Freetown — Last week's discussion left off once again concluding that President Ernest Koroma's presidency is failing. We discussed the security issues and one of the pivotal points was that of the letter from the so called Dream Team.

The Dream Team highlighted among other things tribalism as a cankerworm eating through the fabric of national healing, cohesion and evidently unification. It is in that light therefore that this article will focus on the issue of national healing and unification as regards tribalism under President Ernest Koroma.

Has President Koroma done anything that suggests he is serious about unifying the nation? If not what is he doing that seems to be at odds with healing and unifying a nation coming out of a brutal civil war? Did Ernest Koroma reignite tribal mistrust during his campaign and are his actions exacerbating a nation looking for national unity as suggested by the TRC? If so how is he doing that? These and other burning questions will be touched on in this discussion.

Two out of the three coups since 1992 used tribalism as one of the main reasons for the military take over. In 1992, young Capt Valentine Strasser announced that the military take over was to bring an end to tribalism as practiced by the Limba led government of Joseph Saidu Momoh. Strasser was somewhat successful in curbing tribalism. The gripe about tribalism took the back burner because the people of Sierra Leone saw little or no evidence of that especially in government appointments. The villain at that time was APC and not a specific region or ethnic group. The short reign of Maada Bio was also above the pettiness of tribalism. However, when Ahmed Tejan-Kabba won the elections in 1996, there were rumblings about tribalism and promotion of Kamajors who were seen as an ethnic based militia. In less than two years, Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah's government was overthrown because he was allegedly practicing tribalism.

The leader of the coup Johnny Paul Koroma happened to be from the Limba ethnic group and also the nephew of former President J. S. Momoh. Johnny Paul Koroma vouched to stamp out tribalism but ended up targeting people from the South and Eastern parts of the country for persecution. After the 1999, second coming of AFRC/RUF into Freetown, Ahmed Tejan-Kabba made a conscious effort to heal the nation and minimize tribal tensions. He therefore appointed a well balanced cabinet representing all the regions in the nation. His cabinet comprised 8 from the Northern Province, four from the Eastern province, six from the South and three from the Western Area. Among cabinet members, the Temnes had the highest representation.

President Kabbah also made sure all regions and almost all ethnic groups were represented in major government positions. It matters not what the pundits say, Tejan-Kabba had a very well balanced government. It therefore is still surprising that people still call his reign tribal. The facts say otherwise especially when compared to President Koroma's.

Empirical evidence suggests that President Koroma has made a sharp departure from President Kabbah's attempt at unifying the nation. It seems President Koroma upon assuming control of government wasted no time to "purge" the government of people he perceived as either supporters of SLPP or from the South and the East of the country. As if that were not enough, President Koroma's cabinet pales to that of Tejan-Kabba if we seek to compare which of the two is more serious about national unity.

While Tejan-Kabbah's cabinet was balanced with all regions represented, President Koroma seems to care less about the perception of people when it comes to tribalism. The president has a cabinet of twenty; fifteen of them are from the Northern region of the country, one Afro-Lebanese from the East, one Southerner and two Western Area citizens. As a result, President Koroma has excluded about 70% of the country from governance. This is a gross and reckless departure from the tenets of the TRC report which called for regional and ethnic cohesion and integration. It also advised against ethnic discrimination. As it stands, President Koroma's government is practicing tribalism more than any other leader in the history of post independence Sierra Leone. Added to his cabinet appointments, President Koroma is said to have systematically sanctioned the sacking of anyone perceived to be either from the South, East or supporter of SLPP. This is clearly a recipe for disaster as was clearly indicated in the letter from the Dream Team.

The discrimination which had its initial foundations in regionalism seems to be taking a different turn. It seems President Ernest Koroma has slowly shifted his focus from Northernization to active Limbanization of Sierra Leone politics. Investigations into the names publish in the letter of the Dream Team reveal that the vast majority of the owners of the names are Limbas. It has been reported that over seventy percent of new police recruits are Limbas. Furthermore, the President seems to have a determination to use all the notorious ex-combatants who were Limbas as his bodyguards. The question a lot of people are now asking is whether the president was as innocent of all the shenanigans and atrocities committed by AFRC as he would like us to believe. For him to be so trusting of these known killers suggest either a tacit approval of their atrocities or because of their mutual tribal affiliation to the Limba ethnic group. Either way the actions

of the president do not portray someone who is serious about national healing and cohesion. While it is dangerous for the president to send a message that tribalism is alright as demonstrated in his actions, it is even more dangerous for President Koroma to forcefully promote a Limba hegemony over the three lager ethnic groups, i.e. Mende, Temne and Fullah.

It is everyone's patriotic duty to demand that the President keeps his campaign promise to unite the country. He constantly claimed that the country was divided. Unfortunately it is my contention that this president has divided the country more than any other president in the history of Sierra Leone. It is imperative on all governments in a post-war nation to approach governance in a proportional way. Blatant discrimination and exclusion of majority groups like the Fullahs, Temnes and Mendes from governance and other lucrative government positions in favor of Limbas with definitely be counter productive. It is prudent to leave readers and the president with what Marx once said: "...world historical facts ...occur as it were twice....the first time as a tragedy, the second as a farce". Mr. President, please wake up and put the nation before tribe. The attempt at Limbanization will definitely be counter productive. It is the opinion of this article that you are failing the nation when it comes to national unity. Join me next week for another discussion.