By Melvin Tejan Mansaray
The Leader and Chairman of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), Dr. Prince Alex Harding alias Bullet has said his confirmation as the Chairman of the National Commission for Privatization (NCP) do not mean that the entity has been politicized, noting that his job as the NCP Chairman is to do the right thing and damn the consequences.
Dr. Prince Harding was speaking in a group interview with Parliamentary Journalists just after his confirmation as the Chairman of the NCP by the Sierra Leone Parliament on Thursday 14th May, 2020.
This is the second time the Bullet is being confirmed for a presidential appointment by the current Parliament, the first was for a job as the Chairman of NATCOM.
Responding to probing questions posed by this Press, Bullet said that he is supposed to have a ‘silver bullet’ to the corporate problems of the NCP as expressed and hoped by the Leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) party, Hon. Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella.
Hon. Yumkella in his submission at the Well euphemistically urged Bullet to use his no strange experience in winning general elections and steering state governance to fix the prevailing issues at the NCP, an institution that has been rock with scandals of maladministration previously.
The NCP is charged with the duty of privatizing underperforming state institutions and making them viable by allowing private sector investment and management for government’s profit, this Dr. Harding hoped he will do conscientiously.
Responding to the question whether he has the ‘silver bullet’ to the problems of the NCP, Dr. Harding said, “I will do my best to work within the confines of my responsibilities to achieve the major objectives of the NCP; that is, to ensure that these parastatals are privatized in such a way that they can be profitable and create employment for our people.”
Privatization of state institutions has been a divisive issue in Sierra Leone with some quarters calling for the inclusion and exclusion of some institutions from the list of would-be privatized entities.
Guma Valley is one such institutions among a long list of many others that some schools of thought say ought not to be privatized due to the kind of service it provides to the citizenry which are not for profit.
Inefficiency and liability have been two watch words for failing governmental institutions thus triggering the need for privatization.
Is privatization a way to go for profitability and creation of jobs in Sierra Leone, Dr. Harding thinks so.
“We are talking about trying to make state-owned enterprises profitable and deliver the services that they are created for.
Their main purpose is to make profit for the government, that profit government will use to pay for the necessary services like health care , road building, and other aspects, so it depends on the type of privatization that will be useful. Privatization does not mean that you are going to have a hundred percent say, it can be a mix match.”
Critics say President Julius Maada Bio has not kept his promise of depoliticizing state institutions considering that Dr. Harding is heftily politically active and partisan, but Harding disagrees.
He said: “Everything is politicize in this world; Even in heaven, there is politics.”
Dr. Harding is presently the Leader and Chairman of the ruling SLPP, his appointment is seen as an outright politicisation of the state entity in question but he differs, saying that, ” no, my appointment is not partisan, we have had this before. My job is to do the right thing and damn the consequences and in that sense, I do what the people want and what the people want, as far as I am concerned, irrespective of the color, when you go there, you ensure that these parastatals are well manicured to give the necessary direction to create profit and above all, there is service delivery; that is what these parastatals are there for.”
Apparently, the main opposition APC party eschewed participating in the debate that saw the confirmation of Dr. Harding and ten other presidential nominees in Parliament, for whatever reason, it is not too clear.
The APC from the onset tactical boycotted the Committee vetting of Dr. Harding although it Deputy Leader Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo says it was out of no hidden agenda or malice despite his party registering unhappiness over the Attorney General’s reluctance to table the rules and regulations for the current twelve months State of Public Emergency (due to Covid-19) in Parliament. The APC and SLPP have been at odds ever since the inception of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone, the latest is the detention of several of its members including a sitting Member of Parliament, Hon. Lahai Marah on allegation of sedition following a WhatsApp post he allegedly made in a Parliamentary forum. Some APC MPs argue this falls within the Privileges of Hon. Marah since the forum he posted his message is an extension of Parliament.
But how does Dr. Harding feels about the main opposition MP’s stunt of avoidance, he said, “there is nothing they can talk about me, silence can be consent or dissent. They know me and I know them, so there is nothing extra that they can do except to go along.”
Under the previous system of proportional representation, Dr. Harding is said to have served under the APC one party system but he says this in no way made him an APCer.
” I have never served the APC, I came within the legislation that was there that everybody is APC if you want to go into politics, you have to go through the umbrella and I never served them anyway, I just came for one month and I wanted to serve my people, after one month, I went back, I never had any position,” Bullet said.
Dr. Harding is described as a winner for the SLPP and a bullet for the APC, qualifying him to be a political maestro but whether his political acumen will translate positively into the governance of a critical state institution as the NCP for the people of Sierra Leone will remain a case of wait and see.
