By Dadson A. Musa
Sierra Leone started its democratic journey some 23 odd years ago. It was in 1996, the war had taken a confusing dimension. The young NPRC soldiers were governing this country. And by twist of fate, the number two-man, Julius Maada Bio, had taken over from Captain Valentine Strasser.
Democratic multi- party elections had been proposed when Bio took over. And for reasons best known to the military, they preferred Maada leading them to the elections. He succeeded in getting Foday Sankoh, the RUF leader, to the negotiating table.
Then, looking young and enthusiastic, Bio had done the unthinkable by getting a sly and stubborn Foday Sankoh to talk peace in Ivory Coast. Elections as planned went ahead, with over ten political parties contesting. And Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabba was declared the winner.
That was the start of the multiparty democratic journey of Sierra Leone.
Since then, the road has never been smooth, although we are slowly making progress. Well, America has been on it for over two hundred years and are still learning, while ours is just over two decades and the challenges are there staring us in the face.
What is our democracy up against?
One big challenge our democracy is facing is tribalism. Tribalism has divided this country along south-east and north-west lines. Tribalism has eaten deep into our democratic culture that reasoning has been thrown out through the window. Check our political appointments since 1996, they are largely based on tribal loyalty. The two major political parties, Sierra Leone Peoples Party and the All Peoples Congress (APC and SLPP) stand guilty for this. Even when the appointee lacks the basic competence, he gets the job.
To understand how big the problem is you just must listen to political arguments country-wide, they are plotted on tribal sentiments, despite what the truth says. Honest democratic debates and discussions have been polarized. All this is happening at the expense of our society. High level of illiteracy is another serious challenge to our democracy. And this is what the political elites are exploiting to their advantage. A good society is an enlightened society. A good number of people cannot read and write and therefore are not au
fait with our laws. They do not even know what the constitution states and how democracy works. Therefore, they do not question actions and utterances of those in governance. This state of illiteracy has made the masses gullible and therefore they take whatever is passed down to them hook, line and sinker. Due to illiteracy, the masses are never privy to what the leaders put in their manifestoes, so they cannot hold them to task.
Tapping into this gullibility has been easy. To stop this, citizens must engage themselves by following the media. It is indeed a challenge because the media itself has been polarized by political rhetoric.
It is important to note that gullibility, sentimentality and open biasness by citizens in political discourse is not only a problem for the illiterates. Well educated men have also been affected. This goes back to what level of honesty do we want to have in our political engagement.
The media in this country is weak and lacks independence. Apparently, so is the judiciary. And these are the third and fourth arms of government respectively. Imagine media houses that cannot pay their staff at all and those that can barely sustain themselves are liable to manipulation or corruption. Some are even co-opted to be the mouthpiece of political parties when they should be holding them to account or be the voice of the voiceless in society. For democracy to grow in this country, the media needs investment and professionalism.
The media being the fourth estate has a stake in the governance and in improving our democratic standing.
Poverty is another huge challenge to our democracy. It leaves citizens vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Politicians come during election time and offer pittance to destitute group of people and these people follow their rallies, failing to question the intentions or credentials of the candidates. This has been the cycle, every election. If our people are economically empowered, they stand the chance of contributing meaningfully to our democracy.
Another challenge for our democracy is this country is the practice of switching allegiance to whoever makes you feel financially secure. Politics has been more about the money than anything.
The judiciary also need to resource and absolute free hand to perform their function.
Time, they say, will tell. And time is the greatest healer. So, we still have time on our side for things to straighten out themselves sooner or later. 23 years of democracy is not long enough but we are getting there.
The need to overcome these challenges is increasingly important. After all we need to make democracy work for us as it ought to. Because democracy is for the people and by the people.
© 2019 Politico Online
