Are our leaders blind or what?

This is neither a symbolism of the inability of blind people nor is it intended to disparage the capabilities of the visually impaired. Rather, it is to question the efficacy of the vision of those parading the length and breadth of this planet as leaders of Sierra Leone.

Every evening, sitting on my cubicle-like veranda overlooking the Lungi landscape, I could see aircraft flying in and out of the country in rapid succession. There is no way anyone can convince me that some of those flights are not transporting our leaders to and from various conferences and other assignments abroad. Of course, there is nothing wrong in representing your country in a seminar, workshop or conference overseas. If anything, these are statutory, bilateral or multilateral obligations.

What has been amazing and still amazes me however is this! When Sierra Leonean governors visit countries abroad, are they not perturbed by the magnitude of infrastructural advancement they see? When the president and visit countries like China; sorry, comparing Sierra Leone and China would be tantamount to equating an energetic youth to an old folk suffering from a dreaded terminal illness. Let’s say the Gambia, did he not feel an urge that we are desperately in need of development? When disembarking from Brussels or Arik airlines, have any of our Ministers or Parliamentarians bowed their heads in shame on seeing the Freetown International Airport? Do they want to tell us that they normally suffer from mysterious blindness when departing Sierra Leone or from amnesia when arriving in the country?

Sincerely speaking, one only needs to take a walk through the streets of Conakry to agree with me that something is seriously wrong with the developmental sight of those we call our leaders. If Conakry does not suffice; fly to Cairo in North Africa, or Nairobi in East Africa or better still Cape Town in Southern Africa. Albeit with their excesses and what have you, these cities are an embodiment of sound socio-economic planning and an epitome of solid infrastructural arrangement.

To mark their 50th independence anniversary, President Abdulahi Wade of Senegal made history by constructing a giant statue that is visibly seen from their airport. As this happens, one begin to wonder, what will Sierra Leone show after 50 years of self governance?

A battered economy? Institutionalized corruption? Derelict and dilapidated houses in the cities? Public hospitals that can only be comfortably used by the proletariat? Massive unemployment aggravated by underemployment? Deplorable road networks? Widespread illiteracy? Selective justice? Low standard and high cost-of- living with a corresponding low life expectancy? The list is endless and can better be completed when one takes a critical look at every sphere of life in the country.

To be candid, I am not convinced that our leaders are so senseless that they couldn’t see the harsh realities of what prevails in their country. Little wonder, in their desire to capture political power, they usually build castles in the air. No sooner power is bestowed upon them than they change their aspirations. A case in point can be traced in constituency 105 in central Freetown where the constituents are daily crying for their parliamentarian, and Councillor to deliver what they promised. As if they are recalcitrant to progress, less than 24 months after they were elected, these people abandoned their subjects.

Judging by their physical appearance, these are not visually challenged people, their sense of sight is as sound as that of a millipede. Even if they were blind that does not presuppose that they shouldn’t develop their country. There are other senses that can be efficiently used for national progress. If blindness do not militate against the enviable achievements of the celebrated poet John Milton; musician, Mustapha Bai Atilla; broadcaster, James Taiwo Cullen and others, I wonder why it should against our leaders.

So unprogressive is the socio-economic, political and cultural fabrics of our society that people use their life savings in fraudulent travelling programmes, in extreme circumstances they sell their houses to secure visas to the United Kingdom or the United States. No one needs reminding our governors of their statutory obligations to serve the nation in the best interest of all. After all, their per diems and all they spend in plushy hotels are paid for by our taxes.

If you are one of our leaders and you happen to read this, please remember that Sierra Leoneans deserve more than what they are getting now. Gone are the days of lofty promises and less action, what the people need now is action. Actions that would speedily transform this eyesore city of Freetown into a state-of-the-art one. Until leaders exculpate themselves of the charges of willful underdevelopment, the masses will continue to lash at them. Open your eyes to the realities, copy good paradigms from other countries, gone are the days when you should feign blindness.

By Mohamed Faray Kargbo, Mass Comm student-FBC

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