The Begger Syndrome
The recent statement by billionaire Mo Mohamed that African nations are too small to face the challenges of living as sovereign states because of their size, has been proved with the decision by the Ernest Koroma administration to set up a conference in London, asking for financial aid from the Western World.
That Sierra Leone, a nation with numerous resources and unlike other countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, not threatened by drought or desertification, should go out cap in hands begging for money displays the truism that only a fool stands on the banks of the river and washes his/her hands with spit.
During the past government of Mr. Ahmad-Tejan Kabbah, a similar donor confab, meant to ask the Western world for financial aid was convened in London.
During the conference, Tejan-Kabbah, as president of Sierra Leone, waxed lyrical about the need for foreign help and many a promise was made about how any aid given will be frugally and properly utilized for the purpose for which it was being provided.
Kabbah had made an honest appeal, lamenting about the war and how the country’s industries, including major companies were not working anymore and thereby denying government the much needed resources.
The donor partners attended the conference, they listened and at the end of the day they made pledges which they were really not interested in fulfilling.
Today, we have again seen another leader of Sierra Leone going, cap in hand on a begging gallivanting expedition, couched in high sounding words. The truth is that our government is going on a begging spree.
The question is: Why really should a country like Sierra Leone, endowed with the great resources that nature has provided, have leaders whose only concept of governance is to go out begging?
The answer is that the present leadership, like the past, has lost the initiative, or never had it in the first place, in finding solutions to the implementation of much needed ideas needed to run the country.
The Ernest Koroma government was voted into power, and accepted by the mass of the people, with the belief that unlike the past administration, they will be able to harness the people and the resources for the betterment of the nation. To the gross disappointment of many, just as usual, Sierra Leoneans are out again, going to London to beg for money!
England is our colonial masters, so if we are in need, nowhere else is convenient except London, where our masters will help, as former British PM Tony Blair is already doing, in adding his voice to the cry for money.
It becomes a rather demeaning process, when we see our leaders going out to beg for financial aid, and I believe, notwithstanding the expression of interest in trying to help Sierra Leone, the British might well be laughing behind their fingers. “Here comes the Sierra Leoneans again begging for more!”
What will the APC government achieve in using such a huge sum of money taking all these people to London to ask for help? Minister of Trade David Carew, Finance Minister Dr. Samura Kamara, Information Minster Alhaji I.Ben Kargbo, Energy Minister Ogunlade Davidson, Tourism Minister Hindolo Trye, Mayor of Freetown Herbert George-Williams, Chairman of Kailahun District Council Tom Nyuma, Chairman of Kono District Council John Yambasu, Civil Society Advocate Charles Mambu, Mr. Umaru Fofanah of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, and many many more.
Can we fool the Western world that we are ready and willing to refrain from extravagant and corrupt lifestyles in governance while taking such a huge crowd to a donor conference? Nobody can deny the fact that Sierra Leone needs help, the concern is that, are the ones begging for help the right individuals to be in control of these monies, will they not see it as another chance to share the loot amongst themselves with the belief that it is their own time?
The monies given out to the Tejan-Kabbah administration by the Western world are yet to be properly accounted for, and one of the conditions of the money then provided under the PRSP was that it should not be used till after elections. The belief being that the then government was not trusted with such a huge sum of money.
Whether the money was provided to the present government or not, no one, at least not the man or the woman at the grass root level, knows what has happened to this PRSP money. The question now begging for an answer is: How sincere and incorrupt is the present government to be trusted with money?
Even as the Koroma government continues in office, a series of corruption scandals have hit the cabinet, all proving that there is something wrong in Sierra Leone.
What we need now is a leader who can bring in new ideas, and not follow the well beaten beggar’s pathway. We need new leaders with new initiatives and we want people who can lead the people and not those who might lead us along the same pathway.
The people are waiting to see the results of another usual appeal for help.
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