The Wise Bird is still lost in thought trying to figure out whether the Propositional Representation (PR) system of government that has been imposed on the people is advantageous or not.
Before the June 24th 2023 general elections, there was very serious confrontation between all the political parties in the country especially the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) and the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
From the protracted debate, it became very clear that almost all the political parties were not in support of the system but the present regime forced its way to get the system in place.
From Bra Parrot’s understanding this system of government has little or no impact on the people as it makes them to feel that they are not represented in Parliament.
As usual the Wise Bird flew around the city to sound the views of people on this important issue, considering its importance to national development.
The first port of call was now “Infamous Youyi building” that’s housing almost 85% of the Ministries.
The first person to come in contact with was a woman who gave her name as Madam Zainab Abie Vandi. She said the imposition of the PR system on the people was a deliberate attempt by the SLPP to always get an easy passage of bills in Parliament. She stressed that the system has no economic value to the people as it is disadvantageous altogether.
Like Madam Zainab Vandi, about 75-80% of others Bra Parrot talked to expressed similar dissatisfaction over the system.
From Youyi building, the wise bird took the tedious journey and flew all the way to the southern part of the country considered to be the stronghold of the present government to get more on the issue.
As if the Wise Bird knew exactly what was going to be answers from the people, good number of them like those in the city expressed similar dissatisfaction and sentiments. They said that some of them did not even know their representatives because many of them didn’t go there to campaign as that’s the only time we know our members of Parliament they said.
One Mr. Sam Taylor in fact said the system is the worst ever in the history of Sierra Leone’s Parliament, emphasizing it was reintroduced by the SLPP with clear aim to get more seats in Parliament.
However, the Wise Bird was fortunate to saw a video on social media on Sierra Leone before the elections, where a panel of members of ECOWAS Parliament were debating the Sierra Leone situation with regards the elections.
One of the speakers was quoted to have argued that the government’s decision to change the laws a year to the election was not just about changing laws but the entire system to its advantage to remain in power.
From that perspective, the clever bird realised that, indeed the SLPP pushed the issue very strongly in order to get more seats in Parliament and it succeeded in achieving that.
From people’s perspective and the Wise Bird’s personal inquiries, it’s evident that the PR system of government is only a disadvantage to the people of this country unlike in other countries.