𝐈𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐯𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐤𝐢-𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫

Most people especially within the APC have always seen Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s anger and frustration as the result of the way the SLPP government treats her. While members of the APC have their own reasons for crying loud about the perceived or real mistreatment of the Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer by the ruling government, it must be equally said that the she has also enjoyed the tacit but often quite support of many SLPP supporters and non-party people. There are many SLPP supporters who genuinely feel that she has the capacity, and orientation to make a difference to build a Freetown that we all enjoy. There are many SLPP supporters who have quietly expressed displeasure at some of the ways the Mayor has been treated.

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s problem however, has been that she believes that all her problems have been caused by Government. She sees herself as the saint in Sierra Leone’s politics. This perception about herself is her biggest problem and it is what reveals Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s deceptions and weaknesses at many front fronts. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer does not love the APC party; and the APC dislikes her. Dr. Sylvia Blyden has told us this a lot of times. In fact, Blyden has been categorical that Yvonne Aki-Sawyer is a mere former President Koroma lackey. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer however, has to show the APC that she is very loyal and that the SLPP is hounding her for her loyalty.

It is this show of loyalty that pushed Yvonne Aki-Sawyer into tribal ranting against Mendes; even when Andrew Keili ass.ured the nation that her family have no place for tribalism. It is Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s show of loyalty that prevents her from hearing the carnage that thugs, murderers and anarchists preach every day; and turned into reality last week. In an interview with the BBC, the Interim Chairman of the APC conceded that there were elements within his party that were responsible for the 10 August brutal carnage in Freetown. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer who has never condemned the thuggery and anarchy of people associated with her party, is not likely going to rise to the moral level of Peter Conteh. She is not going to condemn thuggery and anarchy of people associated with her party because she is trapped. Without the APC she has no political standing. Yvonne Aki-Sawyer who wants to remain Mayor at all costs is willing to sacrifice Freetown.

There are many people in this country who still believe that Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer can be an asset irrespective of which party she belongs to. But Yvonne Aki-Sawyer should not continue to believe that these people are going to be permanently stupid to fall for her escapist “prayer calls for Salone”; or accept her refusal to acknowledge as evil, the works of Evangelist Sampson, Adebayor, Koita, Cash Box, and others.

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer saw the insults that were directed at her on her Facebook page on the day of the 10 August carnage. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer should reflect on those insults and try to understand the reason for the anger against her. Those who respected Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer outside the APC are simply frustrated that this woman is taking political opportunism too far. It is not too late for Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer to muster the courage to take the side of Sierra Leone, even if it hurts her political ambitions