Thursday 7 March 2019

Why the Commissions of Inquiry hold great promise for a better Sierra Leone. Inspiring Sierra Leone’s next generation of young leaders.

The commissions of inquiry, which according to the ministry of justice are a means "to combat corruption, bring accountability in governance and foster economic growth for the people of Sierra Leone" will remain a remain a land mark in Sierra Leone’s national future. These commissions of enquiry have attracted varying and often divisive opinions across our country. However, most of this attention has been mostly centred on political lines: https://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/is-sierra-leones-commission-of-inquiry-a-witch-hunt-or-political-accountability/. What I want to share my thoughts on today is not based on politics, but the positive side effects I think this inquiry will have on the mindsets of Sierra Leone's future leaders; the youth.

While Sierra Leone is proud to be known as a religiously tolerant nation and for it’s beauty and possession of rich natural resources, however we have to little to show in terms of the progress we have made in exploiting these vast resources to make life better for the daily Sierra Leonean. You go check any statistics and you’ll see Sierra Leone at the bottom rung of the ladder for most of the desirable attributes a country can have and at the top for most of the undesirable ones. Life expectancy, standard of living, effectiveness of national institutions, education, justice, gender equality, corruption, health, you name them. Among these attributes, corruption and the justice especially have unique impact on the rest of the others. The reason is simple, humans (especially humans in public office!) respond to incentives and the justice system is the incentive backbone of any country. The extent to which citizens holding public office are accountable for their conduct and decisions has a lot of impact on how they will conduct themselves while working for the people of Sierra Leone. A culture of not holding public officers to account deeply undermines the country's economic and social progress.

For too long our justice system has been too silent when it comes to holding public servants to account for resources under their leadership. This has clearly led to a waste of the great potential this country has. I think it is time for us as a nation to take bold actions for improving national institutions (http://theyouthstand.blogspot.com/2018/12/bold-moves-for-transforming-institutions.html). When holders of public resources are not held to account the result is nothing less than the difficult challenges we have faced as a country. What’s more is that this state of affairs seriously affects the extent to which young people growing up in our schools and communities end up behaving when they soon become leaders in their communities.

I don’t know for you, but for me as a young person, seeing fellow citizens who have been in charge of public resources being called upon to answer questions about how they managed those resources leaves me with great hopes for the future, this includes future governments leading our country. This is why I feel sad when people talk about these commissions of inquiry only on political grounds. I think this enquiry is more a lesson to us as young people that yes, people in public office in this country can be held accountable for their conduct while in public office.

This remains true even if the impetus of this inquiry was done along political lines. Future governments and leaders of our country have been taught a lesson and for the rest of the country we now know that we can hold leaders to account. This will have a strong ripple effect on what happens from our ministries to how the local Head Teachers and Headmen (women) my village manage resources put in their care. When the minister knows he will be held accountable, it is natural that he/she in turn will hold everyone under their leadership for managing national and communal resources responsibly. This is obviously good for our country.

We all want a different Sierra Leone, a Sierra Leone where the system works in the favour of every Sierra Leonean, a Sierra Leone where young people can rely on national institutions and processes and inspired to work hard in schools, sports fields, music studios etc. to use their potential to achieve their best and by doing so improve their communities and the country as a whole. To get there won’t be easy, it requires bold moves like these and a commitment to improve the lives of all Sierra Leoneans.

The commissions of inquiry may be politically difficult to swallow, however I think we must not forget the positive impact it will have on the future conduct of all leaders of public office (no matter the political party) and inspire a new generation of Sierra Leoneans who are aware of the importance of public accountability. For us young people of Sierra Leone, I hope we have been inspired by seeing former holders of public office sitting in front of Sierra Leoneans answering questions about how they used the resources under their care.
For me, this inquiry’s benefits have more to do with shaking up the mind set of Sierra Leone’s current and future generations of leaders on public accountability than it’s short term political ramifications for opposing political groups.

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