By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
In a country where the main opposition party appears to be in comatose; a country where the Medical and Dental Association seems to be the quietest of all the quiet professional associations; a country where the Bar Association is accused of being politically puppet-stringed; a country where the Journalists’ Association appears to have been bought with subventions from the government, and a country where the Inter-Religious Council seems to be religiously political; there have to be some people who ought to have the guts to speak truth to power.
But Sierra Leoneans who seem to have the guts to speak truth to power are few. Even the few among the very few are becoming handful every day because they appear to have come to the conclusion that they have been throwing water on ducks’ backs. And among the handful of the few are those who have now convinced themselves that the truth appears not to be appreciated in Sierra Leone anymore.
Our Academics seem to be thinking and behaving like frightened illiterates. Our Judiciary no longer seems to be the bastion of justice it once was. Our House of Parliament appears to be a collection of archaic furniture only tolerated by the Executive for their bygone decorativeness. Our Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are compromisingly compromised because of partisan colourations. Our Pastors, Reverends, and Imams appear to be hopelessly hopeless in their hopelessness. The Students’ Unions in most—if not all—universities in Sierra Leone no longer believe in students’ unionisms but in tribalism, regionalism, and keeping silent about intellectual degradation brought about by a “Free Education” programme that is indeed free of all intellectual niceties.
I’m not trying to paint a bleak picture of Sierra Leone—my Sierra Leone—my country of birth. I’m just at pains in trying not to call a spade a garden spoon. What has always been despicable is the fact that most of today’s sycophants in Serra Leone have no reasons whatsoever to be sycophantic in their sycophancy. Hypothetically, a Judge in the Judiciary of Sierra Leone has no reason to be puppet-stringed by the Executive simply because his/her “good” conditions of service will not only maintain him/her in retirement but will comfortably take them to their graves respectfully.
My thoughts on the Judiciary of Sierra Leone seem to have been summed up by John Grisham in the synopsis of his novel, The Whistler, that: “We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity is the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the flow of justice. But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe?”
Indeed, what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? What happens when a judge repeatedly shows that a ruling political party must not lose a case at the country’s Supreme Court no matter how weak or unconstitutional it case is? What happens when the rulings of a particular judge gives majority of citizens the sickening feeling that their bastion of justice is not a place to seek justice but a den of injustice? And what happens when a judge is more partisan than the politicians themselves?
As I ponder in my One Dropian thoughts thoughtfully, a series of questions keep popping up: what happens when most of a country’s judges appear not to be honest and wise? What happens when most of a country’s judges’ integrity seems to be the spanner in the wheel of justice rather than the bedrock of justice? And what happens when most of a country’s judges’ most of the time make no efforts in protecting the rights of all litigants in order to oversee the flow of justice?
Let me, for awhile, forget about the bastion of justice and think of the political wheel of will. Any underdeveloped country will start its trajectory toward progressive progress when its political elite have nurtured the will for meaningful progress. But what happens when the ruling party doesn’t have the will, or stomach if you like, for progressive progress in every sphere of citizens’ progress? And what happens when the main opposition party appears to be in comatose or its stalwarts seriously unserious about their duty of holding the ruling party to account for its stewardship?
Sierra Leone is, at present, in a fine delicate mess simply because truth has been held hostage by untruth which has locked her up in the dungeon of dishonesty. Sierra Leone—my Sierra Leone—my country of birth now appears to be a place of falsehoods. It seems all manner of political correctness has been replaced with political incorrectness in my nation. And my country of birth appears to be break-dancing on the edge of the cliff of willful doom.
And as my thoughtful thoughts rumble One Dropian-ly; I remember those families who are still waiting for closures for their loved ones who were allegedly killed in gangland methods in Makeni, Lunsar, Mile-91, Tonko Limba, Tombo, and the Pademba Road Correctional Centre in Freetown. As Wole Soyinka notes, in his prison memoir The Man Died, “Even in totalitarian states, the time comes when past ‘errors’ are admitted, high-placed criminals unmasked and victims rehabilitated, mostly alas, posthumously!” But, the Bio-led administration is yet to do full investigations into those internal “peacekeeping missions”!
Sierra Leone is today full of political lies and arrogance. Ours is a country where injustice seems to be wearing the clothes of justice as citizens are now being held and tried on seemingly trumped-up charges for the unspeakable crime of belonging to the main opposition party. And Sierra Leone is a country where truth is being murdered on the abattoir of untruths and half-truths!
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