Civil society activists have accused professionals in the employ of the ruling party government of Sierra Leone of being “ayampis” a colloquial word used to reference someone who has the temerity to steal with impunity and no compunction; a professional thief.
It is without a doubt that Sierra Leoneans are full of contradictions. However, none is more damning than our reaction to people accused or caught in the act of stealing. On the daily, young men and women caught stealing from other members of the public are mercilessly assaulted, some to the point of death. Stealing has become so rampant that Sierra Leoneans don’t trust each other. The trust deficit has resulted from the fact that the culprit is mostly someone the victim either knows or is assisting one way or the other.
For those young men and women of varying age unfortunate to get caught in the act of stealing from either a residence, business or an individual, his, hers or their lot is restricted to one or two outcomes: severe assault resulting in massive loss of blood or being murdered by an angry mob, which happens daily across the capital city Freetown and country. A person caught in the act of stealing in Sierra Leone is rarely shown mercy. The widespread poverty and unemployment have made everyone protective of the little they have. We consider it wickedness for someone to take the little you have managed to make over a long period of time in a heartbeat.
But if the people of Sierra Leone hate thieves so much, why do we ignore, defend and justify public workers in government ministries, departments and agencies?
Based on the Auditor General’s Reports on how people in government spend the public purse, it is safe to say that these professionals qualify as the biggest “ayampis” in Sierra Leone. For example, how can government workers handling road projects not be able to account for Le1.9 billion of the people’s money entrusted to them to perform their duties for the safety and comfort of road users? Also how did 238 out of 286 vehicles go missing from the ministry of agriculture? Over the years billions of dollars in cash, materials and equipment have gone missing from the government resulting to our continued digression as a people and society.
Day in day out, year in year out government employees spend the public purse in ways that would make the common thief that bears the brunt of the frustration of the mob blush. So why do we spare them the rod that we so mercilessly use against the common pickpocket of cat-burglar? Why do we argue and fight over these people who steal from our government, going as far as justifying and excusing them for doing such to us?
The answer is a matter of perception. We consider the money government employees are accused of stealing as totally removed or divorced from our experiences as a people seeing the money as belonging to and therefore affecting the government of Sierra Leone and not “we the people.” However, the reality is that “we the people” of Sierra Leone form the government of Sierra Leone; therefore, stealing from the government is stealing from us.
On the other hand, we consider what the common thief does as wicked. Times are hard and everyone is struggling, barely getting by doing odd jobs or performing mundane and sometimes embarrassing tasks to scrape an existence so stealing from such is inconsiderate and an evil act. But how is this different from and what is more wicked than what our government employees do when what they do affect us all as a nation?
Despite the pain of loss one feels when a thief violates your space and takes something you value, what the common thief does really only affects the victim and those closest to him or her. But what the civil servant steals from our government affects members of the society who are deprived of the benefits the stolen money, equipment or material is supposed to make available the nation.
Now that the Julius Maada Bio regime is on its final lap, concerned citizens that spoke to this medium have stated that they expect for stealing by public servants to become more rampant. The Bio led regime has failed the people and the ruling SLPP. Although he was ousted by the electorates last year, he became complicit in public theft by stealing the people’s mandate through a manipulation of the vote tallying by the electoral commissioner who is still refusing to publish the disaggregate voting record per polling station from across the country.
Since the president is on his way out his hired public sector workers are allegedly looking for ways to personally enrich themselves because they know that they will neither be held responsible nor expected to give an account of their mishandling of the public purse.
The peoples of Sierra Leone that hate stealing should know that the money we hear our public servants are unable to give an account of is your money. A thief is a thief whether he or she wears a suit or is suspiciously dressed. The money people in government have stolen from us over the decades has resulted to where we presently are socially, politically, economically and in terms of development. We should see them in the same light as the common thief. And this is what they are, except that when they steal the whole nation suffers. Lonta!