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There’s the story of a political leader who dies and finds himself on a beautiful island in heaven. As he gazed at the splendour and majesty of the place he asks an angel: “whose island is this?” The heavenly being replies: “this is the country you were meant to create but which you never got round to doing.”
So another year has rolled by; not only in the life of the present administration but also in the very existence of the nation. It is what makes it important. It is why we need to also take time out to reflect.
As the nation reaches the landmark in its slow march, a sober reflection of the extraordinary history of the last two years reveals a mixture of worrying signals, frustration and stimulating scenes as Sierra Leone endured some transformation from its over two decades of upheaval and political topsy-turvy.
Looking back on the last twenty four months, one gets the feeling of a chronicle of wasted time spent on spin and too much energy expended on oversight functions. Consequently, the government has become like an analogue in a digital age.
When the journey began, no one could quite predict how it was going to pan out except to hope for the best. Overshadowed by hype and euphoria, the government’s output in the past two years can therefore best be described as a scatter-gun approach to governance.
I am aware that it’s quite easy to go on about things that make us sad in the nation’s affairs in the last two years but thankfully enough where we are now is a hell of a better place than where we used to be. And that is without a shadow of doubt.
The past two and a half decades especially, had left Sierra Leone in a state of mourning and the emergence of Ernest Bai Koroma became an enterprise to bring the nation’s corpse back to life.
At first glance it may seem surprising that after a relatively peaceful two year reign, the odds against EBK transforming the nation, beyond our wildest imagination as he promised, are fractionally longer than at the start.
Looking into the horizon, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that there’s not a rain-cloud in the Sierra Leone sky.
However, as a parent, how would you react if your child came home at the end of a school year with a report card showing the following results in his chosen six primary subjects: Infrastructure and Transportation – F; Youth Unemployment – F; Social Services – E; The Growth Sector – E; Capacity Building – E; Energy and Water Supply – C.?
If this same child had promised to excel beyond recognition and you realise that with just a year to the end of that pledge there are no signs of the brilliance earlier shown that made you believe that a star was in the making, I am sure that as a parent you are likely to be crestfallen and downcast wondering if your investment is going to yield the desired fruits.
So, like Mozart’s last symphony, the government should realise that right now it is still an unfinished work. But a rose cannot remain a rose forever. Its purpose is to flower then to fade. EBK’s place in history now, is to make himself and the nation bloom like a rose.
Unfortunately, as the nation’s centre of gravity, he is surrounded by those who are making his government the centre of levity and this is why overall, the government is slow labouring. You are the company you keep and the ineffectiveness of some of his lieutenants is translating into an overall ineffective leadership and governance.
There has been so much hype about the ability to make a difference and so much expectation that it is almost inevitable that the government would be an anti-climax, especially after the fantasy start during which darkness gave way to light at the snap of a finger.
Expectedly, some gaze in admiration at the ability of the government to make sound bites appear real after that. Time and again they gasp wondering how the machinery can pull it off for this long.
And of course there are doubters who dismissively concluded that nothing good can come out of Israel. They see nothing more than phoney, headline-grabbing, mirror-stunts by illusionists behind every move.
Yet still, we have those who lap up everything done so far and after the ‘slavery’ of the previous eleven years, see the past two as a march to the Promised Land even if it involves the Israelites’ journey.
But Sierra Leone is full of people who are worried about their existence now and their future. They are looking for the insurance of survival and are therefore willing to continue to pay their dues in the hope that their tomorrow will be alright. They have invested their lives heavily in a civil war, deprivation, poverty and even darkness, hunger and hopelessness just to have a taste of a glorious existence.
They are the ones wondering if the circle hovering overhead is a saint’s halo or a noose. Sadly their voices are not being heard above the din and cacophony of politics, intrigues and drama.
The second anniversary of EBK’s reign should be a poignant moment for a candid, honest, brutal and frank reflection by the President himself and lovers of progress. It should be a period that injects much-needed reality into a badly skewed debate.
The President must admit that mistakes have been made e.g. the choice of some wetter-than-a-dog-nose ministers as well as the slow response to very urgent national issues and the lack of visible and feasible policies in some areas.
He needs to show incredible fortitude and courage to resist the blitzkrieg of spin and goading by his lieutenants and the double-standards brigade.
EBK needs to ask himself, with two-fifth of his term of office behind him, whether he has delivered on his promises. He should honestly question his inner self: have I made the lives of the majority of the ordinary people much, much better than expected? Have I made a significant difference as I promised in my agenda for change or is it that as I try to reach for the proverbial sky, I have hardly managed to touch my bootlace?
A brutal soul-searching should make him veer from the current path, wrack his brains and ask, am I taking the nation in the right direction and at the right pace? Are we on the right track or is it just a case of merry-go-round?
If the government is wondering why it is not such a beautiful bride to a majority of the people anymore, the reason is not far-fetched. It is simply because if one has lost all his most treasured possessions, like the masses of this nation have, finding five thousand Leones in the street doesn’t actually make you squeal in ecstasy, unless the money proves to be an absolute life-saver.
I accept that there’s no magic wand or the government would have waved it long ago but the truth is that this administration is also yet to ignore the circus that has surrounded its ascension of the throne. Hence, the import of the need to be more focussed, is lost in the cabaret.
Let’s pause for a thought, some honesty and plain speaking.
O.K. so Bumbuna is on course(?) and the nation is no longer lost in darkness. Good. But sincerely speaking, this will be forgotten as the national life comes into mainstream civilisation again.
So, the time for the real congratulations will be only if the people can turn around in three years time (and thereafter) and say openly without fear of intimidation, political thuggery, rigging and malpractices, that this is the government we want.
That is the real deal. But are the necessary electoral reforms in place for this?
Because in three years time, when we go to the polls in an atmosphere of genuine democracy and independence of the various arms of government, let’s hope that it will not be a case of this region at all costs or the burning ember of tribalism engulfing the nation. Right now, the signs for such an atmosphere are far from real.
The deteriorating security situation in the country, is not only a reflection of the increasingly hard time faced by the people who appear to be on the voyage of the dammed but it is also an undercurrent of a menace which makes nonsense of government’s claim of being in control of the social and security situation.
There’s a mindset in African politics where power holders and supporters revel in labelling any critic as opposition. Sometimes this siege mentality infuriates party members and inspires them to ignoring realities. In other cases the angst turns into paranoia that leads to clashes. We have seen samples but they need to end.
I refuse to be a cheer-leader because from my point of view, the most that can be said is that the nation is at the beginning of a renaissance for heaven’s sake, not at the peak of one. So what’s the applause for? Let’s not forget that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
If you are misunderstanding the temperature of the people; if you are over-reacting to the moan and groan of a segment; if the government continues to conveniently blame one set of circumstances – the SLPP, donors’ tight-fistedness; empty-treasury; people’s attitude etc – for problems caused by other factors such as inept lieutenants, lack of focus and ingenuity as well as dynamism, history tells us that it is unlikely to make much progress. The operative word is much.
This is what has been witnessed in the last two years. It seems to have been forgotten amid all the sentiments and politics that the key issue in any discussion is the future of Sierra Leone and not the leader’s comfort.
Let us be under no illusion, most areas of our national life have either been in a period of stagnation or in retrogression after the fillip of the first six months. It is as if EBK’s equine Midas touch deserted him somewhere along the line.
The hope is that the pain of the past two years fuelled by government’s inaction, exacerbated by the global crisis and sealed by fuzziness of the political arena, will be replaced by real gains to come …… and fast.
There are signs that things are changing but it is no time to bring out the flags in celebration.
TO BE CONTINUED. |
Random Musings 
