Who do you think he is? A leader of a tribe or a Sierra Leonean?

After Sierra Leone gained independence from the colonialism of the British on 27th April 1961, the country had been governed by many leaders, some were appointed, elected, and others captured power forcefully.  Most of the leadership had been largely influenced by tribal and regional politics. The elements of tribalism and regionalism had been employed by devilish people, operatives and  enemies of progress to wreck a beautiful country like Sierra Leone. Brothers were turned against their brothers, countrymen against their countrymen, fuelling tribal and regional vendetta especially the South/East against the North or the other way round. All of these led to Sierra Leone’s senseless and brutal civil war. The war came about as a consequence of all the negative build up of Sierra Leone’s practice of chronic tribalism and regionalism just to gain tribal and regional supremacy, quest for power and material gain which are all vanity.   (Photo: Alfred Sorie Kargbo)

Have the power and material things gained being everlasting or positively benefited the individuals or groups or even Sierra Leone? No. It led to the loss of tens of thousands of innocent lives and properties.  As if these troubles were not sufficiently enough people are still trying to cause or orchestrate similar evil and havoc by pointing out who is a Mende, Temne, Loko, Creole or Limba. What tribe a person is, or which region is he/she from, should never be a matter of concern in Sierra Leone politics arena again. Tribalism, sectionalism and regionalism have not benefited Sierra Leone a bit instead that have put us apart, created marginalization and abject poverty.

Let us learn from our mistakes as Sierra Leoneans. Let us address the root cause of tribalism and regionalism and what led to our merciless civil war. Let us think as to how we can  avoid tribal and regional sentiment in order to prevent another civil war. What we should be concerned about is how can we forge forward as a big family, one people, single country and as everyone’s keeper. 

The Americans and Europeans had fought their wars (World War I and II) in the 1940s. They had enough of that. They critically analyzed what went wrong and they found preventive measures not to allow recurrence of such madness again. Now they are as one force resisting any insane war or insecurity or threat to their lives. Their post-war development to now is admirable. This is attained as a result of their unity. They believe in the old adage of ‘ United we stand, divided we fall’.

Similarly, this is what we should be doing in Sierra Leone in particular and Africa at large. We should try to formulate corrective measures as to how to correct our terrible past and prevent any potential violence or war.

The recent media development as to what tribe President Ernest Bai Koroma belongs is a very trivial and immaterial issue. President Koroma is a Mende, Limba, Temne, Loko, Creole, Kono and all the tribes of Sierra Leone.  He should not be even considered as a president of any tribe but as a president of Sierra Leone, doing what the people wanted him to do, which he is tirelessly doing and no amount of intimidation will deter him to accomplish what he has been sent by God to do for Sierra Leone. Him bringing development in Kono, Kailahun, Makeni, Bo, Kenema, Kambia and other parts of the country made him man of the people of Sierra Leone.

Written by Alfred Sorie Kargbo, the Netherlands

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