Sierra Leone’s reputation of being one of the United Nations’ success stories seems to be hanging on a thread. Worst still, the apprehension within UN circles that the country risks sliding back into another conflict if peace is not consolidated, is realistic.
It does not take a rocket scientist to acknowledge that something is wrong with Sierra Leone because graphic writings are on the wall for all to see: a dangerously polarized country along ethnic, regional and political lines, a deep-seated mistrust between the two main political parties in the country, a spate of uncontrolled politically-motivated violence, widespread lawlessness among the populace, a compromised state security apparatus, and the seemingly entrenched culture of impunity among the political class. And the list is endless.
In fact, in a recent BBC interview, Information Minister, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo admitted that the country is polarized along ethnic and regional lines but blamed it on “coincidence”. I’m taking a contrary view. That the country has reached this point of intense animosity for each other is an outcome of deliberate actions (or inaction) by actors across the political divide. I will return later to shed more light on this point.
In retrospect though, Sierra Leone’s accolade as a UN success story was not all that misplaced. It was probably justified when the following milestones are taken into consideration: a successful disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme; a credible truth and reconciliation process; the successful conduct of four elections - two presidential and parliamentary and two local government elections - judged to be transparent and credible by the international community (although the opposition SLPP is still contesting the result of the previous presidential election in court) and most importantly perhaps, the ability of Sierra Leoneans in the immediate aftermath of the war to put their past behind them and move on with their lives. It was an incredible accomplishment for the government of Sierra Leone, the international community and the people of Sierra Leone. The outcome of the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections and peaceful transfer of power from the one political party to another was particularly seen by the United Nations as a significant boost to its peacekeeping and conflict resolution credentials.
The ugly signs of ethnic and regional divisions were already on the horizon in the run-up to the elections, but one would expect that to be normal at a time when political parties and their supporters were busy tearing each other apart in order to gain the advantage. However, almost immediately after President Koroma assumed power, the country started witnessing a steady decline in our national cohesion, and the groundswell of optimism that earlier cheered this “success story” of a peaceful, united country poised to catch up with its neighbours, gave way to pessimism. Where did it all go wrong? A combination of several factors account for this unfortunate trend.
First, there was a failure on the part of the leadership of the two bellicose political parties to facilitate a period of national healing in the immediate aftermath of the 2007 elections. This situation was exacerbated by two contrasting feeling across the political divided. While supporters of the opposition SLPP think they have been robbed of an election victory and were therefore apparently unwilling to cooperate with the new government, supporters of the APC on the other hand, genuinely believed their political rivals were reluctant to come to terms with the reality of an election defeat and were out there determined to sabotage their progressive reform programs.
In the midst of all these, an unprecedented wave of sporadic acts of revenge sprang up in Freetown. Some heads of schools and other government institutions were removed by people who believed it was their turn to have some of their own to run these institutions. The heads of the Immigration Department and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (as it was known then) were among those who lost their jobs through mob actions. Although those incidents were short-lived, it nonetheless sent shock waves down the spine of many opposition supporters. But these were just symptoms of an already ruptured country.
Shortly thereafter, the country witness what appeared to be a systematic removal of many senior officials from high-profile government offices. The opposition cried fouled and accused the APC of purging from government people perceived to be their supporters and/or sympathizers.
To add a spark to this already lain tinderbox, the government’s handling of the investigations of series of post-election skirmishes in the aftermath of the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections as well as those leading to the 2008 local government elections, did not give a clear message to sections of the country that a president has been elected for all Sierra Leoneans. For instance, the President refusal to implement recommendations of the Shears-Moses Commission of Inquiry set up to look into political disturbances in Freetown, Gendema and Kenema left a bitter taste in the mouth of the opposition, many of whom felt genuinely robbed of justice. Worst still, many observers believe the government did not do a good job in handling both the intra-party skirmish and the inter-party violence that took place last September in Kono and Bo respectively. And as for this year, the first two weeks in January witnessed two separate violent incidents - a Rambo-style shootout by hip hop musicians followed a violent bye-election in Freetown - that left three people dead and at least two people injured. There again the police demonstrated not only how compromised they have become but also how they have transformed themselves into instruments of state repression. Imagine how many of such events will happen in the fifty-two weeks should this ugly trend continue.
I’m presenting all these pictures of disturbances around the country since 2007 to make the point that although the violence may appear to be isolated events, they nonetheless give an impression of a systematic pattern of lawlessness across the country, which the government is apparently unable or lack the political will to address with the honesty it deserves. And observers believe, with some justification that this seeming lack of political will to act tough on violence has encouraged the culture of impunity in the country.
Suffice it to point out that the fundamental factor responsible for these sporadic acts of mindless violence is the absence of genuine dialogue among leaders of the different political parties. Rather than talking to each other, our politicians are busy treating each other with contempt and scorn as if they are not competing to head the same country; hence the deep-seated malice among their supporters. A senior UN official told me that unless our leaders start talking now and give that impression to their supporters that after all, they are only using different platforms to achieve the same goal, the November 2012 elections would be challenging for the country.
To that end, President Koroma should swallow his pride and display statesmanship by reaching out to the opposition for genuine dialogue. A tour of some provincial cities.
