By Hoccas Siwel
There is a serious leadership vacuum in Sierra Leone. This scarcity of a leader of high integrity has in effect rendered the people of Sierra Leone as fools to be toyed with by successive governments of shameless thieving public officials.
As news of thefts and alleged thefts by civil servants becomes a daily occurrence, it is a sad reality to note that it would take the dedicated service of a saviour president and cabinet to change Sierra Leone’s development narrative for the better. However, going by the history of the lead contending parties, it is increasingly difficult for the people to point out one or several individuals from among the current crop of civil servants from across the country that they think is or are capable of turning things around for the country.
Because they are failing to call the current government to order with the daily news of allegations of corruption, leakages, and violence, chances are the opposition is also full of corrupt public servants. Not one of them can stand to speak up and out against this Paopa regime and all they are doing to us? But if I am a rapist, far be it from me to lecture anyone accused of rape on the decent thing to do. Which begs the question, is there any public servant in Sierra Leone that is not corrupt, or that has not been corrupted by the influence of his partisans and others? Are we the people clean or innocent enough to take our leaders to task? What is our hope then as a country?
It is interesting to note here that during a session after his approval as Minister of Health, Dr. Demby was given certain advice by the Speaker, Dr. Yumkella, Sahr Nyuma, and others worthy of repeating here. Among other things, Dr. Demby was told to be professional in his dealings with his staff, which implies that the workers in the ministry are mostly unprofessional hence amateurs. He was advised not to allow himself to be infiltrated by long serving civil servants through corruption, which implies that long serving MDA workers infiltrate dedicated ministers and others rendering them ineffective and incapable of reforming that ministry, agency or department because he or she would be made ashamed by revelations and other evidences of his/her graft. It also says that MDAs are full of long serving civil servants who know loopholes in the system to exploit for their benefit.
These men and women consider their obligation and allegiance to the party as more important than to the state, and they tow the party line, even if the party is in the wrong. Caught with their hands in the public cookie jar, they find clever but obviously corrupting excuses to explain their actions, going as far as trying to shame or get out of the way those who try to expose them.
They have so dishonored the sacredness of the House of Parliament meant to make laws for the country, that it is common knowledge in Sierra Leone that if you want to get rich quick, go to parliament, where whether or not you are caught red handed in a compromising position, you will not go to jail. Instead of going to parliament or desiring public office to better the people, they go to the House to enrich themselves to the impairment of the country. Adding to our appalling lot, there is no retribution for theft of public money, neither is there one for acts of violence by party functionaries against partisans or otherwise.
Tired of failed campaign promises, Sierra Leoneans are no longer fools for politicians as both the APC and SLPP are not fit to run this country. They take turns exploiting instead of building us, making corruption and leakages the only continuity in government. Because they lack ideas to better the country, they use violence, the police and the courts against an unsuspecting and expectant public. There is really nothing new that they can say to the people to inspire trust.
There was a lot of excitement and expectation when President Bio took power. People figured he was going to be the president to finally get Sierra Leone to start realising her true potential. With his manifesto promise and top guys like the Chief Minister who is also a professor, David Sengeh who graduated from MIT and the like, it was our hope that we had finally gotten our very own Paul Kagame of Rwanda. But look at the current embarrassment the New Direction government is causing us as a nation.
The party of intellectuals has turned out to be a party of men and women who don’t follow procedures; who leave leakages unplugged, only to promise to do so when caught; are violent as they order violence even against their own party people; who are intolerant of dissent. Look at what they did to Hon. Gevao, how they so cowed him that after confirming Tawa Conteh’s claims on BBC no less, he came back and turncoat, betraying the confidence of his colleague and the country. Look at what they are trying to do to Tawa, an SLPP partisan who is not going to dance to their tune if it is off-track, who is not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Are our leaders not ashamed of their behaviour? Are they not ashamed of how they continue to tarnish our collective reputation as a country? Does the average Sierra Leonean know what people think of us, especially these western countries that we are all trying to run to? Learning well from our leaders, everywhere we go we take our corruption with us.
The fact is that we and they are not ashamed of their behaviour because for as much as it is apparent to us that the excuses they proffer to explain and hence justify their actions that go against the spirit and letter of a constitutional democratic set up are lame, they keep making such birdbrain excuses. Adding to this insult to our collective intelligence, our watchdog agency, the Anticorruption Commission, has in effect become a lapdog barking its master’s orders and going as far as defending them.
Always believing, always hopeful, despite obvious signs of resignation to their fate, the people say we have such leaders; that they are not encouraged to come to the fore; that they fear losing their jobs and going against a seemingly insurmountable horde of corrupt and very violent colleagues.
Sadly there is no one in the public space that the people can point to as having that saviour president character or tendency. Until that time, we should keep looking and listening for him or her, although chances are s/he would not be a member of the two parties that have run this country aground.