By Kabs Kanu
SIERRA LEONE will never become a great nation until we embrace the truth about ourselves, about where we are failing and about how we can get out of our present stagnation. Sycophancy and bootlicking will never create a better Sierra Leone.
Too many things are wrong with Sierra Leone. How can such a blessed country laden with every imaginable natural resources and some of the best brains in the universe be one of the poorest and most backward nations in the world? The answer is that we have never faced the truth about ourselves.
The truth about how we have failed and continue to fail ourselves as a people should be allowed to be told. We will never rise from a failed state unless we accept our failures and correct them. Let people speak out. What they say will not always be right. What they say will not always be the truth to us (We all have our own conceptions of the truth) but let people have the opportunity to express their God- given right to say it as they feel. People should never be shamed, undressed, beaten, arrested and jailed for expressing their opinions.
SLPP is one of the oldest political parties in Africa but it has never embraced democracy , truth , honesty and lawful governance as part of its ideologies. From time immemorial, the SLPP has always fought the truth and punished people for saying the truth. Since its inception in 1951, the SLPP has struggled with honesty and doing things the right way. A party nurtured in royalty and built on the pillars of chieftaincies and ruling houses, the SLPP never like to be told what to do.
The biggest enemies of the SLPP are people who tell them what to do. I grew up in the SLPP stronghold of the South East and nobody knows that truth about the SLPP better than me. Not only do they think they are always right but they consider as enemy anybody who tells them the truth. They can dictate to you but you cannot. If you look at reasons for the downfall of the SLPP whenever they come to power, you need not travel afar to know the reasons. Their mind set is tyrannical and uncivilized.
The SLPP has sullied its fingers. The SLPP has committed so many crimes, antagonized and alienated the whole nation with their legendary tribalism and exclusive proclivities; the SLPP has destroyed democracy, free speech, tolerance, peaceful coexistence , institutions and even human morale so much so that people loathe their members. It is these truths about themselves that they want nobody to say.
But democracy has to prevail in Sierra Leone.
I encourage all rational and patriotic Sierra Leoneans to continue speaking the truth and not cave in to SLPP’s intolerance for truth, free speech and democracy. They are good at labelling people who tell them the truth but I charge you all not to be intimidated or bothered. Our country must be redeemed and the only way is to speak truth to those wrecking our nation.
