By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
Those who have read Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” might be very familiar with this familiar quote: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves….” This is truly true for, and of, Sierra Leoneans and Sierra Leone!
Sierra Leone, as a nation, is at present in a pretty pickle simply because of the glorification of mediocrity and the lack of a defined national ethos. The country is a very small one. We all know ourselves—somehow. We know the thieves; we know the conmen and con-women (for the sake of gender parity); we know those with thuggish tendencies; we know those who are uselessly useless in their uselessness, and we know those with shady and debased characters; yet we vote or appoint them to public offices on partisan, tribal, and regional considerations.
So, when we sow lemon seeds in every electoral circle; why do we expect to harvest mangoes? How can we expect any politician who has never run a successful and decent home in his life to run a country effectively and decently? How do we expect a politician who has shown his inability to feed and take care of his family properly to manage state resources sagaciously? How can we expect a politician who has always exhibited the flaw of being unable to speak the truth to his wife, his children, his siblings and relatives, and his friends and business associates to rule a country based on truth and justice? And, sadly, since 27 April 1961 when independence was begged from Britain to date, Sierra Leone has had the misfortune of being governed by those who seem to be “absentee” fathers!
Again, if we should take a closer look at how most of our politicians run their homes, then we will appreciate why Sierra Leone is now in a pretty pickle. The home is a microcosm of the wider society. And if a man doesn’t know basic Home Economics or know how to create family values as the patriarch; how do we expect him to manage a country’s economy or truly be a personification of national ethos. And if a man’s life is personally disorganized; then how do we expect him to run the State in an organised way if given the chance?
I think a little digression might help here. When Singapore’s first and longest serving Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was once asked what was the magic behind his country’s transformation from being a Third World country to a bustling Asian hub that was (and still is) renowned for manufacturing, technology and financial services, his answer was: “We recruited the best brains in the Civil Service, the Judiciary, the Police, and Military.” In another interview, he noted that: “I always tried to be correct, not politically correct”. And in terms of his lifestyle, Lee Kuan Yew and his family lived by example! He didn’t shout about corruption from atop Mount Everest whilst he and members of his family, or even members of his inner circle, were neck deep in corrupt practices and other negative “isms”. He always followed his words and promises with actions!
But in Sierra Leone, our leaders do not live by example. We recruit most of the bad eggs in, or from, our families into the Police and Military. Our Bench has always been benched with so-called legal eggheads who appear to be more concerned with maintaining the status quo than the true dispensation of justice. Our Civil Service is being serviced by partisan hawks who have always turned that once bastion of governance into a Me Nar SLPP; You Nar APC circus. Our leaders always try to be more politically correct than morally and legally correct. And speaking truth to power is now considered a sign of “bad heart” (with a Tejan Kabbah-ian pronunciation) by those who are close to, or walking on, the corridors of power.
One of the problems with our national problems is the fact that most Sierra Leoneans are dishonestly dishonest even with themselves. How could some Sierra Leoneans justify their sufferings and what appears to be an organised corruption just to score political points or because it is their tribesmen who are at the rudder of state? And how could some Sierra Leoneans try to justify frivolous government spending simply because they feel that it is their “turn to eat”?
Sierra Leone is where it is today not because it is a cursed nation but because of the manner in which Sierra Leoneans and their politicians are conducting themselves through their actions or inactions. As Cassius would have put it, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves….” We need to change our mindsets in the way we view national issues as Sierra Leoneans. We need to be more nationalistic than partisan in our thoughts and actions—and even our inactions. And our politicians have to get it at the front of their minds (they might forget it easily if they get it at the back) that political power has always been ephemeral not everlasting! As the saying goes, “a handshake doesn’t last forever.”
It is on that note that I will end today’s One Dropian dropping with a quote from Lee Kuan Yew that: “Political leaders are judged, first, by how effectively they have exercised their authority in the interests of their people. Second, by the way in which they have provided for continuity so that a successor government will continue to protect and advance the interests of their people. Third, by the grace with which they leave office and hand over to their successors”.
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