By Habib M Sesay, PhD
Introduction
Since the dawn of political emancipation more than half a century ago, there has been little progress in countries in Africa with reference to the daunting task of political, economic and social development complementary to the technological advancement and transformation experienced by the West, China, India and Tigers of Asia. In general, the countries of Africa lack behind their counterparts in Asia, Europe and North America in the provision of basic services. Also, they are increasingly dependent on the goodwill of donor countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia for survival. Such dependency syndrome negates the ability of the political leadership of countries in Africa to seek and protect their interest in a globalized competitive political landscape where major powers have no permanent friend only permanent interest.
In the same vein, many countries in Africa depend on international financial institutions including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank and International Development Association etc., for formulation of economic policies, regional trade agreements, structural adjustment programmes, multilateral and bilateral loan accords for infrastructural development such as the construction of the hydroelectric power plant at Bumbuna and drug manufacturing factory in progress in the Republic of Sierra Leone and Republic of Mozambique respectively. Indeed, this sort of behaviour of African heads of state and government weakens the meaningful contribution African countries make and the role they play on the world stage.
In the recent past, African countries are inundated with a plethora of problems characterized by huge international debt burden, piracy in the Horn of Africa, ethnic rivalry and civil wars that have crippled Sudan, Niger, Tchad, Central African Republic, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the one hand, there is political stalemate in Zimbabwe where the unity government under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tchangirai is in limbo, unproductive and on the verge of collapse at the expense of Zimbabweans and on other hand, Captain Musa DadisCamara overthrew the government of the Republic of Guinea –Conakry, West Africa in a coup d’état after the demise in office of strongman LansanaConteh in December 2009. President Conteh was in office for twenty four years. The Republic of Guinea-Conakry has recently elected a democratic government.
The aftermath of the above scenario include political instability that cause internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, chronic economic stagnation as well as destruction of socio-economic infrastructures and cultural artifacts that take many years to build and are not easily replaceable. It is in line with the above that Habib Sesay argues in Refugee Crisis: A Case Study of the Economic Community of West African States that Africa contributes over 60% of the world refugee population.
In tandem with the above crises, there are a number of problems associated with the provision of hospitals, clinics, community health centers, drugs, post delivery management, and preventable water borne diseases: malaria, cholera, dysentery and diarrhea. Suffice it to say that HIV poses the greatest threat in Africa. Indeed, the pandemic has brought sufferings to widows, widowers and children in Sub –Saharan Africa more than any other continent in the world. Many children in Central, East and Southern Africa are made orphans through HIV infection. The worst scenario is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel with reference to finding a permanent cure even though there are drugs that prolong the lives of patients who are HIV positive. In retrospect, Africa began the third millennium on a somber platform reminiscent in many countries in the continent. Indeed, Sierra Leone is not an exception.
Taproot of Social Malaise in Sierra Leone: Irony of Misery in Wealth
The Republic of Sierra Leone is situated on the bulge of the West Coast of Africa. It has an area of 72,000 kilometers and an estimated population of 7,000,000. It is safe to point out that the above population estimate serves only as a working figure for this article since the Government of Sierra Leone is yet to take census and present the rest of the world with an accurate, credible and reliable population of Sierra Leone since the civil conflict officially ended in 2002. This might be difficult to achieve because refugees from the Sub-region of West Africa, Europe, United States of America, Canada and Australia are gradually returning home. The last census of Sierra Leone was taken more than a decade ago.
Sierra Leone is the one hundredth member of the United Nations and a founding member of the Mano River Union. The other member countries are Republic of Liberia and the Republic of Guinea - Conakry. The Mano River Union countries have common, contiguous and porous borders which is ideal for economic cooperation, development and international trade with emphasis on the movement of goods and services across national frontiers.
Relative to large countries in Africa for example Sudan, Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria; Sierra Leone is a mid-size country about the size of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick. It is situated within the Equator and Tropic of Cancer. It has tropical climate characterized by abundant sun shine, annual temperature range of sixty and eighty degrees Fahrenheit and, eighty inches rainfall per year. The tropical climate provides Sierra Leone with conditions for the cultivation of a variety of foods including rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, and coco-yams as well as fruits: oranges, mangoes, papaya, banana, plantain and water melon. The fibers and fruits are staple foods in Sierra Leone.
Also, Sierra Leone is endowed with abundant mineral resources namely diamond, gold, iron ore, bauxite, rutile, titanium and zircon as well as agricultural products: coco, coffee, piassava, ginger, palm oil and palm kernel. The mineral and agricultural resources are exported to Europe and North America. They are major sources of foreign exchange for the Government of Sierra Leone.
The enormity of wealth in mineral and agricultural resources is yet to have positive impact on infrastructural development, standard of living and economic well-being of majority of Sierra Leoneans. The devastating internecine conflict left amputees abound in the capital city - Freetown, regional headquarters cities of Bo, Kenema and Makeni etc., and elsewhere who survive solely by begging, dilapidated artifacts, bridges, highways and feeder road networks. The author argues that only a few Sierra Leoneans escape squalid conditions. Currently, unemployment - a major source of poverty is immeasurable among youths in urban and the country sides. Indeed, the high percentage of Sierra Leoneans without gainful employment poses the greatest threat to the fragile peace, political stability and democracy since the end of the civil war in 3002.
Essentially, there is misery in all sectors of the Sierra Leonean society dramatized by anti – social behaviours, inadequate and infrequent supply of electricity, piped borne water in the capital city, Freetown, environs as well as urban centres in the regions. The spate of recent night and highway robbery perpetuated by armed gangs particularly in the regions is troubling and cannot be over emphasized.
Imperial Rule and the Struggle for National Liberation
Sierra Leone was among the first countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that experienced colonial overtures from Portuguese and Spanish explorers who established way station for fresh water in Freetown at the end of the Fifteenth Century. At the heels of the explorers were religious expeditions led by the Church Missionary Society and trading companies. While missionaries converted non-believers and animists to Christianity, the Sierra Leone Company laid the cornerstone for future exploitation of vital agricultural and mineral resources. In the same vein, the British Government established rudimentary constitutional administration at the local level in the middle of the Nineteenth Century. In that regard, constitutional development of Sierra Leone started in full swing when the British Colonial Administration granted Charter to the Municipality of Freetown in 1863. Today, Freetown is the current capital and seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. This makes the Municipality of Freetown one of the oldest elected local governments in Sub-Saharan Africa.
At the end of the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century, the Christian Missionary Society (CMS), under the rubric of rudimentary British Colonial Administration founded Fourah Bay College, the first institution of higher learning in Sub –Saharan Africa in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1827. Since its founding, Fourah Bay College evolved to become the citadel of learning in West Africa. Currently, it is a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone. Suffice it to say that Fourah Bay College was dubbed the “Athens of West Africa” in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries because its graduates were proficient scholars, priests, community and government leaders in West Africa.
In tandem with the over whelming burning desire of the majority of subjugated people in colonies in Africa and elsewhere, a host of African nationalists including Osageafo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1957), SekouToure of Guinea – Conakry (1958), Modibo Keita of Mali (1958), Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia (1964) and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya (1964) campaigned and achieved independence for their respective countries from European imperial powers, Great Britain and France. Under the leadership of Dr. Milton Augustus StriebyMargai, who was the first trained physician from the Protectorate, Sierra Leone achieved independence from Great Britain without armed confrontation during the struggle for national liberation on 27th April 1961, and subsequently became a republic within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1971.
The euphoria for independence was characterized by great optimism, socio-economic development and great expectations from the people of Africa and Diaspora in general and Sierra Leoneans in particular.
In conjunction with the aspirations of the majority of Sierra Leoneans in the post-independence era, the Government of Sierra Leone initiated a number of development programmes including building of primary, secondary and technical schools; hospitals, community health centres, clinics and low-cost houses in urban centres. Interestingly, the enrollment in primary, secondary and technical schools as well as in higher education institutions increased threefold and forty percent respectfully. Notwithstanding, the author would like to point out that enrollment in primary school in the northern region increased remarkably from 3,291 to 24,034 in 1963, a sevenfold increment during the same period under review.
Demise of Political Pluralism, Rise of Dictatorial Rule and Effects
Of the One – Party Constitution
The Republic of Sierra Leone achieved political freedom on the Westminster model of British constitutionalism. The model laid the cornerstone of the formation, growth and development of opinions that nurture into parties, movements and associations. Indeed, many political parties emerged in the Western Area and regions of Sierra Leone in the post-independence era and they fiercely competed for political power in national and local government elections on the basis of one man one vote, respect for fundamental human rights, freedom of the press and unimpeded access to opportunities. Interestingly, basic social services including electricity, piped borne water, paved streets in the capital – Freetown, mass transit system and employment for those who wish to work etc., were adequately provided during imperial rule and in the first decade of the post-independence era.
A significant precedent was set at the polls by the electorate in the post – independence politics in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone People’s Party, the government party since the achievement of internal self-rule in 1957, was defeated by the opposition All People’s Congress Party in the 1967 General Elections. Indeed, it was a watershed in the management of free, fair and transparent electoral process for the rest of the countries in post-independence Africa to emulate and a significant turning point in the political landscape of Sierra Leone.
After a brief military inter regnum of about a year, the National Reformation Council (NRC), the military junta under the Chairmanship of Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith was overthrown in a bloodless coup d’état by non-commissioned officers in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police. The coup d’état restored a civilian government under the leadership of SiakaProbyn Stevens of the All People’s Congress Party. The Right Honourable Stevens was sworn into office as prime minister by Sir Henry Josia Lightfoot-Boston, Governor-General of Sierra Leone at State House in April 1968. The transfer of power to the opposition All People’s Congress Party after a brief military inter regnum underscored political maturity and respect Sierra Leoneans have for democratic ethos and institutions.
However, due to exigencies of electioneering, it would take thirty years before free and fair national elections would be conducted in Sierra Leone. President Siaka Stevens ruled Sierra Leone with an iron fist for seventeen years: 1968-1985.
The carte Blanc electoral victory of the All People’s Congress Party gave rise to institutionalized corruption on a scale never seen in the political development of Sierra Leone in all sectors of government including State House under President SiakaStevens acquiescence. Furthermore, it was under the leadership of President Stevens that the All People’s Congress Party ruthlessly undermined the democratic values and institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission, free and fair elections and voters list that Prime Minister Stevens capitalized on to ascend to power.
In order to consolidate power, Prime Minister Stevens condoned with impunity intimidation, thugery, violence and the one-party state as his brand of politics and tactics that kept him in power until his voluntary retirement in 1985. He employed political shrewdness to his advantage by transferring power to a hand- picked crony, Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, Commandant of the Sierra Leone Military Forces to be leader of the All People’s Congress Party in a one-party political system orchestrated and ratified in a stage managed referendum in 1978.9 Essentially, the electorate was presented with a fait accompli national elections in 1973 that elected only All People’s Congress Party candidates to parliament that led to a de-facto one –party state.
Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh was the Commandant of the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces. He ruled Sierra Leone for seven years and was over thrown by junior army officers in a bloodless coup d’ état in 1992. President Momoh’s notorious regime protected former President Stevens from prosecution for economic crimes, corruption and human rights violations against his compatriots during his seventeen – year rule of Sierra Leone. President Siaka Steven died of natural causes in 1988.
During the 1980s and beyond, African countries were engulfed in an avalanche of political, social and economic upheavals. On one hand, majority of African countries was
overwhelmed by protracted armed conflicts characterized by coups, ethnic, border and religious wars. On the other hand, the crises were fueled by corruption; drug trafficking, money laundering and mismanagement of public funds. Furthermore, countries in Sub – Saharan Africa experienced harsh economic realities as prices of minerals and agricultural commodities with the exception of oil spiraled downwards which contributed to a substantial fall in national incomes.
Similar to the rest of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the economy of Sierra Leone remained particularly vulnerable because the extractive and agricultural sectors that produced seventy percent and twenty per cent of foreign exchange earnings respectively were hit hard by the unfavourable international economic environment caused by the dramatic fall in the price of diamond, gold, iron ore, cocoa, coffee and piassava which partially contributed to a significant drop in national revenue.
Sierra Leone experienced -1.0 - 0.7% annual growth rate throughout the 1980’s which resulted to a fall in gross domestic product (GDP) from US$1.1 billion to US$859 million. Additionally, there was a significant fall in the export of diamond due to the collapse of the mining industry when it became free for all. Illegal mining increased tremendously and above all, proceeds from the illegal operations were smuggled out of Sierra Leone. It was an era of rapacious plunder of a vital resource at the expense of national development. In the late 1980’s, Sierra Leone could boast of a meager reserve of US $500 million against US$ 1.2 billion debt.
Sierra Leone Government revenue continued to fall throughout the 1980s. The attempt by the International Monetary Fund to salvage the economic debacle of Sierra Leone came too late. The economy continued its downward slide and in 1993, overseas development aid received by the Government of Sierra Leone was twice the internally generated revenue.
Preceding the above scenario were similar economic difficulties in the 1960s and 1970s. The acute economic problems that persisted in the late 1960s were caused by corruption, illegal siphoning of funds from the treasury and mismanagement of the economy by the National Reformation Council. Among other things, the crisis exacerbated in the 1970s when Prime Minister Siaka Stevens orchestrated the change from monarchial constitution to a republican constitution in 1971, called national elections in 1973 that forced the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party candidates to withdraw for their safety. Indeed, the manifestations of the One-Party constitution partially brought the Sierra Leone economy to the brink of collapse.
Note: a paper presented at the 16th Annual National Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Knowledge on the theme From Policy to Practice: Bridging the Gap in Education in Nigeria scheduled at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumouolumeni-Port Harcourt, Nigeria 10th - 14th March
About the author: Habib M Sesay, PhD is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law,Fourah Bay College - University of Sierra Leone.
(C) Politico 10/03/16
