God despises those who take brown envelops from their compatriots to render them services for which they are paid. The brown envelop culture in governance is nothing new. It is as old as governance itself. Since the very beginning men and women elected to run the affairs of the state have been guilty of using their offices and positions for personal enrichment. They go as far as chasing bribes from anyone as long as it suits their agenda or outlook.
Today, president Bio’s failures have been blamed on his appointees many of who are accused of seeking favours and other connections based on their position or job title. This has wrecked the country’s moral fabric to its rock-bottom.
In the New International Version (NIV) of the Christian Bible, the Lord rebuked the leaders of Israel who had left their calling or the duties of their offices and were seeking their own selfish ambitions, which are in contrast to the progress and peace of the society.
Speaking through the prophet Isaiah in the Biblical book bearing his name in chapter 1 verse 23, the Lord God of Israel said: “Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.”
Although God has always been the establisher of the governments, the men and women he chooses to lead his people have over time proven to be just human: full of inconsistencies.
Covering thousands of years, the leaders of Israel under different prophets had all become useless chasing after bribes, selling justice and practicing violence against the people and state; showing that although God elects the governments, presidents and kings make foolish choices after they have secured the people’s mandate to lead.
After they had gotten fat off the riches of the land, the leaders of Israel wanted more hence they started making friends and alliances with people and nations they reckoned would make them richer, which is the beginning of their road to perdition, corruption, and many such unwholesome character flaws. There is a parallel here with Sierra Leone under Julius Maada Bio.
In Sierra Leone, after decades of underdevelopment that saw a brief reprieve between 2007 and 2018, the people of Sierra Leone were whipped into a frenzy of hope by the campaign promises of the current government regime headed by then opposition leader Julius Maada Bio who promised a new direction in the economic, social and political dispensation of the nation.
However, since 2018, the Maada Bio led regime, based on the Auditor General’s reports spanning 2018 to present has proven that indeed our elected, appointed and other hired people in government are “partners with thieves, all love bribes and chase after gifts.”
It was no less than the first lady who recently stated that her husband’s government is made up of “dog mortal man dem” who will sell their souls and change their minds for brown envelops, or bribes.
Sadly this is the start of the corruption of the leaders of God’s people as their digression proceeds to cover seeking after gifts and bribes. Their downward spiral into the kind of immorality as practiced by political leaders only led them to ignore the cause of the poor, which is their access to and guarantee of justice in the courts.
In societies like Sierra Leone where justice is not blind, judgements by the courts are tied up to or dependent on all manner of corrupting actions for which even the cause of the fatherless and widows are ignored if the price is right. Justice comes at a price, on whose altar the rule of law is sacrificed.
But the Lord will not hold any elected or appointed leader guiltless for his or her failure to lead the people in righteousness, justice and truth, reminding his un-repenting elected and appointed leaders: “Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.”
While the people of Israel were suffering, their leaders were swimming in the money and good times, which same can be said of the leaders of Sierra Leone post Ernest Bai Koroma. Reminding leaders of how far they had fallen, the Lord speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 5 verse 28 said that the leaders of Israel have “grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.”
It goes without saying that the effects of a rebellious and thieving government regime is far reaching. For a political leadership that has shown itself as caring only about theirs as opposed to the interests and needs of the electorates, the Lord reminded the leaders of Israel, and by default those of Sierra Leone headed by president Julius Maada Bio, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel (22 v 27) that: “Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.”
A corrupt government regime does not only affect the morality of a society it also affects access to justice, the effective dispensation of the rule of law, and the effective preaching against sin and unrighteousness by men and women of God.
In Micah 3:11, Jehovah reminded the people that their “leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying: “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.” These leaders are so far gone in their corruption that they are even confident that their newly acquired wealth came about because God is with them as opposed to daylight stealing of the people’s money and mandate.
Societies like Sierra Leone where leadership is a competition of how not to run a government, the Lord stated the reasons why Israel was at that juncture in her governance narrative. Not paying attention to accountability and transparency, Sierra Leone’s leaders under Paopa can easily be seen through the eyes of the Lord when he castigated the leaders of Israel through the prophet Zephaniah (3 v 3-4) saying: “Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning. Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.”
The issue of bribery to subvert the rule of law is one of the reasons for the fall of the nation of Israel. In Sierra Leone members of the public view the judiciary as probably the most corrupt government institution. In their rejection of the 24 June 2023 presidential election result the main opposition APC and flagbearer refused to go to the judiciary, citing instances since 2018 when the judiciary had taken sides with the government regime, going as far as refusing to schedule cases that have a huge bearing on the application of the rule of law in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone’s political leadership must understand that there is a day in store for all who have managed to destroy the Lord’s vineyard by not performing their duty to God and country by the rule of law. The Lord guaranteed this when he spoke through Hosea that the evil deeds of the leaders of Israel “appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from my house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.”
For all leader who have failed to live up to the expectations of the people based on your campaign or election promises, the Lord has a day in store, a day of reckoning for not only failing to lead the people in righteous, justice, and truth, but for setting a bad example for the present and future leadership of the country. As children learn from their parents so a society learns from her political and other public leaders. Lonta!