Lecture delivered Monday Jan. 30th at the Pre. Lunching of
Transformation and development Conference at Miatta Conference hall
But talking about the benefits of the mobile phone, here is one unexpectedly negative consequence of that ubiquitous instrument on the business life in one African country: something that I see happening in Sierra Leone shortly.While doing research on the spread of communications in Africa for this lecture, I came across this piece in the February 14th edition of the Nairobi Nation newspaper of Kenya.
‘The mobile phone, the report said, ‘was seen as a panacea to communication problems-collapsing time spent on travel in Western history; its people, their biases and military conquests. But we were not in that history; it was not about our ancestors. No one told us about the exploits of the great West African patriots. Alpha Yaya, Samory Toure, Bai Bureh, Kailondo etc. We were ignorant of the great Nok civilization that flourished four thousand years ago in what is today the area of the Plateau State in Nigeria. We knew nothing about the Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, or the great Bantu migration from West to Southern Africa. Strictly speaking, our souls as Africans did not exist in that writing of history.
So, tonight, Mr. President, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, may I propose the following: that as we take Sierra Leone towards a new horizon, as we begin the march towards our modernization, we take control of not just our mining and other developmental policies, but of our history. The ATHENS OF WEST AFRIC was great; it was not in our DNA. What is in our DNA is the SPIRIT OF SANKORE. That is who we are, ladies and gentlemen.
As some of us will recall, the University of Sankore was the great center of learning that flourished between the 12th & 14th centuries in the city of Timbuctoo. At the height of its fame, during the reign of the emperor Askia Mohamed, or Askia the great, as he was known, the university had a library of some seven hundred thousand books.
It was to that center that scientists, astronomers, writers, theologians and philosophers from around the world came and postage to instant delivery. But the mobile phone is turning out to be a cannibal-preying on the very businesses it initially supported and fouling companies that do sutff it can handle. Form banks, money transfer firms, business and providers of email service, few are spared. Employers can now pay salaries into cellular accounts, and customers can deposit cash into mobile accounts at post offices and some banks. The ubiquitous nature of mobile phones has made it an integral part of people’s lives’
What this goes to show is that the introduction of technology is not always a clear-cut business. But as we seek to transform ourselves, there is further evidence that we are prepared to go forward with the best tools available.
Mr. President, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, whereas previous governments seemed to prefer add hoc solutions to some of our problems, it would appear that a new, visionary approach is now being employed. There is an increasing awareness that, as Sir Milton Margai said fifty years ago, it is through hard work that we can preserve our independence. But there is the danger, need I say it, that whereas some people are driving on the right hand side of the road, there are those who are determined to do the opposite. If the recent events in the east end of Freetown and the senseless rioting by school children are things to go by, then it is frightening. We should be very concerned.
Some six years ago, when only a few people were interested, I wrote a long article about the prevailing conditions in our country that was published in the PEEP MAGAZINE. Let me quote from that article:
Anarchy immobilizes a state: in its worst manifestation, crystallized in our consciousness, anarchy is a contrariness of the acceptable norms of civilized values and laws. It is the rejection of a moral compass of objective reasoning, fairness and justice. Allowed to rear its ugly head, anarchy is a threat to individual lives; worse and this is what is terrifying it can very quickly become an acceptable national template: a permutation of the social order, especially in a state such as ours, where our nascent democracy (sic) has been hijacked by the terror merchants. In such a climate, the individual is not safe.
But we can do something about our drift towards anarchy. For it wasn’t long ago when we were regarded by other West Africans as a people with high moral probity; when we settled our differences without violence. In addition to sending some of our best people to help to train people down the coast, they came here, inspired not just by our educational system, but by our discipline. We represented the future; as we always said about ourselves, if you nor know usi you dey go, know usi you commot. That was us: our badge of honour was made of shame, pride and morality.
We instructed our children in the elementary principles of decency and had a deep fear of God, whether we were religious or not. To have allowed the decency in us to be partaken by the expediency of the present is terrifying. To quote from the great African American-American writer James Baldwin, we are playing with the: THE FIRE NEXT TIME! But, I say to my fellow countrymen and women: NEVER AGAIN THE FIRE NEXT TIME!!
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