Lawlessness Cannot Fight Lawlessness

His Excellency the President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has declared war on lawlessness.  Fine idea!  But the question that remains is whether we are prepared and qualified to fight lawlessness.

Are we lawful enough to fight lawlessness? This is the question we should answer before going on an all out war against lawlessness.

There is the saying that two wrongs cannot make a right. Similarly, two lawless acts cannot make a lawful act in the same vein lawless people cannot fight lawlessness. So, the president’s idea though brilliant, owes its success to the law abiding nature of those fighting the lawlessness. You cannot be a lawless man and fight lawlessness successfully.

Therefore, the president must ensure that those entrusted to fight lawlessness, or all of us Sierra Leoneans, are lawful in order to be in position to fight lawlessness.

Moreover, we should try to trace the origin of the lawlessness and should not just limit it to stubborn street traders and reckless Okada riders. What about the lawless law enforcers, the lawless politicians, the lawless ministers, the lawless pastors, the lawless imams, the lawless doctors and so on.

I believe that our success in the war against lawlessness heavily depends on the lawfulness displayed by our leaders who are supposed to be role-models. The behaviour of leaders be it good or bad, bears the potential to filter down to the least citizen.

If our leaders are lawless, how can they prevail on the masses to be law abiding. I am firmly convinced that on the very day our leaders decide to be respecter of laws, lawlessness will vanish.

You cannot be living in a glass house and throwing stones.

By Joseph Milton Lebbie

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