We Need Leadership by Example

Since Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961, the country is still struggling to have the basic social amenities such as good roads, constant electricity, adequate pipe-borne water supply, sufficient food and housing.

Most parts of the country are still without pipe-borne water, good roads and electricity and the citizens are still scrambling for food and shelter, little wonder we are always occupying the nadir of the UN development index.

It is an open secret that massive corruption and other forms of bad governance have been mainly responsible for the persistent underdevelopment of this diamond-rich nation. Stories of high-profile corruption involving our leaders no longer make news. We have observed that many of our leaders do not really come to power to improve the lot of the masses, but to amass ill-begotten wealth for their fifth and sixth generation of great grand children.

If we are serious about minimizing corruption and achieving our much advertized Agenda for Prosperity, then our leaders must be the first to abstain from obtaining illegal loans and violating procurement procedures; they must be the first to refrain from demanding kickbacks for contracts; they must be the first to stop awarding big government contracts to their wives, brothers and other relatives; they must be the first to stop parking their vehicles at the wrong places; they must be the first to desist from all forms of corruption so that they will have the moral justification to fight corruption.

Our leaders should be role models; they must set the pace; they must lead by example; they must not be the ones engaged in corruption every now and then, otherwise, they will embolden their subjects to follow suit and engage in corruption.

What common sense does it make for leaders to be perpetrating overt corruption and telling the people to avoid corruption? Or are they telling the people to do as they say, not as they do? Our leaders must try to change for the better. Only God and fools cannot change.

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