Sierra Leone’s most pressing developmental issue is so glaring and obvious that it operates and hides in plain sight. Although the reason for all our governance problems is so conspicuous we consistently sidestep it.
We have sidestepped the truth for so long that we have become used to the bondage that is a natural result of not speaking the truth. Knowing and speaking the truth sets one free; it will set us free. Sadly it still appears that we are still not yet uncomfortable with being in bondage.
It is said that “misery needs company” therefore, those belonging to the choir of lie peddlers would often say because of our publications on certain matters of state concerns; be it national or party-politics, does not mean that “Nightwatch has been bought” as they will say in the popular Krio parlance: ‘Nightwatch don sell game’ simply because we write the truth as we see it on behalf of the people who complain to us on a daily about their experiences in and under the two leading political parties and ruling party governments.
Yet we must continue speaking the truth. Nightwatch is an independent paper. The paper does not belong to any political party or politician, and has never received any subvention from any political figure, godfather or mammy queen.
As a member of the Fourth Estate of the Real, Nightwatch is dedicated to publishing the truth on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone with whom we stand in solidarity as we also go through the same economic, social and political conundrum resulting from either the inefficient handling of the state’s coffers or its reckless management by those to whom it concerns.
It is to the glory of the democratic system of ruling or obtaining the mandate to lead that the people of Sierra Leone or any other democratic society form the government of the country. The government is not found at State House, nor is it at the House of Parliament at Tower Hill. The government is not in the courthouses and is certainly not in any government ministry, department and or agency. The people including all those that we elect or appoint to work at State House, Parliament and in ministries, departments and agencies make up the government of Sierra Leone.
These are the people from across the country and the diaspora who had voted for the President but were and still are being denied their voices or rights to speak the truth to their fellow countrymen who have given them the mandate to lead. In our duty to the voting public, Nightwatch has been speaking against this since June 2023.
However, while we still speak truth to power on several issues, the fact of the matter now as it stands is that whether we like it or not, and as if by design, President Bio will complete his second term unless the APC provides irrefutable evidences of vote rigging and elections fraud for which it would have to face the judiciary; which from experience always sides with the party and government and President of the day.
Meanwhile, Nightwatch represents the people. We see our role as the people’s comforter; in that they come to us with their issues, to which we patiently listen and articulate them to inform our leaders, elected, appointed and civil, and members of the international community with the aim of eliciting tangible solutions in resolving those burning issues in the interest of the people and state.
Be-it-as-it-may, our detractors in the media and the political parties would want to spread the false idea or notion that Nightwatch has been bought out of its mandate or vision, just because we don’t shy away from calling things by their real; that because we don’t have to wait for government adverts to publish the people’s heartbeat wishes on critical issues, we are perceived to have sold out or ‘we don sell game’. That is far from it! We are a disciplined and principled media outlet and we cherish to uphold the respect and high esteem the substantial number of Sierra Leoneans across the board have for us. Those perceptions and insinuations are far from what the reality is about our editorial policy and stance, as hell below is far from heaven above.
Our President, the Father of the Nation whether you voted for him or not, took an oath on the Bible promising to work on behalf of God (represented by the law or constitution), the people, and the state. This oath puts the President under obligation to deliver to the people, plan, say and think in accordance with the truth.
In his promise to put the interest of the people and state and constitution above all else, the President is expected to “shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”
The President is obligated to putting smiles and visions of hope on the faces and in the hearts and minds of the people much to their expectation. According to the Chief Electoral Commissioner cum Chief Returning Officer, Mohamed Konneh, President Julius Maada Bio was elected by the people in the June, 23rd 2023 elections (they didn’t vote for the Chief Minister or the First Lady) hence he must still be reminded: “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
Nightwatch has praised and admonished when necessary both the ruling party government and the main opposition not limited to their substantive leaders and executives and how other elected and appointed public workers behave in line with their mandates. For this we have been severally called an APC and or SLPP leaning paper, depending on who is under the ballpoint (pen/ink).
But this only encourages Nightwatch as if we were not doing what we set out to do, people wouldn’t have anything to say. This medium has neither been bought nor have we sold out. That will never happen. Lonta!