By Hoccas Siwel
We all have a role to play. There is a lot going on right now in the media landscape in Sierra Leone. Journalists and opinion and thought leaders are slowly coming out of the woodworks, giving their opinions on national and local issues. We should really say thanks to President Bio and the current government of the people for ushering a new day for media practitioners to do their role as the Fourth Estate in the country’s governance structure.
As an aside, we should do so responsibly, with the interest of the country at heart. While we all have the right to belong to any political party, let us put the nation’s interest above the party. Let us not sow the seeds of discord and disunity that have been the bane of our development trajectory up to the present that pits brother against sister, tribes and regions against each other, etc.
Hence opinions and comments must be tailored according to the cause of the people. Journalists and other media people should know that while the criminal aspect of the POA was amended, there is a civil aspect to it that takes the offended and offending parties to the IMC. In effect, we have been thrown from pillar to post. Punitive damages are the stuff of insolvencies.
But that should not, and is not meant to cower the media. We owe an obligation to the nation state to promote good governance, and discourage anything less.
In his introduction to Rev Moses Kainwo’s Great Freedom Fighters: A Collection of Poems, Ernest Cole, PhD, John Dirk Werkman Professor and Chair of English, Hope College, Michigan, USA, commenting on “A Strong Strong Dance” and “Little Did We Know”, said the reversal of expectations of the masses across Africa after independence and the repeated cycle of despair and frustration with individual political regimes in Sierra Leone show that the politicians’ claim of promised abundance failed when compared with the grim realities of life after coronation.
In this repeated cycle of hope and despair, the expectations and disillusionment that come with every inauguration ceremony crash, as every leader initially hailed as Moses, destined to take the nation to the Promise Land, turns out to be Judas, the betrayer of their hopes and aspirations.
The impression, he said, is one of cosmic change as the song remains the same but the tune varies with every regime change leading to failure of the nation state to achieve its objectives.
“The indications are that Sierra Leone, and by implication, Africa, need a new tune for a new song, not a new tune for an old song; a situation akin to pouring new wine into old wineskins.”
For real change to happen in Sierra Leone, “the dancer has to be named or labeled. The naming of the dancer is crucial to understanding the rhythm of the dance so that the masses can keep in step and sing along with the ruler. Naming him implies disclosure and transparency of the operation of the state machinery of administration in all its forms” hence the need for people who can call a spade a spade, regardless of which party they belong to.
If an SLPP president does something great for Sierra Leone, an APC politician or support cannot ignore that. He or she should praise the president as doing something good for the country. And if an APC leader/minister does something wrong in the cause of the people, we should expect APC partisans to decry such behaviour. That is patriotism. Let us continue with this new way of thinking when we vote.
But let us forget APC and SLPP for a moment.
This new way of thinking encourages the building and maintenance of strong democratic institutions Barack Obama spoke about while visiting Kenya. If we fail to do so, generations yet unborn will suffer. Based on that way of doing things, when a new party assumes power they first have to pull us forward from the five years we had gone backward with the ousted party. After that the new leadership is expected to start doing the current business, by which time it is too late. The thieving culture sets us back and will affect generations yet unborn. It is akin to ‘eat now and suffer later,’ which is what those who steal from us continue to do when we keep silent. But how long like this, Sierra Leoneans?
In a state like ours where political ineptitude, exploitation, and corruption continue to be used by in effect “clowns wearing crowns”, their actions unveil the threats to democratic stability under the guise of innocence.
The onus then is on all users of the media, especially journalists, artists, poets and the common man, to name the songs, tunes, and the dancers for the masses to get a clear glimpse of what’s obtaining. The masses should be made confident that this is being done in their interest, our collective interest, not to embarrass or disrespect anyone. If the embarrassing thing is being done, we should not sit aside and condone it, especially if the person is a partisan. We should put national interest over partisan issues.
Dr. Cole said in post-independence Africa, the pomp of political ceremonies occasioned by military parades, sirens, and cheers from the people, is at odds with the resultant exploitation, embezzlement, and destruction of values. The theme of deception is once again foregrounded as an instrument of exploitation, where the assembly of professionals and educational personnel becomes a charade and sham manifestation of scholastic power and mastery of philosophy. Those we send to represent us we presume educated enough to carry out our affairs are all part of our continued exploitation. They use their education to exploit us while keeping us barely educated enough to query them, when we expected them to not only lead, but teach and show us the way.
So who is expected to bring their excesses to the fore? Who else but the aforementioned media people, including artists and poets? But sadly, these men and women in Sierra Leone have been cowered for long by successive regimes using the law, violence, mis-and-disinformation, financial and other means including their mastery of philosophy to discredit and make hard their lots.
Cole said, “Evident in all this is the role of the artist (insert writers and musicians here) in society. The poet (insert writer or commentator here) is at pains to point out the responsibility that artists bear their societies….the poet is a witness to suffering and through his testimony, he is charged with holding the pain of society and brings them to awareness of its impact.
“At appropriate times, and with varying degrees of intensity, he conveys that sense of pain to the society and calls for an engagement with it through reform and an overhaul of its structures. He is the songwriter who sings the patriotic songs of freedom but also the bitter songs of betrayal. In this way, he serves as the consciousness of his people and can empower and liberate society through validating sincere and genuine efforts for development or lambasting deception, corruption, and exploitation.”
The learned doctor said the work of the poet or artist or writer functions as the psychological barometer of society and in it a mirror of its progress or retrogression is contextualised.
In Sierra Leone, artists, writers and poets are advised to take their responsibilities to society seriously “even at the expense of the risks and threats to life that it poses.” We are not saying make all your songs about politics, as not just politicians are guilty, but let us have a bit of dancing for our bodies, and also some food for thought for our heads.
Writers, poets, journalists, and the like, he said, should take solace in the immortality of the artist for even after the body is destroyed, and you lose everything, even your money, respect and position, the voice and by implication the message cannot be obliterated. They may hate you now, but would later realise you’ve been right all along, which calls for dedicated sacrifice.
Dr. Cole said Rev Kainwo’s words, in true Shakespearean style, “asserts that the voice of the poet on the printed page is immortal and transcends temporal and spiritual limitations. The poet’s voice is pregnant not only with truths but with the capacity to bear fruits, children and grandchildren, disciples or practitioners of the craft of poetry who will continue the task of holding society to account – making sure that, among other things, equal is equal.”
So, what now Sierra Leonean writers and people? Are we willing to write the truth, and will the people know that it’s in their best interest, or are we going to continue in this trajectory?