The people of Sierra Leone needs a voice, one akin to the Good Shepherd that Jesus Christ described himself as being. The need for us to speak truth to power in Sierra Leone and so shame the devil will never be overstated or exhausted. It is a call that must be daily made until we become a society where truth prevails over all else.
Since 2018 to date a lot has happened in this country that has left our public space ripe for debate or discussion. The political drama that is presently being screened at government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDA) or by any MDA personnel nearby has not elicited the kind of public debate or discussion on the different scenes bombarding ours and the eyes of our friends and detractors in the international community. This lack of public contribution to trending national issues from all sections of society forms part of the reason our society and country are not growing or improving.
A progressive society is one where the people and their elected officials are allowed to speak truth to power without fear of how their thoughts, words, and or actions would affect either their jobs, safety, theirs and the lives of their loved ones or risk the eventual or expected time behind bars for your criticism of the regime’s plans or actions.
Sierra Leone and Freetown are old political entities. For a long time we were on the forefront of anything progressive in Africa and the expansive and powerful British empire. The country could boast of a vibrant educated and trained public that was schooled in all manners of sciences, law, religion, engineering and the like. The early progress we demonstrated with our quick grasping of western style education and the contributions made to the progress of the age, Freetown was known as “the Athens of West Africa.’
Then one could find our trained professionals plying their trade in their fields of endeavour. They were found in the teaching profession, law, medicine, accounting, religion, media, the sciences, etc. Back then, this medium was informed that, these professionally trained and educated men and women were sorted out for their opinions and or expertise that went a long way in contributing to the early progress shown by the people and country.
After Independence, however, those with the training and education to articulate plans and actions of the government and their effects or impact on the people and their way of life were either quickly side lined or were made to see the wisdom in going with the government’s agenda and obeying “orders from above” over the application of the rules and procedures of law. Those who were brave to resist this intrusion on the independence of their offices were either fired, forced to leave the country, or found themselves part of those accused of trying to overthrow the government by unlawful means.
The seed of disconnect between the nation’s home grown moral guarantors, their relationship with our elected leaders and the citizenry were sown right after independence when we stopped being Sierra Leoneans and are now considered green or red, southeast or northwest. This forced ideological and ethno linguistic divide has continued to affect the nation’s duty bearers in the private and public sectors who are considered guilty for their failure in letting the people down by their palpable silence on issues of national importance, with global implications on the image and reputation of our democracy and the integrity of our laws and leaders.
This is why despite all that has happened since 2018 not one public figure can be singled out for their consistent outspokenness on said issues, neither from the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) side of the divide nor the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC). Those from the private sector with a huge stake in the public sector bold enough to speak out cannot do so for long as they lack the capacity or are being restrained by those who provides them with the medium to conduct their professional surgery. A lot of professionals who speak truth to power are forced to do so using a penname instead of their real names or identity.
This way the real issues or problems go partially or wholly unresolved and become recurring themes from one regime to the next without anyone doing enough to change the narrative. The issue of the constitutional review, the prosecutorial focus of the anticorruption commission, failure to prosecute ruling party operatives for alleged crimes (mainly financial) against the state and people, and so much more we hear of every five year election cycle for which we see no changes after the opposition party takes over the reins of our national sovereignty.
As stated earlier our academics, self-styled religious leaders, Members of Parliament, lawyers, civil society and community based organisations, nongovernmental organisations, the media, members of the political parties seem to have a lot to consider before speaking out against the government of the day not limited to job security, unexpected violent attacks, spending time in jail. They also have to contend with the reality that the government is the largest employer in the country and that the president has god-like powers when it comes to hiring and firing his political appointees in his cabinet and other MDAs.
In ours and many democratic governments the president has the power to appoint many of those who are expected to provide effective checks and balances on executive power so the president would not be misled that he or she is a monarch, and that our elected leaders are all subject to the rule of law, the violation of which should not be done with immunity or based on hopes of immunity from prosecution for decisions made in the execution of their presidential duties.
The people’s defenders in the public must also be dedicated to letting the executive know that no one is above the law and that there are statutes of limitation on criminal actions taken while in office, like financial corruption, selling drugs, stashing money in offshore accounts, killing of citizens, use of our diplomatic passports, etc. The employment field is small yet overcrowded and overburdened by too many jobseekers, mostly from the main opposition camp put to pasture because their political party lost to the ruling party.
Meanwhile, irrespective of why they were appointed and the expectations of how they should perform their duties, whenever the situation presents itself, our people in the media, from the Bar Association, Parliament and the ward and city councils, our religious organisations, all the political parties all keep mum, not wanting to provoke the ire of the executive who has no problem using the rule of law to hold such people under the pain of spending time in police cells with many ending up either in prison or forced to seek asylum in other counties.
In Sierra Leone no one is expected to speak the truth to our elected leaders who have somehow succeeded in turning the tables of accountability and respect for self on the people. Today, our elected and appointed leaders act like the people’s lords, which impunity they use as an excuse to not comment on issues that will affect the people, neither do they consult with those who elected them. As part of the leadership cabal such people keep quiet because they do not want to rock the boat or seen as a firebrand or whistle blower.
The people we have come to expect to articulate decisions from the top of our government have been enjoying their time in government, seeing the institution as a means to get rich quick instead of working to alleviate the pressures of this present day world on the mostly poor and desperately needy people of this country. The failure of our other leaders failing to address national issues like the 2023 presidential result has gone a long way to affect how the people also treat such issues.
The same fear of the executive, the police and court system our national commentators have is the same fear that the people have of public leadership. But if our national commentators had been vocal and even risking the loss of jobs, property and even life then the people would know where they stand with their leaders: That we are the bosses of those we elected and we should respect but never fear them so much so that we would not comment on government’s plans or actions that will affect the whole lot of us, even if we end up in jail to express our displeasure.
Since 2018 there are a lot of issues for which the society’s leaders have failed to resolve, which issue keeps popping up whenever another government regime steps to the plate. The nation wants to know what happened to the issues of the 10 APC MP removed by this regime after the 2018 parliamentary elections, the shooting of protesting citizens across the country, the cost of living crisis, the 2023 presidential election result, why people are not given permission to protest against the regime, the Jos Leijdekkers drama, the cocaine and forex saga at our Embassy in Conakry, the Ambassador reportedly under house arrest at his official residence, the results of the 2018 to present audit reports from ASSL, the state of electricity generation, storage, and supply, the counterterrorism act 2024, the accusation that the regime is a drug dealing cartel, and so much more. Although some comments are made, the advocacy is soon abandoned after commentators would have been impressed upon to ditch the cause.
While this blame is mostly being levied against our people in the media, academia, religion, and such, patriotic Sierra Leoneans that spoke to this journo also said that they have been disappointed by others they expect to explain and speak out hence explain government’s plans and actions to the public for them to be better informed.
For the APC they say they have been disappointed by a party executive and leadership that failed to protect their votes while for those in the SLPP Sierra Leoneans are disappointed by the lack of that one individual in the party that would be bold enough to ask president Bio and his ECSL head to present the disaggregated voting data from all the polling stations to show why he was declared winner of the 2023 presidential vote. So far members of the SLPP are enjoying what Bio has done for them and the party and have no problem with his style of leadership, even when plans and actions are clearly against the peace, security, and progress of the people and state.
But since this is a longshot, the people of Sierra Leone are in desperate need of that voice calling from the wilderness that is not beholden to anyone but is motivated by the prospect of Sierra Leone finally rising from the ashes and reclaiming and surpassing its vaunted past. He or she would be our John the Baptist announcing and preparing the way for our Messiah.
However, this will only be realised in a society where people are free to speak truth to power without fear of reprisals from the expected sources. But if we continue with the culture of biased silence, then we should never expect to grow as a people and state. Lonta!