allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: What's Happening? (Final Part) (Page 1 of 2)

Sierra Leone is a very interesting place. In the first part of my travelogue following a snap visit to the country, I explained about how APC supporters, and by extension their People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) allies, who had accused the SLPP of 'buku tuk' have now started saying the APC 'tu tok', meaning the APC is too talkative.

Just some months ago, APC supporters in their conspicuous red party colours danced enthusiastically to their campaign song 'Notice' - a song whose lyrics accused the SLPP of making the price of a bag of rice Le60, 000. Today, the same supporters say in less than six months, the APC has made the price of a bag of rice nearly Le100, 000 and sarcastically suggest that before they leave office rice will be sold for Le 1,000,000 (one million leones) per bag. What is even more interesting is that, to most people, whether global trend or not, compounded by our annoying laziness to grow what we eat, democracy means government should spoon feed them, as if that is how things operate in the developed world. Or, if I may ask: was making rice cheap one of the APC campaign promises that has already started haunting? Writing as a Sierra Leonean, I honestly do not envy President Koroma as he heads a politically opportunistic society.

Going back to my trip from Freetown to the provinces and how youths had reminded me that our system is rotten and talk of attitudinal change is a farce; while in the bus bound for Kenema, I reflected on an event I had gone to cover in Kakata, the capital town of Margibi County in Liberia, sometime in January.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick was visiting post-war Liberia to have a first-hand understanding of the development challenges facing the country and efforts being made by the government to promote growth and overcome poverty.

Addressing locals, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who had gone alongside the Bank's president, in very simple Liberian English explained Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy. "Government is of the people - this means we represent you; 'for the people' means it is our responsibility to make sure that what we do reflect the things that you want us to do; but there is also 'government by the people' - this means you must do something for yourself, it means you must not sit there and wait for us to come.

You should plant the rice yourselves; you should plant the plantain, banana " In contemporary Sierra Leone, most people think democracy means government should give them free business money; they should street trading everywhere (since Koroma is a business man); they should have electricity without paying bills and so on.

But again, while many ordinary Sierra Leoneans are not enterprising, it is equally good to examine the other side of the coin and then ask the question: Why is it that many people are sceptical that our country will move from its unenviable record of under development?

Reflect on this for instance. When President Koroma, upon assumption of power, pronounced that there will be no sacred cows when it comes to corruption, and that he and his ministers were going to declare their assets, some easily-fooled compatriots were very impressed and gave him a resounding applause. I had my doubts simply because I have had such vibes before by African leaders who later end up as culprits of their own prophecies or anti-corruption crusades.

Several weeks after the pronouncement, the other day I was watching Hardtalk, one of my favourite BBC television programmes. President Koroma was guest.

Wow! I gave the new face of Sierra Leone my fullest attention. I even called up my friend and colleague Osman Benk Sankoh and told him to listen. When asked by Zeinab Badawi why he was yet to declare his assets, Koroma's response among other things was that everybody in Sierra Leone knows his assets. Does everybody know the president's assets? I put my hands over my mouth in utter disbelief. A pathetic excuse, really.

And on the issue of corruption, while any well-meaning Sierra Leonean can understandably get upset over the lack of initiative by the majority of Sierra Leoneans to better their lives, reports of crippling corruption ( which the international community accused the SLPP) in the new administration is sickening.

BBC's Umuru Fofana in his recent article, 'Plan to corrupt, and corrupt your plans', logically argued how previous efforts to curb the nation's bane had apparently been a waste of time and resources. "As long as the attorney general remains a cabinet minister he is compromised," he wrote.

With so much to think about, by 5:30 am, we left Freetown for Kenema, my destination. Road works along the Masiaka - Bo highway are in progress and the once pothole riddled road is gradually giving way to a well paved road. At the risk of sparking off a debate, one passenger loudly credited the previous regime for the work - a fact that was uncontested.

One thing that I gathered during my visit to the country is that most people say lawlessness is on the increase; the police, who had naively celebrated the return of the APC alongside party supporters, have reportedly proved very ineffective to deal with their allies and the menace, accumulation of rubbish in public places remains an eyesore etc. Some people say: "This is the positive change we voted for." I arrived in Kenema, the city of Okada and quickly made use of the easily available commercial motorbike taxi to move around. Unlike Freetown where residents are enjoying relative power supply at all cost (with little revenue for sustainability), in Kenema and Bo, which hitherto had regular power supply, most residents now contend with regular blackout. I gathered that the water level at the Dodo hydro is too low thus the machines are unable to operate.

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