Mama Salone Laments 48
Years of Freedom and Independence
The Sierra Leone Telegraph Editorial Team
30 April 2009
Doctor I am feeling so
tired, all that celebrations and partying!! My
back, my shoulders and all my joints are aching
Doctor. My children have just celebrated my 48th
Anniversary of FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE. But if
you should ask me how old I feel, Doctor, I
would say 98. In two years they will celebrate
my 50th. The children say they are
going to have a much grander celebration, but I
don’t think they can afford it Doctor.
Things are bad enough for
the poorest of the poor amongst my children, and
also, I am not sure I could survive another two
years, if my eldest son – the Prezo does not
pull his socks up. I know he has a big job to
do, but he is the one elected in 2007 by the
majority of my children. Doctor, I really don’t
want my Big Son Prezo to use my 50th
Anniversary as his pre-election campaign rally,
because it will cause dissent in my family,
which could lead to further political violence.
But I really cannot see
exactly what the celebrations are all about. Big
Brother Prezo’s 48th Independence
Anniversary speech to the family did not inspire
much confidence or hope. I remember Doctor, when
he used to tell his brother – former Prezo
Kabbah, that his performance was so bad it was
nothing to write home about. Hoom….Politics is a
right old funny business Doctor.
Doctor, the World Bank has
been telling us to expect difficult times ahead,
for the next two years at least. But I don’t
understand why Big Brother Prezo did not say
anything about that in his speech, so as to give
some comfort to his brothers and sisters.
Instead, he continues to talk about attitudinal
and behavioural change, when every independent
report is telling him that poverty is caused by
poor leadership, corruption and bad governance.
Doctor, with a family of 5
million children, I am beginning to feel the
heavy legacy of chronic strain and stress, left
behind by my father (the British) and my
deceased mother (Pa Margai, Pa Shaki and
others), and now President Koroma’s lack of
vision, or fear of taking the bold steps
necessary to turn around the family’s fortunes.
The children celebrated my
48th Birthday with pomp and
pageantry, but Doctor I have seen it all before;
celebrations today, ‘suck air’ tomorrow. I
cannot afford to feed, educate, and provide
affordable medical care for my children without
the help and support of the international
community, yet my children keeps telling me that
we are ‘independent.’
Doctor, Big Brother Prezo
said in his speech that we must celebrate our
religious tolerance; our tribal tolerance; our
political tolerance. But Doctor, has he
forgotten that these are the core values that
make my family what it is today?
These values are time
honoured, irrespective of party politics, with
the exception of political tolerance established
by former Prezo Kabbah, which I am not so sure
whether Prezo Koroma could be trusted to
safeguard and honour. Doctor after 48 years of
self-rule, my poor children wants to celebrate
economic independence and progress; they want to
celebrate social and educational advancements.
Doctor, I understand that
former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has
come to Town, to see Big Brother Prezo. Well, I
do hope that good old cousin Tony will teach my
son a lesson or two, otherwise he himself will
be accused of being accessory to the poor
governance being inflicted on my family;
including any pain and suffering my children
will suffer as a result of this terrible global
economic downturn.
Over 3 million of my
children cannot find work; 50% of them expect
their lives to be cut short before they reached
their 40th birthday; 80% of them live
in very poor housing; most of my children do not
have access to regular supply of clean and safe
drinking water; 70% of them cannot read and
write. But thank God one of my children is a
psychiatrist – but Doctor he is the only one in
the family looking after the mental wellbeing of
all 5 million of his siblings, including
himself. I am surprised he hasn’t developed
mental illness himself – with all that stress.
So please Cousin Tony, I am
appealing to you as a God fearing Christian, to
lead my family away from the path of
self-annihilation, by strongly pointing out to
the Prezo that the attitude of my children (your
dearest Cousins), is not responsible for their
poverty, but poor leadership and corruption. But
Doctor, I really don’t want Cousin Tony to know
that Prezo has told all of my children to seek
Divine intervention through nationwide fasting,
in order to relieve them from poverty.
Oh Doctor, let me think.
There is also the heavy Debt burden. My children
have borrowed, and borrowed, and borrowed from
the rich countries, the IMF and the World Bank.
The IMF wrote me a nice letter the other day to
inform me that they have wiped off some of my
Debt, but Doctor that burden hangs on my
shoulders for generations to come. Doctor, do
you think my son Prezo could speak with Cousin
Tony about that?
Doc…..I hope you don’t mind
me calling you Doc!! My children are spending
money like the Leone will soon become extinct,
and I really cannot show you what they are
spending all those Trillions of Leones on. But
yet, the international community keep reminding
me, that my family is at the bottom of the
World’s Human Development Index. Doctor please….
Pass me some tissue let me wipe away my tears!!
In 1961 my mother would never have thought that
this was going to happen to me and the grand
children.
Doctor, on this my
forty-eighth birthday, I cannot believe my son
the Prezo telephoned me to tell me that his
brothers and sisters are poor because of their
attitude and sinful behaviour. Doc, how can he
ask his siblings to pray and fast for three
months so that God can redeem them from poverty?
Does that mean that the Prezo will not receive a
salary during those three months, whiles God
does his job for him? Oh Doctor…do you know what
I told the Prezo…hoom?
Oh Doctor I was so upset. I
told him that if he does not have confidence in
his siblings, then why should he expect foreign
investors to have confidence in them? I told him
that if only he can show good leadership; have a
good development plan – not the current
‘miss-mash’ project based approach – but a good
integrated National Development Plan; appoint
only those brothers and sisters that are
competent to run his government ministries;
fight corruption; invest in indigenous private
sector development; and work in partnership with
JOB and Charles to put a new Constitution in
place, that will devolve power down to a new
system of Regional Government; poverty will
surely be no more in my family.
Doctor I told him that as
the President he cannot sub-contract his job of
providing for his siblings to the Almighty God.
I reminded him that God has a contract with
him, to lead and improve the condition of his
people. I told him also Doctor that his pride
alone should be sufficient to move him to clean
up the mess, if nothing else does. I told him
that he should not eat, if his siblings cannot
afford to feed themselves; he should not sleep,
if his siblings are awake because of poverty;
and Doctor he should not be jetting off to India
for medical check-up, if his siblings cannot all
travel to India with him; Doctor where is India?
Oh my son!!
Doctor my wealth, which
they told me is called Gross Domestic Product,
is valued at about Six Trillion Leones. It
sounds like a lot of money but most of my
children are living on less than One thousand
Leones a day. How can that be Doctor? This
cannot sustain me and my children. All my
riches; Diamonds, Gold, Bauxite, Rutile, Iron
Ore, you name it - I have got it. My soil used
to be very rich, but my children are not taking
care of the environment, so soil erosion has
become a problem. Most of my children that used
to till the land and grow food have gone to live
with their Big Brother Prezo in Freetown.
Doctor, do you know what I
think? They should relocate the Parliament to
somewhere more central on my map, which will be
accessible to all of my children; ‘wan mammy –
wan daddy.’ Doctor what do you think of Masiaka?
This could become the new Capital City? Infact
Doctor, I would even go further by suggesting
that each of my Regions should have a Regional
Assembly. Because Doctor if you devolve power
down to the lowest common denominator, you will
reduce bureaucracy, improve accountability and
governance, and most especially you will reduce
corruption. I will talk to you more about that
when I come for my next appointment Doctor,
hopefully before my 50th birthday, if
I live that long.
Doc….This idea of having
Devolved Regional Assemblies with regionally
elected Honourable Members is a very good one.
But you know my big son; if I suggest that to
him he might want to send me over to my other
son – the Psychiatrist for strong medication.
Doctor I am not mad you know. “Nah angry en
poverty de kill me and my children.” Doctor
back to my wealth; my children will spend over
One Trillion Leones this year. My son, the
former Finance Minister, the one that Big
Brother Prezo shuffled out of Office, struggled
to balance the Accounts in 2008. Only 10% of my
wealth is generated through Domestic Trade, with
90% coming from export of mainly minerals.
And now that the Global
economic downturn is severely affecting
consumption in the overseas markets, Doctor I
don’t know what will happen to our income from
exports. The next three years looks very bleak
for my children Doctor. But I don’t see any
sense of urgency or desperation from Big Brother
Prezo in preparing my children for what is to
come. Doctor I don’t understand. My children
are too reliant on mining exports for their
living. I am not an Economist, but I don’t think
that the economy is diverse enough. Inflation
is now running at 14%, even though Global oil
prices have come down significantly.
Doctor some of my children
told me that they would like to start their own
business, but cannot afford to borrow. Do you
know Doctor that the Commercial Banks are
charging over 30% Interest Rates? Doctor even
those that are already in business, cannot
afford to borrow money to expand and create jobs
for their siblings, because of the 30% Interest
Rates. Can you now see why my children are so
poor on this my blessed 48th
birthday?
Doctor, over forty percent
of what my children spends annually, comes from
International Donors. That cannot be right. I
taught those children that independence means
standing on your own two feet. But my father
(the British) who left us when my mother
divorced him 48 years ago gives me Family
Maintenance Grant of about Forty Million Pounds
annually, to help towards stabilising the
economy. Doctor is this independence? Prezo
needs to give my children real opportunity to
create wealth, using their own God given skills
and talents. The budget Deficit for 2009, I
understand is Five Hundred and Forty Billion
Leones. Doctor, some of my children are playing
with money like sand.
My Grandma used to say;
“money like sugar – money like dust.” But my
Grandma worked very hard and spent wisely. God
bless her soul Doctor. She always put some money
aside for a rainy day. Talking about rain
Doctor, did Prezo say that he is waiting for
rain to fill Bumbuna Dam before switching on?
Doctor, let me whisper
something in your ear; the International Donors
say that they are fed up of giving Aid to my
family, because of CORRUPTION, POOR LEADERSHIP
and INCOMPETENCE.
But I thank God that my
children meet every five years to elect a new
government. They call it democracy. It is better
than that ‘one party communist state of madness’
my children had twenty years ago, which
alienated and repressed the majority of my
children, causing untold suffering and poverty.
But Doctor, how can I ever
forget 1996 – 2001? Over Fifty Thousand of my
children were killed, thousands displaced,
thousands amputated, thousands of properties
destroyed. Look at me Doctor; I am malnourished,
under weight, and anaemic. Ten years of
senseless brutality. What madness got into my
children Doctor?
But I do hope that the
children have learned their lessons and the
errors of their ways. The only prayer I have
for them on this my 48th birthday, is
for God to teach them to be ever mindful of each
other’s needs; ‘wan mammy – wan daddy.’
I also hope that my
children have learned to be tolerant, fairer,
equitable and merciful towards one another,
irrespective of tribe or religion. Doctor they
are all from the same ‘belleh’; wan mammy – wan
daddy!!! That is why Doctor, I was so
disappointed to see the supporters of their Big
Brother Prezo, waged such violence against the
opposition; Doctor, wan mammy – wan daddy. Can
you believe that?
Doctor when I think of 27th
April 1961, the day I was born, I feel eternally
grateful that when my mother divorced my father,
the divorce settlement was not a violent affair
as in other African countries that had to shed
blood to gain their freedom. But Doctor, looking
back at where we have come from and where we are
now, I am not sure if my mother had divorced my
father too soon. Because it seems my mother was
not prepared for independence. And now Doc, my
children have not handled independence and
democracy very well. My heart is heavy Doctor.
How can I be hopeful after listening to that
speech by the Prezo? Doc, please give me some
more tissues, let me wipe away my tears.
Anyway Doctor, sorry to
take up so much of your precious time, but I
needed to talk to someone. My son – the
Psychiatrist said I should go and speak to him
whenever I feel stressed. But Doctor I am so
scared he might put me on those strong
medication he gives to his patients. You know
Doctor; I am looking forward to my 50th
birthday celebrations on 27th April
2011, if Prezo does not let me and my children
down.
Good bye Doctor. I am
hoping to see you again before my 50th
birthday, if I survive that long. “Poverty nor
good Doctor.”
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