OF “NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND ACTING”: ELEMENTS OF FOUNDATION OF PEACE IN SIERRA LEONE
BY
Olufemi.P.Adelusi (Ph.D)
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, an attempt is made to examine the
constituent factors that could possibly lay foundations of peace in Sierra Leone,
after the ECOMOG- restored Democratic Government and Governance. Critical among these factors are those of
possession of “new ways of thinking and new ways of acting” by the elected
leadership; Engaging in justice-driven peace instead of the peace of the
graveyard. The study proposed that
attitudinal change in the direction of good governance, accommodation of
dissenting views within the democratic structures of state and virile civil
society; on the part of government and the governed – societal grouping would
ensure an enduring foundation of peace in Sierra Leone.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Sierra Leone or Serra Lyoa as it was first called by the Portuguese
that gave her the name (Kup.A.P; 1964:21).
This West African State had once had her history jolted by an unusual
event in her very recent past, once it was in 1965 when a politician of note
Mr. Siaka Stevens won an election and was expected to be made the President
only for the event to be scuttled, the army came in to restore order and had
Mr. Stevens in the saddle as the result of an election had revealed. The politician ruled thereafter. An aged Politician as he could be described
later Mr. Siaka Stevens must have read restlessness among his compatriots
before inviting Major General Momoh to succeed him. His belief then was, that an army officer
would be able to hold fort and prevent divisible tendencies.
It was during the rule of General Momoh that civil society
became disenchanted. Multi-partism was
slow in being given free reign. Credible
organized dissenting voices were snuffed out or denied access to economic
benefits of being in the system. This
gave birth to opposition forces within and was later supported from without. In its wake, war weary officers overthrew
‘spineless’ General Momoh. Captain
Valentine Strasser’s coup bid brought to an end a failed democratic stage-
managed political dispensation. On
tasting power, the young military officers began in fighting and in a palace coup;
Strasser was deposed given way for Captain but later Brigadier Bio to fulfil
the officers pledge to return their country Sierra Leone back to
Civil-democratic rule. The beneficiary
of this event was President Ahmed Tejan Kabah.
Since the raging combat with the RUF- revolutionary United Front was
never achieved under Momoh and his successors, the elected civilian government,
inherited it. It was the shoddy manner
in which the agreement struck to end the civil strife between Tejan Kabah’s
government and the RUF was being implemented that eventually served as the
remote cause of the Johnny Koromah led coup d’etat against the elected civilian
government in place on 25th May 1997.
History was to repeat itself on 12th February
1998, with the ECOMOG overturn of the Sierra Leone putchists and the 10th
April reinstatement of Tejan Kabah as Civilian elected president of Sierra
Leone. Thus for the second time in her
history. Elected government was helped
back to power after a disturbing prelude.
In this chapter an attempt is made to examine the constituent
factors that could lay foundations of peace in Sierra Leone, with the return to
power of the formerly deposed elected government of President Ahmed Tejan
Kabah. For clarity of purpose, this
chapter has been divided into sections; the introduction; the objective elements
of foundations of peace in Sierra Leone, the practical necessities of
socio-political geography of peace in Sierra Leone and the conclusion.
II.
OF
“NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND ACTING” ELEMENTS OF FOUNDATION OF PEACE.
Peace is not an absence of war in a State. It has been observed that peace among social
groups within the “Nation” reposes upon a dual foundation; the disinclination
of the members of society to break the peace and their inability to break the
peace if they should be so inclined.(Morgenthau.H.J,1964:502).Indeed, people
will be disinclined to break the peace nevertheless, it has been noted, under
two conditions; on the one hand, they must feel loyalties to society as a whole
which surpass their loyalties to any part of it and on the other hand, they
must be able to expect from society at least an approximation of justice
through at least the partial satisfaction of their demands. (Morgenthau.H.J, 1964:502).
Peace was absent from Sierra-Leone
for over eighteen months of gruelling sanctions meted against the usurping
military junta in power by the international community led by the countries of
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The people of Sierra Leone were not persuaded
to disincline to break the precarious peace under their elected government
before the usurpers carried out into the open what many people had been talking
under and secretly. This illustrates an
earlier contribution to reflection on the concept of peace; in which it was
observed that “the obstacles to peace are in the minds and hearts of men”
(Angell.N, 1972). The other side
of the coin is to echo that “conflict in Africa, as everywhere is caused by
human action and can be ended by human action”(Annan.K, 1998:11).
The return of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah presents the
country a second chance in remoulding her peace blocks for development. With the new dispensation comes an awareness
that there is the need for new ways of thinking and new ways of acting by the
elected representatives of the Sierra-Leoneans. Upper most among the elements of foundation
of peace, is the possession of cognitive map of good governance by the
leadership in Sierra Leone. The
leadership of the forces of righteousness and unselfishness (Mott.J, 1998:362)
which needs to be understanding of both its antecedents and background is in
line with the practicalities of good governance. For good governance to take a firm root there
is the need for a consideration of the interplay of social forces that make
peace within the state. An awareness
that Sierra Leone with her 99% Mende, 1% Creole, Europeans, Lebanese and Asian,(John.M;1991:77-78)
groups are antagonistic to each other in the sense that their respective claims
are mutually exclusive. Indeed, that
mutual exclusiveness of opposing claims is noted to be particularly obvious in
the economic sphere where one group may demand a share in the economic product
which another group refuses to grant (Morgenthau.H.J,1964:502). This element is so potent that is has been
observed that, “poor economic performance, and inequitable development have
resulted in a near permanent economic crisis.”( Annan.K, 1998:11).
The new way of thinking and acting on the part of the
rejuvenated leadership in Sierra Leone underlies the need to avoid, the
centralization of both decision-making power and political privilege in the
hands of a relatively few State elites and ultimately in the person of the Head
of State” (Wunch.J.S & Olowu.D;1990:330) instead, this should be
demonstrated in according the civil society the needed vital space and network
of potentially independent organizations that proves instrumental for the
authentic articulation of interests; for the airing of conflicting perspectives
of societal projects and for the definition of an overall concept and
perspective of development that commands the measure of consensus that is a
prerequisite of political legitimacy.(Kossler.R & Melber.H;1996:72).The
essence of this is the need to carry all the disparate groups along with the
vision of the leadership for the country.
Other aspects of peace initiative are those that have bearing
on the implementation through accountability of the deliberated socio-economic
policies of provision of food – encouraging of people by incentives, provision
of shelter by policies that remove tariffs over inputs to achieving this;
provision of educational facilities – through infrastructural facilities
erected and campaign programmes, by the elected representatives at all levels
of the state administration. Indeed,
instead of government knows all and does all mentality; The new ways of thinking and acting involves
the attitudinal change that means embarking on infrastructural provisions – in
the domain of electricity, water-portable water, good roads networks, other
transportation network, Telecommunication;
While leaving the actual services and goods production to the creativity
of the citizens. This has the great
advantage of seeing development as self governance with broad based, people
oriented policies that can be sustained with the largest possible number of
persons and organization of a society possessing economic and political
authority. (Wunch.J.S & Olowu.D; 1990:330). Talking of good governance, it has been
observed that, more than any other contributive factors, “good governance is
now more than ever the condition for the success of both peace and
development.” (Annan.K, 1998:11). The concept of good governance has been
broadened to include a realisation that there is the need for cultivation of
the good will by the leaders of African countries to rely upon political rather
than military responses to problems; to engage more of democratic channels for
pursuing legitimate interests and expressing dissent must be protected while
political opposition need be respected and accommodated in constitutional
forms. (Annan.K, 1998:11). In addition
ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law, strengthening of the
democratisation on course as well as the promotion of transparency and
capability in public administration will go a long way in breeding mutual self
confidence among the diverse ethnic groups of Sierra Leone.
III.
THE
PRACTICAL NECESSITIES OF SOCIO-POLITICAL
GEOGRAPHY OF PEACE IN SIERRA LEONE
To say that Sierra Leoneans would for ever forget the
imaginary line that divides them along pro and anti major Koromah’s tenure, is
to glide over the practical necessities of socio-political geography of peace
in Sierra Leone. Just as French politics
since the advent of the fifth Republic has continued to be seen in terms of the
divide between those who were of resistance to the German occupation of France
and those who collaborated with the Germans; or just as it is plausible to
imagine Nigerian internal politics in the foreseeable future being dominated by
pro and anti June 12, 1993 presidential election result. Sierra Leoneans were divided over committee
set up in exile by the ousted and to be re-installed President Ahmed Tejan
Kabbah, to prepare grounds for his return from exile. It must be noted that the said committee was
reported as having arrived Freetown to a hostile reception from Sierra Leoneans
who stayed behind and fought the junta but are now excluded from the Committee.(The
Post Express;1998;24 February:2)
Indeed, it was similarly observed that the composition of such committee
would have reflected more of those who had experienced the struggle as; one of
them aptly puts it “they have failed to realise that some of us stayed behind
and put up with the brunt of the AFRC brutality, harassment, torture and
detention for the past nine months” (The Post Express;1998;24february
1998:2). This situation casts a shadow
over prospect of total peace in Sierra Leone.
There are certain important aspects of governance that needs
to be taken seriously to avoid the mess of the situation that brought the junta
into office. It has been observed that
the presence of former politicians of the ‘discredited’ All People Congress (APC) in Tejan Kabbah’s
government had raised more questions and opened more wounds than it healed (The
Post Express; 1998:6 April). In
addition this, the Sierra Leonean Congress had always been like a war front,
while the parliament was often chaotic, thereby building an acrimonious
relationship with the executive arm of government. (The Post
Express; 1998:6 April). Thus, there are rooms for improvement on the
part of the reinstalled government of President Tejan Kabbah towards creating a
cooperative atmosphere between the executive and legislative arms of
government. There is the need for an
urgent process of disarmament and restructuring of the Armed Forces. In so doing, it is without gain saying the
fact, that equal representation need be accorded the 13 ethnic groups in the
country. The SOFA-state of Forces
Agreement or a Defence pact can never bring real peace to Sierra-Leoneans; as
such, agreements or Pacts merely strengthens the hands of the incumbent regime
in oppressing the generality of the citizens.
Nevertheless, an important factor informing conditions of domestic peace
is overwhelming power of the state. (Morgenthau.H.J,1964:502). It has been observed that this factor counts
heavily in preserving peace within national societies, thus with the
overwhelming power, a society can nip in the bud all attempts at disturbing the
peace. This overwhelming power
manifests itself in two different ways namely, in the form of material force of
irresistible social pressure. (Morgenthau.H.J,1964:502). What then could be said to be the
contribution of the state to the maintenance of domestic peace?
It has to be noted that the ‘State’ is but another name for
the compulsory organization of society i.e. for the legal order that determines
the conditions under which society may employ its monopoly of organized
violence for the preservation or order and peace (Morgenthau.H.J,1964:507). Harmonising these factors informing conditions
of Domestic peace is not going to be an easy task for President Tejan
Kabbah. But looking back at the events
that led to his over-throw and the intervention of ECOWAS, He was reported to
have believed that he has learnt a lot from them.
“I can say with some degree of certainty that
we have learnt a lot from the unfortunate experience we passed through and hope
that it will guide us in whatever we do to reconstruct our country and the
formulation of policy for the well being of our country and our people”(This
Day;21 February,1998:9).
Furthermore, the Sierra Leonean President was reported to
have said that his immediate pre-occupation when he returns to power is to get
his work together in order to bring about national cohesion. “We shall work very hard and spend most of
our time in rebuilding our country so that we can forge ahead into the 21st
century with confidence, peace and security” (This Day;21
February,1998:9).. Indeed, there are
indications that the Presidents’ style of administration this time around may
be radically different from what it was before the event of May 25 1997,
talking of new ways of thinking and new ways of acting. He was reported as having spotted certain
weaknesses in Sierra Leone but which he said developed over the last 30 years
and that he needed “to design special missions to address them” (This Day;21
February,1998:9). to make government machinery more effective and more action
oriented. He was further reported to
have said, it has become important to focus the attention of all government
functionaries on the fact that both the President and the public servants all
work for the people.
Concerning the President’s plan on the member of the junta
captured by ECOMOG and who are now prisoners of war. He was reported to have said that “the junta
and those in detention at the moment, we will carefully have to interrogate
them. But those who knowingly and
wilfully did things to destabilise our country, to make our people suffer, to
make us go through all these humiliations, they will have to face the law” (This
Day;21 February,1998:9).
IV.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, central to the elements of foundation of peace
in Sierra Leone, had been suggested, new ways of thinking and acting. If the emphasis had been stressed on the
leadership, it is by no means the only segment of the society that needs
it. The follower ship needs to rise more
to the occasion. It has to be guided
surely by the example set by the leadership.
Indeed, part of the horizon of new
ways of thinking and acting includes creation of actual opportunity for
public debate and the structure of the public sphere which form instrumental
preconditions for determining modes of decision-making in such vital areas as
development projects to be pursued. (LIPSSLER.R & MELBER.H; 1996:69)
Finally, an attempt has been made to examine some of the
constituent factors that could possibly lay foundations of peace in Sierra
Leone, after the ECOMOG-restored Democratic government and governance. Critical among these factors are those of
“new ways of thinking and new ways of acting” by the elected leadership and
follower ship; engaging in justice driven peace instead of the peace of the
grave yard. This study proposed that
attitudinal change in the direction of good governance, accommodation of
dissenting views within the democratic structures of state and virile civil
society; on the part of government and the governed – societal grouping would
ensure an enduring foundation of peace in Sierra Leone.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1.
Angell, N.( 1972) “Peace and the Public Mind” Noble Essay
lecture, June 12, 1935, in Frederick W.HABERMAN(ed), Nobel Lectures – Peace 1926 – 1950. Vol.2 Elsevier Publishing
Company. Amsterdam. London & New
York..
2.
Annan, K(1998),Assessment Report on Africa to the UN General Assembly,
16 April 1998, see Daily Times
(Lagos) 24 April p.11
3.
Johns. M (ed),( 1991), U. S and Africa Statistical Handbook. See
‘Sierra Leone’ The Heritage Foundation,
Washington D. C.. pps. 77-78
4.
Kossler. R. And Melber, H.( 1996), “The concept of Civil Society and the
Process of Nation – Building in African States” in Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft: International Politics and
Society. 1/Friedrich Ebert Foundation. p.72.
5.
Kup, A. P. (1964), The Story of Sierra Leone, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. p.21
6.
Morgenthau, Hans. J (1964). Politics among Nations: The Struggle for
Power and Peace. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 3rd
Edition p.502.
7.
Mott, J.( 1998), “The leadership
demanded in this Momentous Time” Nobel Essay in Frederick. W. HABERMAN(ed), Nobel Lectures – Peace 1926 – 1950. op.
cit. p. 362.
8.
The
Post Express (Lagos), (1998), 6 April
9.
The Post
Express (Lagos) (1998), 24 February
p.2
10. This Day (Lagos)( 1998), 21
February p.9
11.Wunsch. J.
S. And Olowu. D. (eds), (1990), The Failure of the Centralized State,
Institutions and Self Governance in Africa (Boulder, C. O.: West-view
Press, April p.330.
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