Of Colours And Symbolism

The symbolism of colours always takes centre stage whenever elections are around the corner. That’s why most members of this press are very conscious never to wear rude colours like red, orange or green whenever we are out on coverage. Because any time one is seen in any of these rude colours, people are quick to put a political tag on you.
Because the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is symbolic of green; the All People’s Congress (APC) is red and the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) is orange, do not mean people should be tagged whenever they put on clothes bearing any of these colours. As William Shakespeare once wrote that a rose of any colour would smell just as sweet.
But that was very easy in Shakespeare’s time because we now know that a red rose will never smell the same as a white one. A recent incident at Kissy, east of the capital, shows that a dress should not only cover a woman’s contours but is supposed to be symbolic of which party one belongs to. We were shocked yesterday when we read in the Independent Observer newspaper that a “woman [was] beaten to (sic) coma for wearing red.”
This incident is as funny as it is serious. We never knew that some supporters of the SLPP were so stone-aged in their thinking that they should attack a peaceful citizen for the unspeakable crime of wearing red which is the colour of the APC.
Now we are going to attack the illogicality of this colour and symbolism nonsense. If some members of the SLPP are so ‘colourphobic’ then why are they using Celtel which is redder than red? Why are some of them using Africell which is orange?
It does not follow that because a water melon is a potpourri of green and red, therefore supporters of the PMDC should not eat it. Or should we say supporters of the APC and PMDC must not use Datatel because it is green through and through? Or should we accuse the petroleum company TOTAL of being an APC sympathizer because its logo is inscribed on a red background? It will be crazy for members of the APC and PMDC not to drink palm wine, eat palm oil or use local brooms because these are byproducts of the palm tree.
And it will be as equally crazy for members of the SLPP not to look forward to the sun when it rises in the east or sets in the west. Or not to eat an orange because it has the same spelling with the PMDC’s party colour.
In a nutshell, we are urging party supporters to imbibe the spirit of tolerance because a single party cannot accommodate every Sierra Leonean. The more the merrier.