Today, the people of Sierra Leone find themselves in a very confusing space. After four years of waiting for liftoff, the PAOPA space shuttle they were hoping on is still waiting to launch.
Despite all the wonderful promises Julius Maada Bio and his team made, including that impressive campaign manifesto, and despite all the promises they continue to make, the people of Sierra Leone have had enough of PAOPA, New Direction and or the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
After making a list of all that have gone wrong, including the mismanagement and alleged thievery of public money, it was agreed that far from being a leader, President Bio is at best a boss.
Asked to differentiate, Mr P. Musa said a boss makes plans with the team, sets outcomes, highlights possible threats and their prevention or solutions, designates who does what, and sends the team to accomplish their set objectives. Instead of going out with the rest of the team, of which he is the head, the boss man stays behind and waits for reports or returns from the field.
Because he is never seen with the team, the boss becomes an enigma, the people don’t know him and vice versa, he is far removed from the day-to-day issues affecting the people. He becomes a hero without a cause.
He is unable to see and assess firsthand how his plans and actions affect the people. Since he is the boss, he reckons all is well, that whatever he prescribes for the people is just what’s good for them. If they complain, they just don’t know what’s good for them. If they insist on complaining, a little bit of show of force is necessary just to remind them who the boss is. The boss is always right; he does not take lightly to differing opinions or ideas.
The boss is always in the office, not in the battlefield where leaders lead their teams of dedicated men and women sold out to the cause of the overall management of the business. He is rather on the balcony taking in the view.
A story is told of King David in the Bible that at a time when kings went to war, David was perched right on his rooftop eyeing Bathsheba. The end of that story was David lusting after Uriah’s wife, committed adultery, treachery and murder by having the man placed in the hardest part of the battle, and marrying the dead soldier’s wife.
In 2018, Sierra Leone landed a president who before his election was seen here, there and everywhere. But four years down the line it is very hard to see President Bio. The grassroots of the SLPP and the poor people of Sierra Leone whose plights he had promised to change, say save for seeing him on the media, the president is missing in action. They say they used to see former President Bai Koroma among the people at PZ, St John and other parts of the city and country. They said they expected much from Bio, who was a former military general.
‘Bosses lead from behind. They are far from the people their decisions affect hence they don’t know how to really address the people’s issues. Instead of a hands-on approach, a boss decides on help from afar. Their mentality is that whatever they decide for the people is exactly what they need; even if it is killing them. This is what is happening across Sierra Leone. Instead of President Bio knowing the true state and condition of the people, he sends his underlings to check and report to him. Sadly, most of them don’t tell him the truth. They rather lie to him and keep him happy than tell him the truth, advice him only to have him ending up doing exactly as he pleases instead of listening to their sound advice,’ said Mr Musa.
On the other hand, Mr Musa said ‘a leader leads, and does so from the front’. Unlike David in the biblical story, he said the leader can be found in the thickest part of the battle. Because he plans and executes plans with his team, he is able to inspire many in his team to also become leaders. Since he is with the grassroots, he knows their problems and goes as far as asking them for input on better ways of addressing their issues.
The leader cannot be caught dead doing nothing at a time when leaders are expected to be in the field. Mr Musa used the Lord Jesus Christ ‘as the truest example of a leader’. From the time he called his first disciples to the day he ascended to heaven, Christ, he said, led his men. By setting a good example for them, he was able to inspire them to accomplish much more than he did while on earth or with them.
‘That is how a leader leads and inspires his team and people. This is not what we have with Bio. As a matter of fact you cannot tell us the last time you saw President Bio visiting any community in Freetown. He is always in the provinces because those people are not well clued up to his leadership failures. They only know him as a boss, an enigma that should be hero worshipped. The people don’t know him; they only hear of him and fear him because he inspires fear in people,’ he said.
Now more than ever, the people of Sierra Leone are in desperate need of a leader. The majority of their leaders, including the present leader, ended up being bosses who came to be served. The nation needs a leader who is here to serve and who serves for the good and benefit of the nation. A leader sacrifices his own personal interest if they are in contrast to the needs and interest of the people he is there to serve. The leader puts the nation first. He considers as alien anything contrary to such an idea.