US, UK, Germany and other European countries are sovereign because they have strong economies that cater for their people and extend alms to poor countries in Africa and other parts of the world.
They are welfare states implying that even if everyone is not rich, the people live a happily and conditions for conflict are virtually absent. The jobless enjoy a relatively comfortable life as they access free housing, food and allowances in a way that befits their dignity.
A Sierra Leonean living in Germany, Alimamy Kamara says he and several jobless men live in free houses, get food form shops for the month and receive US$500 as monthly allowance.
“Such facilities are enough to make one live a comfortable life than a government employee in Sierra Leone,” he says.
Such is the beauty of welfare of states and little wonder that most Sierra Leoneans, few months ago, protested against a deportation move by the German Government saying they prefer dying on the streets than living in Sierra Leone.
Even the 16 Sierra Leoneans sent home by the US Government between 2020-2021 were not comfortable in their homeland as their dream has always been to go back to the US where life is far better than in Sierra Leone.
Communist and socialist states too have strived to maintain basic standards of living for their citizens as they work for the common good although basic freedoms are absent in such countries especially the right to own wealth. Russia seems to survive US sanctions because hands have always been on deck for the advancement of society.
Cuba, under Fidel Castro, also kept going despite US sanctions in the 1960s because the Cubans worked together for the development of their country and saw themselves as people sharing a common destiny.
It was however not easy for Cuba as the sanctions hit their economy very hard, and they were able to recover only when Raul Castro took over governance. As they create enough for their citizens, they also strive to help other countries cope with socio-economic challenges.
The US, for instance, has USAID (United States Agency for International Development) through which they support poor countries in the world, and Sierra Leone has been a key beneficiary of US aid particularly in governance, human rights and rule of law sectors.
United Nations Development Programme of which the US is the biggest funder has been supporting the judiciary (magistrates, judges and state counsels) to improve on the country’s justice system.
Even when the US refuses to recognise President Julius Maada Bio owing to the election fraud, she still supports Sierra Leone’s health sector as the former US Ambassador says “it is about life.”
The Free Health Care Policy launched in April, 2013 by former President Ernest Bai Koroma is still kept alive by America’s support.
The Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, an initiative of the United States has benefitted several countries that respect human rights and the rule of law, improve democracy and electoral systems and fight graft among others.
A country can get up to US$500m (five hundred million US dollars) for merely passing MCC bench marks which border on democracy and good governance.
The UK helps the world through the Department for International Development (DFID), an agency that has shown its relevance to Sierra Leone’s development for decades.
DFID has been supporting the Anti-Corruption Commission in its strive to ensure a corrupt-free society.
Although its real intention was a bit diverted, UK also supported the defunct Biobele Georgewill Commissions of Inquiry to clean up the system which will serve as a template for future governments.
Through British Commonwealth and IMATT (International Military Training Advisory Team), the UK reformed the police and armed forces so that they could live up to the people’s security expectations.
Recently, Britain also supported ‘Hands Off Our Girls,’ an initiative meant to protect women and girls from sexual violence, and also poured in much of its resources into the five-year Free Quality Education project.
As Sierra Leone’s former colonial power, Britain has also has been supporting the country in many of its development projects. Germany too support other countries in the world including Sierra Leone through its development wing, the German Cooperation (GIZ).
Aside from meeting welfare needs of the people, US and Europe also have strong armies and police agencies to keep their people safe. They are a terror only to evil doers and friends to the law-abiding.
The police or the army fall down on criminal gangs and cartels and such action is usually predicated on a just cause, and nothing else.
The security forces have no business with partisan politics as they see themselves as custodians of law and order creating a level playing for ruling and opposition political parties and every citizen to go about their businesses.
Suffice it to say that the extent to which the security forces respect basic rights and freedoms of their people help keep them together and can collectively resist any outside invader.
It is not like in several African countries where the police and army take sides, most times, with ruling parties because they possess the purse.
In truly sovereign states, the economies are strong and they also help weak economies to move up the ladder, and those who kill their people and abuse their rights earn the wrath of the world powers with the US taking the lead.
Several countries and other parts of the world are rendered powerless when the US and European countries adopt punitive measures for grave human rights abuses, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Those countries that also attempt to derail democracy and undermine the rule of law are sometimes made vulnerable when the US and other European nations go into action.
Although dubbed ‘Giants of Africa,’ Nigeria is never at ease as most of its politicians are under visa ban owing to the election fraud of October, 2023.
Like Nigeria, Sierra Leone is feeling the heat of a funding cut imposed by the US, UK, UN and EU countries as a result of alleged vote stealing in the June 24 elections. The country missed out on the MCC compact (US$500m) which would have brought rapid development projects here.
Sierra Leone is the only country where the Chief Electoral Commissioner refused to publish electoral register and genuine election results despite repeated calls from local bodies and the international community.
Placed under intense pressure, the election boss, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh always invokes sovereignty even when Sierra Leone is not truly sovereign.
Apart from the US$11m support, the country received from the EU and other huge sums of money from donor agencies just for the elections, Sierra Leone also has been receiving countless and fabulous sums of money in the form of budget support, construction of roads, hospitals, market centres among others.
Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Sierra Leone has never read a balanced budget in parliament talk less of a surplus one.
On the contrary, the country has always seen deficit budgets leaving big gaps to be filled by development partners.
The deficits sometimes run into trillions of Leones making it difficult for Sierra Leone to talk about true sovereignty. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest among the poorest countries with less capacity to feed their people let alone provide essential services to their satisfaction.
Sierra Leone does not have low-cost or free housing schemes and civil or public servants continue to receive miserable take-home packages that cannot take care of the homes.
The untold stories about the plight of the jobless still continue with many taking to Kush addiction as a solution to problems.
Armed robberies, petty thefts, crime and insecurity continue to define Sierra Leone with the people having little hope in state institutions.
For now, the international community is the only source of hope for government and the people of Sierra Leone, and without which Sierra Leone is nowhere, and where is the country’s sovereignty? In his last address to law Makers, President Ahmed says “a country’s over reliance on foreign aid raises question of sovereignty, and Sierra Leone must work hard to get out of the syndrome of economic dependence.” This statement, according to political analysts, should have served as an instructive lesson for successive governments if they are so see Sierra Leone become a truly sovereign state.
For decades, Sierra Leone has never been there and it cannot be there overnight.