By Isaac Massaquoi
You know, I am very proud about my background, growing up in Brookfields, in the west of Freetown, which is part of 109, from the 70s to the 90s – very proud indeed and I have maintained my links with the area since I left at the end of 1990 on my way to FBC, after twenty years at Rock Lane – I know the place, the people and the politics inside out. Interesting times lie ahead.
Let me say from the outset that this is the most difficult constituency in the Western Urban area of Sierra Leone. Consider this: despite all that has been done to improve the area, it basically remains a slum, by any definition. I am talking about New England, Brookfields proper – that takes in areas like Bass Street, Prison Barracks, Ogoo and Morgan Lanes and Congo Market. Dworzark Farm now called George Brook, and King George Farm, an area west of Old Railway Line, near Janju Street, linking up with Savage Street. And finally, the new settlement called Sumaila Town. This is constituency 109.
I came to live with my late Uncle in this part of town in 1974 straight from my village in the Deep South of the country. I was enrolled into the Bishop Baughman Memorial UMC School on Bright Street and later, the Fergusson Street Municipal School. Imagine what obtains today in the areas mentioned above even with a few social interventions by government and NGOs in terms of the socio-economic morass gripping the areas– the multitude of children out of school, hopeless young people, unwanted pregnancies, broken homes, destitution, disease, crime and the fear of crime – go back thirty years then and imagine what it was like when I arrived to start schooling.
Dworzark and New England were only beginning to be settled, Brookfields was like a gangland populated by hard core criminals, kept in place by Siaka Stevens. From the close proximity of his lodge on King Harman Road, he manipulated the young minds and used them to harass his perceived political opponents when he needed to. They young people committed all sorts of crime including murder. When the outcry grew louder and louder particularly after the murder of a policeman at Ogoo Lane, Siaka Stevens told the nation he will “set an example”. He got the boys hurriedly tried and ordered the execution of six including a fun-loving guy called SPEAKER. Stevens crudely displayed their bodies outside the Pademba Road prison yard for all to see. SPEAKER and others probably committed murder but the fact is that they were themselves victims of a cruel political game plan by which Siaka Stevens was to dominate Sierra Leone politics for more than 20 years.
In terms of political representation, Constituency 109 has never been lucky. I was too young to understand what happened under the late APC man JT Kanu who represented the place in those days but after him came the late Sylvanus Sama Kamara, commonly called MORADO, a very lucky Siaka Stevens boy who was truly loved by the people. He squandered that goodwill by proving completely ineffective and in his later years was embroiled in land scandals that damaged him even though he managed to fight off stiff challenges from political fortuneseekers like Saidu Moscow and Thomas Conteh. Dr. Lahai Taylor was always on the ballot and only for that reason, really.
So what do we have today in 109? We have a constituency where no matter what people say; and I am ready to listen to them, the infrastructure is very basic, many children of school-going age are not in school, homes are being run from the paltry proceeds of petty trading at Congo Market, crimes and other forms of anti-social behaviour are on the increase and there is general hopelessness among the large youth population.
This is not unique to this area, but by Jove, it’s very serious, even threatening in 109. In a scenario like this, how can anybody elected to parliament to represent this constituency in a country as poor as Sierra Leone even begin to do his job?
In the last few weeks, I have heard two people on radio putting themselves forward for the job. I know both of them. Mustapha Atilla is one of the country’s greatest radio talk show hosts who made his name on FM 96.2 in the 90s. He had a unique way of reaching his listeners with incisive political debates and fun on a daily basis – Mustapha is a great entertainer too. He is politically untested but as a household name in 109, he might do well if his name gets on the ballot.
The incumbent MP, Julius Cuffie lived about two hundred yards from me at the time I was there. I am a friend of his entire family. Like Mustapha, Julius represents the few success stories out of 109 where many of our playmates did not complete high school. Many dropped out and easily found jobs as prison officers – a job that was accessible to young people growing up in the place owing to its proximity with Prison HQ and the extensive contacts with the big men in the department.
In the late 80s, I was now out of school looking for something else to do. My uncle’s friend came visiting one day and offered that he could get me a job as a prison officer without difficulty. With joy written all over his face, my uncle called me to the room once his visitor left and broke the “good news”. He suggested I could be in for training in a week’s time if I accepted the offer. My uncle was shocked beyond belief when I turned it down and instead asked him to help me proceed to FBC. May be I should have started life there.
The truth is; seeing those prison officers regularly bringing prisoners to the barracks and surrounding areas everyday to empty toilets was the most demeaning thing to me. I don’t know if it is still happening, but the thought that locking people up and taking jailbirds round to clean toilets daily was the only job of the prison officer, was what caused me to reject the job offer. I met very decent prison officers at FBC a few years later and I related this experience to them. They smiled and gave me a real lesson in what correctional systems are to the rest of society.
Today, they hold senior positions in that department. I should say that prisons department has fallen off the national priority list – sadly though and the consequences are there for all to see. The central jail is overcrowded - strangely, with people on remand; those programmes that were put in place to prepare prisoners for their return to society are no more. All they are bringing back to us is more criminality.
I think it’s really sad that Mustapha Atilla and Julius Cuffie are running against each other. Election can be very divisive. In the end, the constituency will lose one of them. I don’t yet know who the opposition parties will be putting forward. I heard Atilla on radio talking about why he wants to join active politics and how he could bring about real transformation. He is man who is passionate about everything he does; so I wish him well.
Last week I listened to Julius talking about his achievements and why he should be given a second chance. My honest opinion is: considering the population of constituency 109 and the near neglect the place has suffered since the NPRC built the roads in the main Brookfields area, any ‘development project’ done, is a drop in the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
It’s a fact that constituency 109 is the only place in Freetown that has always remained fiercely loyal to the APC, even in those difficult days when the party was thrown out of office by the NPRC. APC draws all its support in that constituency from Congo Market, main Brookfields, parts of Dwozark Farm and Sumaila Town. As the 2007 election result demonstrates, the demographic construction of 109 has changed significantly with new arrivals and young people who’ve come of age and are not particularly tied to those primordial considerations that dictated political outcomes all these years. The SLPP candidate in 2007, Squire, put up a brave fight. I have no idea if Squire is ready to fight again. He could be a real handful.
The last thing the APC wants therefore in 109 is for some kind of an internecine war of words to erupt between Julius Cuffie and MB Atilla. It could be damaging – more damaging indeed, if one of them feels cheated of the symbol and decides to run as an independent candidate – a real possibility.
Constituency 109 needs community centres, it needs footbridges and those other things like roads but what I think the people really need is EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION. There are just too many children of school-going age who are out of school in the constituency. Building roads and community centres are jobs for the central government development program – the place needs more than a Marshall Plan to pull itself out of its problems. I encourage anybody clinching that seat to concentrate on EDUCATION alone for the entire life of their being in Parliament. Let politicians be honest with the people. Making promises you know you can’t fulfil, is dangerous and that should stop now.
There are innovative ways to deliver education to the failing children of this area which the MP must push for. If that doesn’t happen, I am very afraid, joblessness, despair, crime and all that will continue. Those fanciful projects with short-term feel good motives are fine but for this depressing place to be bailed out of poverty and disease, like the whole country, it requires a good education base.
I don’t envy anybody who eventually becomes MP for constituency 109. No, I dont envy them at all! And before you begin to ask a lot of questions or even phone a friend to spread the news based on the headline and my impassioned case for Constituency 109, let me assure you that I have no interest contesting any elections. I am happy to continue teaching at Fourah Bay College and writing this column in Politico newspaper.
Mark this; if the APC loses 109 on November 17, then they will be facing an extremely long night.
