By Mohamed Issa
We have seen in most African countries including Sierra Leone where corrupt political leaders over the years are celebrated especially by their supporters and cronies because they allow the operations of their respective nations unchecked, thus given those holding public positions to have a field day, feeding fat on their staggering economies at the very expense of the impoverished populations.
Little wonder that many people will have no limit to shedding blood to get power because they knew that the moment they attain it the sky will be their limit to live in affluence at the peril of the general populace. But when they are fighting for power they will stoop too low to hoodwink the gullible masses with sugar coated words full of lies to jump into their bandwagon.
There is no doubt in the relentless awareness raising campaign from many scholars and writers who are yearning for change of this ugly situation in our beloved African states as they are constantly lending their voices on the menace. One among them is Professor Wole Soyinka a powerful and fearless Nigerian writer, who once quoted that, “Only in Africa will thieves be regrouping to loot again and the youths whose future is stooling will be celebrating it.” This short quotation is apt to vividly portray the attitude of Africa politicians. And the most unfortunate issues is that the politicians are not from another planet but among ourselves which justify the point that we know ourselves and we know the language that we want to hear from our politicians which they are always ready to give us. Unfortunately in some African states like Sierra Leone, political parties are adored more than the nation. And this negative ideology is one of the factors responsible for our setback.
The truth of the matter is that, until we realize that all of us have right to the power and not a selected few, we will always give the leeway to those who takes politics as their vocation to tread on our inimitable right to vote and to be voted for with impunity. And the ugly situation of massive pillaging of our general wealth by few people will only stop if we realize that we are not stooge to these greedy politicians who are only interested in enriching themselves at the detriment of the general populace. But the million dollar question is when and how will this stop when we are harbingers of their attitude as we always celebrate and marvel at their nefarious behaviour by swinging in corruption which makes it very cumbersome to whosoever claim to champion the fight against corruption?