DON’T COMPARE, SIERRA LEONE IS UNIQUE!
COMMENTARY By Ibrahim Jabati
I don’t know but I am not really supposed to be reminding people about this attribute of our beloved country Sierra Leone. We are indeed unique in several ways.
We always have a distinct way to do our own things when it comes to national issues.
During the rebel war, the people of this country stood up against the brigands who claimed by then to be fighting on their behalf. They did so without guns but with bare hands and their strong faith in democracy. Even in the face of hell we held on stubbornly with the hope that the democratically elected government would be reinstated. And fortunately it came to pass; President Kabbah was brought from Guinea and again assumed his rightful position as president of this country. This was the first time for such an incident to occur in the sub-region.
In 1967 according to history, Sierra Leone became the first African country where an opposition party defeated an incumbent government democratically at the polls. Lest I forget there was the citadel of learning Fourah Bay College, then referred to as the Athens of West Africa which served as a centre for higher learning for students from all over Africa.
I have taken this pain to go into all this as a result of the 700 kilogram cocaine saga. Some schools of thought are suggesting that because nobody was caught in Liberia when cocaine was discovered in that country or because the government of Guinea Bissau deals in drugs, we in Sierra Leone should bless our lucky stars for at least nabbing the criminals. I don’t think we need to over emphasise this luck when one consider the security lapses that have now been exposed both within the Airport and the police force.
What took place at Lungi international Airport on Sunday 13th July was through divine intervention, otherwise nobody would have known a thing about it.
Since God works in a mysterious ways, now we have the FBI and the Scotland Yard to help with the investigation so let’s wait and see instead of trying to draw analogy between a botch situation in Liberia and a rogue state to the Sierra Leone scenario.
God being our helper, we shall surely expose those involved in this cocaine syndicate.
As for the police, having blundered as they always do now is the time to give themselves a facelift.
It is quite clear that for now as far as the investigation into the cocaine saga is concern, the public is pleased that they are on top of situation. But they should also not forget to be mindful of the rogue elements in the police who are hell bent to see that they fail in their investigations.
Quite apart from this, the police should now try to be proactive because that is the only way they would be able to assert themselves as a force to reckon with, hence living up to their slogan, “the force for good”.
