A Loud and clear message was sent years back by former President Barrack Obama to leaders in Africa.
The message says: “Africa does not need strong men, but strong institutions.”
If the message is properly understood, the strength of the institutions does not mean having men with big and strong muscles, but men with the required competence or expertise to keep those institutions up and running. The United States believes that it is only when men with the required competence are hired by states institutions that can the country move forward.
By further interpretation, the former President was latently telling the world that the Strength of the United States lies in having strong institutions within the framework of democracy and good governance.
It is towards the desire to see strong institutions in Africa that the United States has provided scholarly trainings in various fields of governance so that Africans can give back give to Africa. President Obama is no longer on the seat of the President, but his call is still highly relevant to contemporary societies.
It is strongly believed that the whole business of governance rests on strong institutions.
This article examines the extent to which African leaders have responded to President Obama’s call using Sierra Leone as a case study. The leadership of successive governments in Sierra Leone after Obama made the call would be examined to assess the extent of compliance. Former President Ernest Bai Koroma was in governance at the time the United States President made the call.
Despite some weaknesses of the Koroma regime, effort aimed at strengthening public institutions was made. Talented Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora were targeted by the former regime to return home and participate in the nation building project.
It was clear that a great many Sierra Leoneans residing outside Sierra Leone have acquired skills that Sierra Leone can tap for national development. It is the realisation of that goal that the former regime set up a unit known as Office of Diaspora Affairs to bring home the required talents.
It actually came to pass. Many diverse talents came to Sierra Leone and fought under a united front.
Professionals in health, engineering, Mining, communication, information technology and many others were brought home to put on the engine of growth and national development. Even members of the main or other opposition parties were brought home.
Party borders were less considered; it is the development Sierra Leone that natters. One of the most outstanding Sierra Leoneans that was brought home was the former Minister of Agriculture, Professor Monty Jones. Prof Jones is a renowned agricultural researcher who discovered NERICA rice variety.
It was a novel and innovative discovery as the variety can do well in temperate and tropical zones, that is, in Europe and Africa. Prof Jones was also Chairman of the Global Forum for Agriculture, a capacity he properly utilised leading to the development of agriculture in 55 countries in the world.
Hopes of Sierra Leoneans ran high that agriculture would be revamped in Sierra Leone with Prof Jones at the helm. It was under his tenure as Minister that the small holder commercialisation scheme was initiated, and implemented.
It is still being implemented today.
It was a scheme to finically empower local farmers for better productivity so that the country’s over-reliance on food importation would be cut down. At the height of the implementation, Prof Jones’s tenure was brought to a sudden end in 2018 when President Koroma rode into the sunset.
His expertise went away, and agriculture stalled. The active role played by the diasporan talents was visible in all sectors of the economy.
Sierra Leone, under President Koroma, took pride in what IMF (International Monetary Fund) referred to as the fastest growing. The respect for talents was manifested by the former President when he initially took over state governance in 2007. He did not allow ministers of the former regime to go with immediacy.
They served him for a reasonably long period before they went away. The former government also brought in members of opposition parties to the project of state governance.
Civil and public servants who served the government of Tejan Kabba remained save few who held posts crucial to state governance for fear of divided loyalty.
The author of a book titled: ‘All Protocols Observed,’ Sullayman Daramy is a shining example of President Koroma’s politics of inclusion. Kabba served Presidents Kabba and Koroma as Director-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr J.D. Rogers who served President Tejan Kabba as Bank Governor also served former President Koroma.
He was removed only for conflict of interest. After months of service to President Koroma, it was discovered that he held a very important and influential position in the Sierra Leone People’s party.
In 2018, former President Koroma gave way to the New Direction Government. President Bio’s coming had the semblance of a military take over. Ministers who served the APC government were immediately relieved of their duties, and the heads of hundreds of civil and public servants also rolled.
State House was cleared of all those who served the former regime. Dozens of civil servants at the National Telecommunications Commission were also asked to lay down tools. Sierra Leone Maritime Administration also saw mass sackings.
The tsunami also hit hard Statistics Sierra Leone where over a hundred of workers were disgracefully kicked out. Some workers at the country’s only International airport in the northern town of Lungi also succumbed to similar fate.
The country’s principal law enforcement agency was also not spared. Former Deputy Inspector-General, Al-Shek Kamara was asked to hand over kits without just cause.
Kamara was never an object of investigation for any crime. His sacking is a mere show of tyranny and despotism in democratic Sierra Leone.
His dismissal could be linked to naked tribalism and regionalism. The dismissal of Dr Kamara marked the genesis of sackings ever seen in the Sierra Leone Police since its formation in the 19th century.
Former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Foday Daboh was forced to resign. Other Assistant Inspectors-General, Karrow Kamara, Kalia Sesay and others were also sacked. Former Inspector-General of Police, Dr Richard Moigbeh was also retired and dumped.
Unlike his predecessors, Dr Moigbeh was never offered the privilege to serve as a diplomat. Very important offices seen as vestiges of the Koroma regime were shut down.
Attitudinal and Behavioural Change secretariat was the first to be closed down. Operations of Office of Diaspora Affairs also temporally ceased owing to a flimsy excuse of management and functional review. It has been re-established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a thin staff. Old ones have gone.
Through unprecedented sackings, the New Direction Government hired inexperienced staff they control as stooges. The intimidated public servants are timid; they hardly take decisions of their own without consulting the central command, Office of the Chief Minister.
The effect of incompetence and inexperience is conspicuously clear. It is seen in the backwardness to which Sierra Leone has relegated for past two years. Permanence is a cardinal feature of the civil service, but the New Direction’s campaign of terror, incivility, thuggery and brutality as well as mass sacking has turned civil servants into barefoot politicians.
Where are the strong institutions?