If you visit the Family Support Units of the Sierra Leone Police, spend an hour there and listen to the types of cases. Most of them are fighting and occasioning bodily harm. The bulk of the causes are simply what we call in Krio “Wam Aht”. We all agree that we were all born in the image of God but then we also know that people are diverse in so many ways. Some people will tell you that variety is the spice of life. They also say that it is a stupid mouse that knows only one hole. People should have alternatives in life, what other people call plan B. The other day M.B. Atilla was on the night line being interviewed by DJ Base. The program was very lively mainly because of the controversy that he generates. Quite a lot of callers were upset with him perhaps not very much for what he said but how he said what he said. But that is Atilla, ever fearless and ever nakedly blunt. That is all part of rights and democracy. You see we need to recognize that people have to exhibit differences from us. Definitely we cannot all be the same otherwise life will be awfully dull. Don’t you feel so? Just get all the controversial guys and send them to their own country and you see how drab life really is. Do not just try to be holier than the Pope.
When people take delight in been hypocritical and play the diplomatic game and in the process commit the sin of omission, they cause more harm than good. But of course these are the good guys. Really as they say we do not need to worry about what we cannot change. Yes change! Everybody wants some change to occur. The politician says so and the development workers also want changes in people’s lives. At least they all agree on that score.
Although the truth is always bitter, the two categories of people I have just mentioned are two different sets of people. While one relies on playing on the intelligence and gullibility of people. The other one tries to protect the dignity of people and build their capacities to be able to advocate making things go right with them. Because we do not accept that we are different, our expectations sometimes clash with each other.
Last Saturday, Universal Radio had Political Party representatives and other elections stakeholders and now, this thing about stakeholders. I was at a workshop sometime ago and told my colleagues that there are those who are stakeholders and there are those who hold the stakes. They never really asked me what I meant because they thought I was simply playing with words. No what I really meant was that those who hold the stakes are the stakeholders who manipulate the other stakeholders and have the power to actually stifle and grossly minimize the importance of the others. Just in case you do not know what we mean by stakeholders, these amongst us who either affect the issues or are affected by the issues. Aha now you are there.
Take the issue of interpreting the laws that we have. Normally lawyers, who often refer to themselves as learned give the final interpretations especially in the court of law. The stakeholders’ discussion on Universal Radio was trying to see whether the political parties have a right to do parallel registration or was it rather note taking, as others preferred to call their action.
You see this is what I have been saying in my articles on the electioneering process. There are so many ambiguities in our laws that we are left wondering what is what. Of course we do not expect to have all of the political parties to agree on the interpretations. But one lesson that we should all learn, including NEC is that every stakeholder is very important and critical if the election results in the final analysis is to be accepted by all. The worst that could happen is for losing parties to refuse to accept the results. Such a situation has in many countries been sure recipe for chaos. We definitely will not have the repeat of the Ivorian situation or that of Madagascar or Kenya to visit our small country. So to forestall this we have to accommodate varying views just so as to have all on board. Incidentally this is what democracy is all about-the minority having their say, but the majority having their way.
Granted that there have been problems with the gadgets for the registration but it is moving on in many places. I registered on Sunday, January 29 in Constituency 103, neighboring the recently notorious Constituency 104. There were not really so many people around and the first stage of the processinformation taking, snapshot and thumb print. I have a duplicate of what was recorded. I was not told the next step. I was only told that I will be told in due course. Well for me it is no wahala, but for citizens in far away depraved communities, it could be an issue. Never mind somehow we have to help with the process no matter how slow or flawed. Do we really have an alternative especially as we know now that not even half of the machines needed were procured because of short falls in the funding? One thing I observed while registering. It was that the registration team was not very courteous in the sense that some of them talked to people in very uncouth manners especially the unlettered that did not have documents like National ID, Passport or driving License. You see why the issue of National ID should have been decentralized and de-concentrated. No matter what, those other people who do not have National ID cards are still Sierra Leoneans. Some of them toil day and night to make their daily bread.
Oh my God! Why is it that it is always the poor and illiterate people who are targeted for harassment and rights abuse? Just try it. Go to any of the registration centers and pretend to be stark illiterate and you will have the curse of your life. What is painful is that some of the guys engaged in the process are mere half bakes who cannot even pronounce and spell people’s names properly. Yes this is part of the awful state of education we have come to find ourselves as a nation. No doubt, the registration gives our young people job opportunities but they have to be courteous to the voting population. Some of them demonstrate ample intelligence and courtesy.
Like I started this piece, there will always be diversity in our approaches to life. This is a fact of life and perhaps we need to tolerate and live with it and be more understanding as long as people do not go overboard.
You see in life, there is always a way out. There is no difficulty that cannot be surmounted. Those who have been trained in delta will tell you that if you cross the river in groups, the crocodiles won’t eat you. Our disagreements should be managed such that we all meet our common goal. At least politicians and civil society should both agree to fight for a positive change in the interest of the people. Anything short of this should be collectively challenged and eliminated in order to forestall any harm. We need to carve out our collective responsibility to bring about transformative leadership in our dear Mama Salone.
By Ben Cambayma
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