Opinion  By: Minkailu Kebbie  FBC- Intern                                      

   The nature, stability and development of any government organized country is a phenomenon that is dependent on public policy. This in all ramifications proves the paramount relevance of public policy planning, making, implementation and analysis in efficiency and effectiveness of government. The existence of public policy however, is not devoid of challenges as it poses a fundamental question of how best to model public policy so as to create the most efficient and effective government. 

Policy makers continue to grapple with what to do about informality, a phenomenon considered an antithesis to modernity, but crucial to the survival of the urban poor. Within the academic milieu, the focus has shifted from poverty and livelihood studies to a notion of informality as a lens to examine contemporary processes and politics at the urban scale.

Perrfidious political tapeworms began to eat into the very fabric of our existence as a people and make communal living impossible, probably forever. That experience demonstrated that on a good day, Sierra Leoneans are nice people, who treat one another with love without any recourse to tribe and tongue. In fact, Sierra Leoneans love strangers.

I have always believed that our major problem in this country is not about the masses. Our affliction is leadership. I am not likely to change this line of belief. There is no point persuading me to think otherwise. The last African Nations Cup that Sierra Leone was a participant, how Sierra Leoneans cheered and showed love to one another tells us that our people are united and we could have the same aim and purpose in normal circumstances,  but for bad and lethargic leadership, Sierra Leoneans have totally lost their humanity. I also stand to be corrected: but for the re-programming of the minds of the average people on the streets by the locust gang of political profiteers, Sierra Leoneans love one another, irrespective of tribe, language, creed and other persuasions.

For a while, disaffection for our leaders fed the hopes of the youths and other members of this generation that they could reenact the political experiences and activism of their youth. But, despite the initial euphoria, their political ambitions and sense of vigour proved ephemeral.

The date has been announced for the political musketeers who I believe are now assiduously working for the acquisition of the Golden seat with the purpose of enriching themselves and their families. Very soon our people will be divided and disunited again, fighting and using obscene languages on one another will be the order of the day, all in the name of fighting for their political bash or gala. Not knowing that it’s a worthless fight because after elections, those they are fighting for will never come to their aids. At times when I think deeply, I sense the fact that we are responsible for our ailments inasmuch as we fight ourselves to put thieves and hooligans in positions they don’t deserve. One could also say that he or she wants to exercise his franchise. But the question is, when do we put the right people to lead us? When do we get our Moses? I suppose not in this generation, maybe the next.

For many years, probably more than two decades, the life of an ordinary Sierra Leonean has been stagnant. If it were stagnant in just economic prosperity but thriving of human rights, rule of law, good health, this stagnancy wouldn’t be troubling. But stagnancy has been everywhere; poverty, governance, health, human rights, etc.

In the present state of Sierra Leone, not only are many people destitute, majority of those who are not, are being haunted by a perfectly reasonable fear that they may become so at any moment.

In all classes, from the lowest to almost the highest, economic fear governs men’s thoughts by day, and their dreams at night, making their work nerve-racking and their leisure unrefreshing. This ever-present sorrow and financial insecurity is, I think, the main cause of the mood of madness and bitterness which has swept over great parts of the country and is reflected on social media.

Alarmed at the rate the ruling government is losing grounds to most of its subjects due to the inexplicable hardship and fuel crisis in the country, how our fellow Sierra Leoneans died in the Makeni and Tombo incidents several months ago, gave us the neologism: “Arewanistan”, coined from Afghanistan, as a demonstration of the unabated killings that was going on at that given period of time. Yet, this government was called upon for remedy within the shortest possible time. Unfortunately for the nation, Maada Bio has not only failed to end the madness of the sufferings in the country, but he has, through sheer ineptitude, compounded the problem by announcing the date for elections, which every efforts is now focused on the said elections leaving the country in a miasma of endless anguish and deterioration.

In all these, however, the hope rekindled in us by the humane conduct of all Sierra Leoneans, who demonstrated the humanity of an average Sierra Leonean by voluptuously rescuing some lives and properties from the many fire incidents in the capital city Freetown, is enough consolation. Those conducts has reinforced the belief that if we all collectively got rid of bad leadership, Sierra Leone is indeed a glorious land.