By Shebora Samba Kamara
Lecturer
Mass Communication, Political Science and International Relations.
University of Makeni (Unimak)
Sierra Leone.
Please note: This piece has a bit of Research, observation, wishful thinking, and faith oriented assertions.
There are problems around Leadership, Development and Survival in almost every Country around the World, the simple overwhelming reason is Scarcity of Resources per the growing number of population that need those available resources. So there will always be competition, instabilities, and scramble until such resources completely finish, and if that ever happens, certainly that will be the end of the existence of man.
However, the problem of many African Countries including Nigeria and Sierra Leone is, the very basic needs which can certainly be addressed are not addressed either deliberately or lack of wisdom.
The Nigeria situation:
This is what I am thinking, that God has decided to redeem Nigeria, and it looks like it is working out well for them, but I also strongly believe that, if they waste this opportunity, they will not get another till probably the next Century.
How is God helping them from my perspective?
1. He projected a Leader for them in the person of Peter Obi ,running not under the 2 parties (PDP&APC) that have kept Nigeria in a such an unspeakable situation with all the wealth they have”
2. The Young people are gaining consciousness. They are leading the change, instead of fighting against it as usual. The power has always been in their hands, but they were given an orientation that they don’t have power, they can only survive as bootlickers and party stooges.
*Lessons for Africa: *
1. Mental slavery has always been the key Problem of Africa (Voluntary and Situational)
2. Leadership has always been the Second most important problem of Africa.
3. These problems can be addressed with the right Leadership and approach.
4. Certainly, When this movement starts in Nigeria, it will have ripple effect across Africa and we will all reference the Peter Obi Model of Development.
*Lessons for Sierra Leone *
When God is ready to redeem Sierra Leone and change its situation:
1. He (God)will send a genuine Leader with a clear vision and a honest heart with a clean track record, probably representing a party that is not APC or SLPP.
2. When that Leader shows up, the people especially Young people will accept him/her for who he/she is and not the party, region, tribe he/she is coming from. (We probably might have misused/ never recognized such opportunities in the past)
Please Note: The most serious problem in Sierra Leone is not the Current or Past Leadership, but the young people who have accepted the Status Quo they are inducted into without asking any question (or atleast any serious question), they are willing to die for those olds folks who have kept this Country stagnant since time immemorial.
If you dare engage such young people in a frank conversation, expressing genuine concerns about the wrongs, inability, actions and inactions of their Political Godfathers and their parties, be sure to face the wrath of their narrow minded make up which will certainly come with vulgar language and unnecessary branding, and even a possible portrayal as an “enemy of progress”
You are not allowed to think , talk and act in a critical and rational way even if that is the only way to reach the Common Good.
Certainly the problems of Sierra Leone are complex, they are difficult to fix, but what is more certain is, there are obvious and tangible ways to fix these problems.
Some clear approaches:
We can start by Fixing our mentality about almost everything in our society.
We have to unlearn many things, if we want to break the rigid status quo that has been built for over five decades.
We have to be honest and sincere with ourselves from the smallest of things, we can start from when we are sure no one is even watching.
We start to choose our Leaders with our heads instead of hearts and Stomachs.
We should not allow our Leaders put us in a situation where we can’t ask them the toughest of questions and hold them accountable.
Most importantly we should have a National Development agenda that cuts across parties. Manifestos have proven to fail us overtime, but when we have a binding National agenda with short, medium and long term plans, the only thing we may need from politicians as campaign messages will be the approaches they will use for us to achieve the goals in our plans. With that, we will now have an opportunity to assess what is realistic and achievable and what is not.
These are my thoughts.
Feel free to disagree or add knowledge to this…
Regards.
