Do not bastardise the constitution

It is fast becoming evident that not many Sierra Leoneans are really au fait with the type of issues that should be included in a national constitution. A national constitution is the yardstick of measurement for a Government.

That being the case, why do some Sierra Leoneans want a free health care service to be a constitutional mandate? It is ironical that a country such as Sierra Leone, within the poverty bracket in Africa, should wish to provide free health care to its citizens, when even great powers like Britain and the United States of America view such issues to be measured against the financial capacity of the Government.

To borrow money from the IMF and the World Bank in order to provide a free health care service is, to say the least, a cosmetic development and a contradiction in terms.

The free health care delivery service should remain a policy issue that should be considered relative to the economic muscle of the State but surely not a constitutional issue.

Why health and not education, water and shelter? It was the RUF leader, Corporal Foday Saybana Sankoh who first came out with the idea of a free health care service as well as free education. His contention was that the country is so rich in minerals that such facilities need not be denied to the people.

However, looking at the performance of Governments since that time, barely existing on donor funds, it makes no sense for our constitution to entrench or even mention a free health care service for the people of this country, at least for now. To do so is to set a trap for future Governments, who, because they may lack the capacity to continue with the constitutional mandate, will stand to be subjected to accusations of derailing the process.

As Sierra Leoneans, let us have respect for our constitution, so that it stands the test of time and not to subject it to frequent changes on every figment of the imagination by some politicians or party supporters.

The free health care is an automatic outcome of a developed nation, which in turn is an outcome of an educated nation. Meaning that, if any service is to be constitutionalised it needs, as a matter of priority, to be education, which is the only means of moving the citizens from ignorance and abject poverty into prosperity.

We are all aware of the many problems that the current so called free health care is facing in government hospitals and clinics across the country.

So let us allow the free health care service to evolve as the nation develops.

Talking politics, With Jo-Nyangu

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