By Hoccas Siwel
Before going any further, ask yourself these questions: How are you and your family, neighbours, friends, colleagues and other acquaintances doing? Are things difficult or easy for you all? If you answered ‘good’ to the first question and ‘easy’ to the second, then you are directly benefitting from the largesse of the New Direction regime, which benefit is definitely not reaching the rest of the population, or even your fellow SLPP supporters.
Yesterday marked a great moment in the history of the world’s three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The undisputed father of all three faiths performed the one act for which he is rightly called faithful Abraham, and a friend of God.
At that time and place, the faith that was being nurtured in Abraham during all the years of hardships, travelling, battles and the like he experienced during his sojourn through the desert culminated to his unflinching faith that Isaac would be alright. He believed that God will provide the animal for the sacrifice.
There is a great lesson here for Sierra Leoneans. As a country, we have been though a lot of hardships. Led by visionless leaders who only demonstrate their need for us during election time, the people have had their hopes dashed so many times that we have lost all faith in our leaders and have rightly turned our attention to the God of Abraham, who only can only change our situation.
Anyone in Sierra Leone regardless of political, regional and tribal affiliation or allegiance that speaks the truth in his or her spirit, that would not lie to him or herself that since President Bio and his New Direction SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) government took over the mantle of leadership, the economic, social and physical condition we have experienced is nothing less than harsh.
Since 2018, hardworking but poor Sierra Leoneans belonging to the two major political camps, the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) and SLPP, have equally experienced the hardships that have not presented any hope to the faithful people of slowing down. As a matter of fact, on a daily basis, things seem to be getting worse.
While we will never say the God of father Abraham has forgotten us, we can disappointingly confide in you that President Bio, his cabinet and advisers have. Having gotten what they so desperately wanted from the voting public, the party that runs the government of Sierra Leone has since 2018 demonstrated that it is here to cater to all the caprices of the party’s elite, even at the detriment of the grassroots that overwhelmingly voted PAOPA into office.
Like the faithful father Abraham, Sierra Leoneans bestow a lot of faith in our elected officials. Sadly, these gods among men have consistently failed to make the grade by meeting the expectations of the populace, simple as they are. Neglecting or conveniently casting aside their campaign or manifesto promises after assuming power, they pass bad laws and make economic or development decisions for their own selfish ambitions, instead of the wants and needs of the people they claim to serve at Tower Hill in Freetown.
Times such as these call for change makers, men and women who will call a spade a spade and make political decisions based on the experiences of the collective, instead of on the experiences of those taking huge slices off the sweet mama salone pie. Why should we the people who supply all the ingredients for the pie suffer the disrespect, insult and indignity of always getting the crumbs, while the people we elected hence appointed to dress, protect and enlarge the pie hijack the choicest sections for them and their families and lackeys?
The time has come for us as a people to admit that change is seriously needed in our political space. This is no time for party politics; this is time for the kind of change that will once and for all make it clear to President Bio and his team that we the people of Sierra Leone are tired of this perpetual developmental slump we have been in since 2018.
Unfortunately, God is not going to descend from heaven to effect that change we so desperately need. He is going to work through our actions to see a new face at State House. Like Abraham, through all the hardships we have been made to suffer these past three years as Sierra Leoneans, we were being prepared for a moment like this to take a leap of faith that God will provide us a president that will sacrifice his own personal agenda for the good of the nation. We need a leader that believes and trusts in God no matter the situation, not a glorified atheist with the borrowed robes of a Christian.
Going back to Abraham’s faithful action on Mount Moriah thousands of years ago, we should be encouraged that once we decide on what course of action to take to see a new political dispensation, the Lord will be there to ensure that despite the hardships He will provide the ram or sheep if and when the going gets rough.
Although Abraham’s faithful action happened thousands of years ago, its significance is still very much central to the prerequisite for righteousness – unequivocal faith in God to keep His promises and that all things are possible in and through Him.
The time has come for us to be change makers. The time has come for us to set aside all that politicians use to divide us, and set our focus on making a better day for us, and a promising future for this and upcoming generations.