Sierra Leone: Progressing or Marktiming?
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By the late 1960s, the argument within the corridors of power was whether as a nation, Sierra Leone was ripe for self-rule, a rule that was to propell its development from where the colonial masters stopped. In this article, we seek to ask and analyze whether the much trumpeted self-rule of 52 years since the Lancaster House Conference has brought about any major significant breakthrough in Sierra Leone’s governance architecture.
After 52 years of independence, there are visible developments most of which have scars on the natives of this once enviable nation. My use of the concept of ‘development’ does not necessarily connote positivity, but those critical moments and challenges Sierra Leone has contended with like the decade of civil war characterized by unprecedented decadence in governance. Important as any concept of self-rule maybe, the stage for Sierra Leone’s attainment of independence was never strategic. There were lots of critical issues that were to be addressed both prior to and immediately after the Lancaster house meeting which to date continue to be ignored.
Sovereignty for Sierra Leone was meant to enhance a situation where the country is bound by both its domestic and international law. The nexus between a nation’s independence and/or sovereignty and that of globalization further complicates our understanding of development. Has sovereignty led to development in Sierra Leone? Has self-rule only amplified the country’s inability to grow and develop through self-rule.
This work will scan Sierra Leone’s 52 years of self-rule noting in particular all major development initiatives and activities both positive and negative and proffer a professional hypothesis as to whether as a nation we were matured enough for independence and how well have we grown or remain stagnated.
Between 1960 to the end of the 1970s, the seeds of disunity sown on the eve of Sierra Leone’s independence manifested themselves barely a decade after self-rule. Unquestionably, the team that left for Lancaster in London ended up in pieces with breakaway factions. This first major sign of disunity has since then permeated our national political landscape. It was no surprise that even after independence, breakaways continued. This has been evident even in the histories of political parties that are supposed to be strong pillars in governance. Not much development trends were recorded in the first decade of self-rule. Amidst high expectations that with a decade of self-rule some form of political sanity could be injected into the political land scape, the following decade of political rule was instead characterized by tyranny and dominant party system which was inconsistent with democratic credentials.
Between the 1970s - 1980s, the country recorded the most violent and bloody civil unrest since independence. Negative developments included the 1977 nation-wide student demonstration which brought governance to a standstill and unrests following the introduction of the 1978 one party constitution. Worse still, Sierra Leone prematurely hosted its first Organization of African Unity conference in 1980 which according to economists remains to be the major crack that continues to disintegrate our economy. What a development indeed! These ugly developments especially in the corridors of state power gravely influenced and undermined economic and social cohesion among the country’s citizenry. At the end, the only notable development gained out of the two decade of post-colonial rule was a brutal civil war that lasted over a decade from 1991-2002. Lots of scholars have described the RUF in Sierra Leone as that unquestionably path the country was bound to take because of the tyrannical, despotic and undemocratic rule that followed immediately after independence.
The mere fact that the nation went to war barely after 30 years of self-rule implies that she may not necessarily have been ready for self-rule. The same actors that championed our cause for independence were the very actors whose despotic style of rule led us into conflict. On its part, however justifiable the RUF war was in removing the then despotic one party rule that dominated state governance since independence, it had very negative and grave consequences on the overall growth and development of Sierra Leone. Whatever little development gains from infrastructural through economic and human capital were destroyed by the 11 year war.
Between 2002-2012, exactly ten years after the war, there is very little or nothing to write home about as far as post-conflict state building and development are concerned. With thousands of lives lost and physical infrastructure as well as state institutions destroyed, the post conflict UN Peace building intervention which is to address decadence and collapse in state institutions that led to the war hasn’t achieved much.
Scanning from socio-economic, cultural and political lens, the signs are everywhere that even when the guns have gone silent through a successful DDR process, Sierra Leone is still not at peace. Peace is not necessarily the absence of hostilities or armed conflict. Those daggers that cause the conflict in terms of economic depression, injustices, political intimidation and intolerance marked by politics along regional and ethnic considerations are still hanging. Since the end of the war in 2002, Sierra Leone has conducted two presidential and parliamentary general elections which have not gone without serious disagreement. Elections, which are meant to enhance cohesion, are fast becoming a vehicle of disintegration.
Sierra Leone still has a long way to go in its socio-economic and political development. As long as corruption, lack of transparency and accountability in the various governance structures, party politics along ethnic and regional lines, injustice, greed emanating from poor bilateral co operations with multi-national institutions, poor working and living standards dictate the pace of our modus operandi, the thought of an independent Sierra Leone, competing with fellow third world countries in development circles will remain a dream unactualized. It is time our academicians, policy makers/politicians, ordinary citizenry introspect and design strategies as to how we can accelerate our slow pace of development. There is a lot more case studies to learn from in Africa and Asia. Let it be a challenge to all Sierra Leoneans that in the next decade, our country will regain its glory in all spheres among its West African counterparts.
By Brima Patrick Kapuwa Ph.D
The author is Senior Lecturer, Post Graduate School of Social Sciences
Njala University, Freetown- Sierra Leone.