By Ishmael O. Kargbo
Yup! We are officially in the zone again. The nation is sprinkled with a plethora of emotions as the periodic general elections edges ever closer. Elections are an important process in democratic states like Sierra Leone as it allows citizens to exercise their constitutional and democratic rights letting their opinions known in the polls. In Sierra Leone today, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re well aware of the series of controversy surrounding the current administration.
Several factions (civil society organisations and other democratic groups) are jostling to have their voices and opinions heard in the press and that too with good reason. Among these groups of individuals and organisations whose opinions are held in high regard, students seem to be on the short end of the spectrum. We here at nightwatch interviewed some students of the University of Sierra Leone (USL) for their opinions on the current state of the nation and the upcoming elections.
Speaking to different students from the different schools of USL, we realised that students’ sentiments on the value of their opinions are almost identical. They believe that their opinions should carry more weight because most of the issues that are plaguing this country are being experienced by students, or they are at least witnessing people who encounter these problems regularly. Another common belief among students is that students are viewed as the future leaders and in recent years, students have become enamoured with the politics and political activities of the country.
Mariatu Tity Bangura, a student of Fourah Bay College, stated that one of the changes that should be made ahead of the 2023 elections is the mindset of Sierra Leoneans. According to her, Sierra Leoneans are mostly hyper political in a way that most Sierra Leoneans’ lives are revolve around politics and their political parties.
She stated that over the years, whenever you talk about anything remotely close to development, the common Sierra Leonean immediately feels you’re trying to throw shade at their political party or you’re siding with the opposition. This thought process she says is a recipe for clouded judgement. She went on to say that, ‘With this sort of mindset people cannot be objectively critical of the government or their political parties… Some people who are supporters of the opposition will never commend the current government for a job well done even if it is beneficial to all Sierra Leoneans. And the same goes for supporters of the political party of the current government. They most times overlook the wrongdoings and failures of this current administration as they believe their political party can do no wrong.’
In an interview, a student from the Institute for Public Administration and Management (IPAM USL) echoed these same sentiments stating that the mindset of Sierra Leoneans can only be changed by the very political parties these people support. ‘APC and SLPP for example can start by clearly defining their ideologies and principles for their supporters, sticking to them, which in turn would rub off on the ordinary supporters of their parties making it difficult for individuals to just say some average idea that doesn’t align with the political party’s ideology and principles… This is why I believe as students, our opinions should be right up there with the most important of them. Whatever they do now while they are in office will have a long term impact on us because we’re still young and when eventually it is our turn to lead, we will be left to solve the problems they’ve created rather than developing the country relative to the times then.’
Another issue Mariatu Tity Bangura said is critical is that of unemployment. She said, ‘One of the major drawbacks of unemployment is that it leads the youth to drug use and addiction. It has become so much, so that when some eventually get a job, they can’t keep it because of their addiction to these drugs. Then they lose their jobs and become more addicted to these drugs if that’s even possible… This issue of drugs and its relationship with unemployment is one that the government should really look into and try to proffer permanent solutions to, and fast.’
She added that some of these drug addicted youths are well educated people some of which are even graduates, but because of unemployment they drift to drug abuse leading them into addiction.
According to another student, the government ‘has failed largely in achieving a lot of what they had in their manifesto. The issue of bread and butter has seemingly gotten worse; food security, health security and price control have become virtually unbearable. Even the free quality education which is the flagship programme of this government for the large part hasn’t been yielding much quality, as the rate at which malpractice occurs in public examinations in recent is embarrassing… There has been little to no transparency and accountability in the past five years by public officials, an issue the president claimed he will address. Looking at all this in a vacuum, one will say that this government should not be re-elected, but the main opposition APC hasn’t shown us much in recent years by either fighting in parliament and not working to make better policies for Sierra Leone as a whole, putting into perspective the predicament we’re in as a nation.’
When asked if Sierra Leone is ready for change, a student from IPAM said, ‘I don’t think Sierra Leoneans are ready for change. Because the lot of them will be shouting for change when they are not in opposition but the moment they a given the chance to govern and make the said positive change, they fold and start working only for themselves and their families not caring about the people they initially claimed needed change. Sierra Leoneans should first change their “party pekin” mentality before we can actualise change.’
In conducting our interviews, we come to realise that students’ opinions are not only important, but insightful. In all actuality, Sierra Leone as a nation is in a dark place literally, and change won’t come easy as there are so many aspects and factions in the country that need changing, but the most important change we should make and the first big step in pushing Mama Salone to a better future is to improve the way we think and start holding these politicians accountable for their actions and not letting them doing our thinking for us.