By Isaac Massaquoi
So the police have been reading and listening to the people raising concerns about the problem of dangerous and cheap alcohol flooding this country with the potential to lay the foundation for us becoming a nation of drunkards. May be that's too extreme but unless one deliberately refuses to talk about this, the love for alcohol in Sierra Leone has reached incredibly worrying levels in recent times and we must do something to stem the tide.
I was glad to read a press release from the police about two weeks or so ago, promising to clean up our streets and backyards of illegal and dangerous alcohol and punishing those who have destroyed many lives by selling them a kind of alcohol that I believe can only be sold in this country where it seems a free-for-all mentality has taken hold.
But issuing a press release is one thing, getting real work done is another. In fact that's the difficult part. In Sierra Leone, people like issuing press releases for everything. With the improvement in technology, issuing a press release is now easier than buying a loaf of bread at Red Lion Bakery in Freetown.
There are thousands of such press releases flying into newsrooms all over the world on a daily basis. Many are simply trashed. I am sure the police press release on their fight against illegal alcohol production and sale wasn't among those tossed into newsroom trash bins. Not because the content was anything riveting but because it dealt with an issue at the heart of a very serious conversation about the damage that cheap and illegal alcohol is doing to the health of many people in this country, particularly the young ones.
And that press release coming as it did after a recent article I wrote about the subject with the title "How much alcohol is too much alcohol?", left me a little satisfied that at least somebody read the piece and that law enforcement bodies are thinking of doing something about this menace - let's call it that.
In their usual style the police statement called for people illegally selling alcohol to desist, promising stern action against those who think they can ride out the storm the police are promising as was the case for many such police operations like FREE FLOW and W.I.D, both launched to clear the main streets of Freetown of petty traders and derelict vehicles. But I have to say that I also believe the whole talk about illegal alcohol and the police clamping down on roadside hawkers would descend into an unbelievable farce and some of us who are shouting from the roof top for the police to act would be shamed. So like operations free flow and WID, the defaulters would ride out the initial storm and flourish afterwards.
I expect you to immediately charge me with being too pessimistic. I plead guilty to that charge but please allow me to justify my scepticism. All we have seen so far from the police on this matter is that press release and a few skirmishes with roadside alcohol hawkers deliberately orchestrated by the overzealous LUC Memuna who, apart from being too concerned about her place in the history of the Sierra Leone Police and obviously impressing State House, enjoys being under the bright lights of national publicity. Well, for things that appear positive anyway.
It's easy for the police to round up a few petty traders around and charge them with selling illegal alcohol. The media would come flooding the area to pick up the pieces and the impression would then be created in some minds that indeed things are on the move. But scratch below the surface and you will find out that nothing was really happening.
This piece is really not about LUC Memuna. She has many positives but some of us who care a lot about civil liberties are just not comfortable with her style of conducting some operations in a modern democracy. She reminds me a lot about the police director in Charles Taylor's Liberia, a man called Joe Tate. Like our own LUC here, Tate was feared on the streets of Monrovia by the same kind of people Memuna is chasing around the east of Freetown. Let me stop there with the comparisons because Tate came to a very sad end - dying in a plane clash, allegedly orchestrated by Taylor. I don't wish that for our dear LUC Memuna.
The real point I want to make is that unless we have a carefully worked-out plan by which the aspirations of that police press release is actualised, we should all just throw in the towel like defeated boxers and allow the people killing the next generation of Sierra Leoneans to declare victory. The plan I am talking about should start with a series of meetings with all those who have something to do with the project. You must have noticed how far I have gone to avoid using the ubiquitous word, stakeholders.
Those people would include agencies like the standards bureau, an organisation that is badly in need of an innovative and result-oriented way of communicating its relevance to the people of this country; there should be religious and community leaders, the alcohol companies and ordinary people who are interested enough. My list is not exhaustive and I have just rounded up those we journalists call the usual suspects.
Please include people with a reasonable control of the basics of strategic communication in these discussions. It is crucial that the intention of the exercise is well communicated to the different publics at the right time. So unlike other operations, communications should be an integral part of the project. And please note that I am not talking about those boring discussion programmes on TV and radio.
If we don't plan this fight against illegal alcohol well, and we choose to depend on sporadic raids like the ones now taking place, we may simply drive the whole thing underground for a while until LUC Menuna is posted to Kenema, Kambia or Koinadugu and the operation runs out of steam.
Let's not forget that the people who do this business are very rich, powerful and well-connected throughout society and those whose interest we profess to seek in this war against illegal alcohol are likely to side with the alcohol companies. They just can't stop drinking cheap and dangerous alcohol.
I heard a few of them on Universal Radio the other day accusing the police of interfering with their life-style, that they drink alcohol to get temporary relief from the harsh economic realities of today's Sierra Leone, that they are jobless and all that.
Those are clever and well-rehearsed arguments that people have made many years ago. But here's my reply: I would, any day, defend their rights to live their lives the way they want to if the police took on a nanny approach to this challenge - a kind of we-know-what-is-best-for-you. That's unacceptable.
The battle has to be fought over the content and marketing style of the alcoholic drinks. The people of this country have no idea what these alcoholic drinks are made of. And the further concern is that it's being alleged that some of the producers have been thrown out of other countries for bad business practices.
The other point is their alcohol is deliberately packaged to target even under-aged buyers who can afford to spend their lunch money on alcohol. I reject their other point about alcohol relieving them of economic stress. It's those kinds of warped ideas that keep them permanently in alcohol joints.
The licensing procedures abandoned long ago should be reviewed with a view to making them stronger and taking into consideration the marketing tactics employed by the new alcohol producers. This is not an easy job, but somebody must do it in the interest of the coming generations. No progressive nation accepts the reckless sale and use of such cheap and dangerous alcoholic drinks. I hope we're not late already trying to save the next generation.
(C) Politico 11/07/14
