In a world where the great rich and powerful nations intimidate smaller and poorer ones into submission and servitude through the constant manipulation of the economic state of affairs to the latter’s advantage and even have the audacity of threatening to tie aid to a country’s passing legislations to recognise gay rights, you hardly need to be told that such small and powerless nations are in real trouble.
Sometimes I really wonder if the United Nations Organization still exists in its true and original form. Why I wonder is because some of the basic principles have long been abandoned. Take for example the issue of respecting the territorial integrity of a nation, the so-called non interference into other countries internal affairs. Don’t you see that things have greatly changed? Or are you mentally blind? First it was a socio – political slavery but now it is complete mental slavery. Yes something that the Legend Bob Marley sang about some thirty years ago. Did you hear what I heard last week? My Guy the Special court indictee and former President of our blood neighbour Liberia was a CIA Agent. Tell me what was he spying on in poor Africa? Damn it, why is the west so insensitive to Africa’s plight. Tell me is there any African Head of state that the west do not manipulate and dump in the end? Indeed they play on the greed of the African politician. Some of them are real megalomaniacs. Many of them are in the class of pass a dies like Mugabe’s, the Wade’s, Jammeh’s Nguema’s, you name them.
Now this whole issue of Aid sickens me. It seems even if we survive AIDS, we as poor Africa may not escape from Aid from the west. What a quandary we find ourselves in … always going cap in hand begging for loans and trap our children yet unborn with the yoke of having them obliged to pay for the sins of their fore fathers. Can you tell me this world is a fair place? We all appreciate and uphold Human Rights but what is the situation on the ground? You see we once went on a Poverty Tour in marking the Global Campaign Against poverty (GCAP). We had this meeting with community members of a small village up country. We wanted to hear what the people think of poverty, the causes and what should be the way forward to bail out of it. Many views were expressed but we wanted the chief to also contribute. The old man smiled and said, “You really want to know?” we said yes ad he went on. “What is causing poverty is Human Rights.” We were kind of taken aback and asked him how. Then he explained that on two occasions two of his kids have taken him to the FSU for flogging them and he spent an awful lot of money and that if this carries on, he will remain a very poor man. He said their children were no more supportive of the families even in the smallest of ways all because of Human Rights. You might say the Old man’s words are just figments of an ignorant and deranged mind kept in servitude after years of deprivation. But hello, not that fast, there is a point made their albeit simplistic. But like they say in our local parlance, Poh man word nor dae pass.
This brings me to the vexing issue of Youth unemployment. Can it be a global phenomenon. You are right. But tell me do we throw our hands up and do nothing about it? I am somebody who hardly accepts positions the west have always put us on the Human Development Index. I have always thought that the compilers were not fair with us. Sometimes we went down simply because we did not have the necessary statistics to use, thanks to Statistics Sierra Leone, one of our best professional outfits out here! Oh my God our world is a very funny place. What is democracy all about? The simplest and popular form is the one that says, a government of the people, by the people and for the people. I am sure if it were an African defining democracy, it could have been different. Don’t ask me why! Now take African governments are they by the people? Yes! Are they of the people? Yes… Are they for the people? No! I will tell you why. In Africa there is so much depravity that it is very difficult to satisfy the majority of citizens of a nation. Democracy is all about letting people feel free to be and live like human begins. Their dignity and respect must be upheld at all times.
You might be wondering where the tyranny of democracy comes in? Some Nigerian movie the title of which I have forgotten says, in a democratic dispensation, the minority will have their say, but the majority will have their way. I really like this. And this is where the Tyranny of democracy starts. In most cases issues are settled by majority vote. Tell me are the majority always right. Through an intriguing conspiracy the right views can be drowned by the stupid majority. We see this happening all over the place. You go to a meeting and there is controversy over an issue, they say let us put it to a vote. The people in the conspiracy will win because they make sure they are in the majority. Some years ago we had an association where we found it difficult to change our executive. What happened was that some executive members made sure that some two months or so before elections they pay for people to register into the Association and they vote massively. Then of course after the elections the newly admitted members are never active. This is the situation.
Now take the case of this obnoxious rule on the 55% threshold for presidential run- offs after the first round. Tell me is it not some kind of tyranny. Take this case. Two highest candidates score 35 and 40% votes. Now they go into the run-off and you know what? The candidate with 30% at the end of the day ends up by a narrow margin! Do you see? I really believe that we do not need the hassle of a second round. You might say some candidates do score the 55%… but we all know that this happens sparingly, yes don’t tell me you do not know. If you must know for our elections in 2012, donor funds are less than 50% and the rest is to be provided by our government. We all know that with the current expensive road project in Freetown funded by our own funds, it may be an uphill task to fully fund the elections. This is not being alarmist, it is just being practical. As usual Madam Christiana Thorpe and her top performing commission like to move with the times with a lot of integrity and success. But can we have a close look at the biometric System of registration? We are told that NEC needs over 2000 machines but as at now we only have about 800 for a country that is still struggling to make some of its remote areas accessible despite so many efforts to improve the road networks. The biometric system is good but if the machines are not even half of the number needed, then sceptics will start thinking. Well we trust NEC, but we also know the intractability of some of our problems caused by some people and perhaps exacerbated by our political class.
We are told that Development is impossible in the absence of the true democracy, peace and good governance. What we however need to know is that the African situation is quite unique and therefore needs special prescriptions for its problems. When once our people begin providing for themselves, dignity and a new cycle of hope is born. Let us remember that what we want is transformational development that is community based and sustainable, focused especially on the needs of children.
By Ben Cambayma
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