By Nightwatch Editorial Team
As Sierra Leone approaches future elections, a pressing question confronts the nation’s electorate: Should Sierra Leoneans believe in the merit and capability of their next President other than tribal consideration? This question is not merely rhetorical but reflects a deeper challenge rooted in the country’s political and social fabric. Tribalism, while a sociocultural reality, has often influenced political allegiance in Sierra Leone. Yet, the urgent demands of national development, governance, and global competitiveness make a strong case for a paradigm shift toward leadership based on merit, vision, and competence.
It is non-gainsaying that Sierra Leone’s political history is inextricably linked to tribal affiliations. The two dominant tribes, the Temne and Mende, have historically aligned with the All People’s Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) respectively. This alignment has often turned elections into tribal headcounts, where policy and leadership capability are secondary to ethnic loyalty. While tribal identity is a legitimate aspect of one’s social reality, its dominance in political decision-making has stifled issue-based politics, perpetuated regional divides, and hindered national cohesion.
A nation’s prosperity is deeply tied to the quality of its leadership. Leaders who ascend to power based on competence, not tribal lineage, are more likely to make decisions grounded in public interest rather than parochial loyalty. Sierra Leone faces numerous challenges: economic instability, youth unemployment, healthcare inadequacies, and infrastructural decay. These issues require technocratic, visionary, and ethical leadership.
A merit-based leadership in our candid opinion will Sierra Leoneans to unequivocally prioritize the following consideration: professional qualifications and track record; a manifested visionary policy platforms; candidate’s tested problem-solving and crisis management ability; and his or her integrity and national inclusiveness character. Choosing a President based on these criteria will foster accountability of governance, attract international investment, and build institutions rather than personalities.
The consequences of tribal-based politics on Sierra Leone’s socioeconomic ecosystem are and have been far-reaching for Sierra Leone’s cohesiveness and patriotic nationalism to say the least. The entrenchment of tribal loyalty in politics often leads to as has been manifested in the country over the decades since Independence are clear and glaring for everyone to see; and to note the harm it has caused to our national unity, peace and progress. Tribal entrenchment has led to: patronage over performance, wherein appointments and resource allocations in most cases are skewed toward tribes rather than competence; the poignancy of marginalization of minorities wherein regions or groups outside the dominant political-tribal axis are obnoxiously isolated and in its extreme implementation, excluded from governance roles and the benefits thereof expected; it has caused a stunted national development, because when leadership lacks the vision and skills to tackle national problems, progress slows and worse still, it perpetuates political instability, fans ethnic favouritism thereby incessantly fuelling tribal and regional resentments and, in extreme cases, conflict.
However, there are growing signs, especially among the youth and urban middle class, of fatigue with tribal politics. Civic education, social media, and increased exposure to global standards are slowly reshaping voter priorities. Movements for electoral reform and issue-based campaigns reflect a desire for transformational, not transactional, leadership.
But even in the face of these, progress appears uneven and uncertain, simply because those in the urban centres and those who have managed to clinch to the so-called middle class on whom most of the people in rural areas depend for their sustenance, appear to be playing the shot with their support with which they indirectly or directly direct the ideas and thinking of people in rural communities. Furthermore to this intricate relationship between the urban elites and rural communities is the fact that people in the rural communities often than not otherwise also depend on traditional and tribal structures as directed or as they are made to believe to continue to vote tribally. This trend can only be ameliorated when there is a targeted civic engagement effort to bridge the information and or misinformation gap.
The question of whether Sierra Leoneans should choose their next President on merit or on tribal lines is not just a political question; it is a moral and national one. For decades, our politics has been shaped by a tribal undercurrent that aligns entire regions and ethnic groups with specific political parties. This legacy, deeply embedded in our history, has too often turned elections into tribal contests rather than democratic exercises of informed choices.
But we must now ask ourselves: Has this path served us well? The answer is an emphatic No!
Today, Sierra Leone faces formidable challenges: youth unemployment, economic uncertainty, weak healthcare systems, and fragile institutions, indiscipline; a total social morass. For any right-thinking Sierra Leonean, addressing these menaces, require a visionary, capable, and ethical leadership that is not based on any form of tribal patronage or loyalty. Sierra Leone’s next President should not be a Chief of a tribe, but a servant of the entire nation.
This brings to mind the issues of the roles of our key state actors including the media, civil society, democratic institutions in playing the devil’s advocate in eschewing tribal and ethnic sentimentalism in favour of the State of Sierra Leone: the electoral bodies must enforce rules that ensure fair competition and discourage hate speech or tribal incitement; the media must highlight issues, debate policies, and expose incompetence or corruption in fair, balanced and objective ways regardless of the tribal or regional affiliations of media owners and writers; religious and traditional leaders must use their influence to advocate for peace, unity, and issue-based choices, educational institutions must embed civic responsibility in curricula and indeed, political parties must themselves democratize their selection of candidates in processes that favour the most capable rather than the most connected.
As a way forward, the question of whether Sierra Leoneans should believe in the merit and capability of their next President is not just a moral or theoretical; it is a matter of national survival. While tribal identity is an important cultural marker, it must not override the imperative for competent, ethical, and inclusive leadership. Sierra Leone’s future depends on a citizenry that rises above ethnic lines to embrace leaders who can deliver results, unite the nation, and transform its prospects.
Ultimately, to build a stronger democracy and a more prosperous nation, Sierra Leoneans must answer not with sentiment but with wisdom: Merit must triumph over tribe, and with the 2028 elections getting nearer, it incumbent on our political parties, in particular the two main ones, the All Peoples Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to step up to this responsibility by ensuring fairness, transparency and true democratic order in the processes that will ultimately lead to the choice of their candidates as flagbearers and amongst who one will become Sierra Leone’s next President. The time is nay! Starting with the year 2026 when both political parties are deemed to elect their flagbearer candidates; let them choose merit; let them choose for Sierra Leone.