By Africa 24 writer

A barber at his shop told me he would never trust any leader in Sierra Leone because he thought leaders are not for the people.

The barber, Mustapha Kamara, talked to our journalist when he was doing his job at a very small, board-built barbing shop at Bombay Street, east of Freetown.

While the journalist sat on a not-too decent cushioned chair, the barber who gets paid little money by customers for having their hair cut down said a lot more about politics in his country.

The owner of the barbershop began by calling names of political leaders in Sierra Leone whom he thinks are deceitful and dishonest to the people.

“I don’t believe in any leader in this country again; they are only serving themselves; I will always now listen to the one who is spewing motherly invectives on these dishonest and selfish leaders in our country because that is the only way they would feel it emotionally by cursing them,”

“Even the ex-president [ Sierra Leone] is to be blamed for the mess we are seeing today; although not all but he must be blamed in some aspects for appointing the wrong people under his administration and for appointing a wrong man who should take after him,”

“Maybe, his appointment of that man was because he believed in him or he had thought then that he would be the fittest man to take his footstep so that he can better this nation. Probably, the ex-leader [Ernest Koroma] would have seen some good qualities in Dr. Samura Kamara (whom he appointed 2017 as presidential candidate of his party ) to govern this country well. But, the same man he had entrusted his hope is a big scam to the nation now. So, for me all these leaders are not for the people of this country.” Enclosed brackets are not the barber’s statements but used to ensure clarity.

The two different words now exist in Sierra Leone – the world of leaders enriching themselves and seeking their interests and the world of the people not having a clear hope of direction – a pointless road of uncertainty.