’ SLPP Krio?
