Political Fascism and Patriotism: Civilizational Malapropism

We have a problem in Sierra Leone. A so huge a problem that if not addressed urgently, we shall  never, I repeat: we shall never progress as a country. This problem has established itself in almost all spheres of life in society, and we don't want to talk about it, or (better) still we think it may not have reached that level of seriousness. We have got political fascists to deal with in this country. Yes, I mean political cultists, totalitarians, extremists, zealots, myrmidons, idolaters, ideologues, sheeples, bigots, fanatics, etc. Name it, we have got those people. And you know what, they are threatening to erode our national values of a tolerance, perseverance, civility, love, equality, justice, freedom, and most importantly respect for dissenting ideologies and diversity.

But more worrisome is the silence of our activists and educated youths on the matter. We seem relaxed and careless over the ploy to destabilize our democracy by a few idiots who are on a mission to make accomplices of their gullible listeners and supporters. Make no mistake, you can find such idiots from both the ruling party and its main opposition. Their defensive mechanisms is profanity as opposed to constructive debate. They use obscenities to fray off any critical person. They will so much so pressurize you to make you feel guilty for not being on their sides. Their definition of patriotism?: being on their side (APC or SLPP); violence and not the ballot box to bring about change; bastardizing anyone who questions their gullibility and the people who feed them poison; hating a people (from an ethnic or regional whole) who have no role in your wretchedness. They simply don't want to take responsibility of their blunders. They don't want to acknowledge the fact that they had exhausted their one chance to vote candidates with the wits and moral qualities to represent them and steer the wheel to a brighter future. They now see five years too long a time  to correct their blunders. That mistake of voting in someone you barely knew, some guy from overseas presented to you by your party to love and follow after dumping your best guy whom you knew and are still aware that knows your constraints and have been responding to your needs with the little resources they had.

Isn't it ironic that someone who couldn't stand up against his/her party when they disenfranchised them by dictating who leads them as opposed to their choices would today dare stand up against a whole nation to question the power that be? You couldn't stand up against your party big-guns when one man bulldozed his way unto the top declaring himself winner, and yet you want to stand up against a whole civilization and deny them their peace?

You know what patriotism is? Patriotism is best defined by honesty. We should be honest to ourselves. We should be honest to accept that we brought this upon ourselves as youths. We don't have to make that old woman in the village, that woman in the marketplace, those girls and boys in our homes, and the innocent many whom we should have sensitized, engaged, and educated on how to make a better choice to pay for our stupidity by unleashing anarchy in society. Patriotism is best defined as one being honest in their dealings with their nation; one being honest enough and thoughtful in making a decision that will affect the whole nation; one being honest enough to vote their country and not ethnic or regional divide; and most importantly one accepting their mistakes and protecting the nation from any destructive force (from within or external).

We are the problems were are going through right at now. Even if you did not vote for this president, you sure voted for that member of Parliament who in November 2018 requested for 300 percent increment of their salary neglecting the plight of the over 50 percent of the unemployed many and the other civil servants who are underpaid. You indeed are the one who voted for that member of Parliament who in November 2019 approved the Finance Bill 2020 granting the president, vice president and the speaker of Parliament the privilege of spending thousands of US dollars on oversea vacations without having to account for it (which by the way the president in his wisdom refuse to sign ). Yes, you voted for those parliamentarians who set up a ploy to hijack the speaker of the house from the majority party in Parliament. Yes, you did vote a parliamentarian who until now cannot repeal subsections (k), (I) and (m) of section 77 of the Constitution that allow them to be loyal to their parties than to the state. And most importantly, we voted parliamentarians who endorsed a 12 months (I mean a whole twelve months) Public State of Emergency without flinching a bit. Isn't it ironical for KKY to be complaining about the excessive use of decrees by the government to rule the country in recent times when he was one among the many of parliamentarians who approved a 12-month SOE? Didn't he think it twice to know that was too much a time to allow for a review of the failures, lapses and lessons learnt under such circumstances in order to rectify it in time?

Comrades, I assure you, if we truly wish for a change in this country, we should have to pressurize our MPs in our constituencies to repeal the bad laws; rectify ambiguous laws; and draft bills that can ensure the Independence of the judiciary and the depoliticization of our security (especially the police). If changes is what we truly wish for, we can start questioning the leadership choice of our political parties that do not represent our choices. We should not allow them to impose on us leaders we don't Know, or choose. Change has to start somewhere within us first. It has to start with change of mindset. With a positive mindset, we can change the hierarchical structure of our political parties; with a positive mindset, we can learn to identify our leaders by their deeds and not by what we are fed; and with positive mindset,we can learn to engage in constructive debate rather than being obscene and violent. And most importantly, with a positive mindset, we can learn to accept that as at this time, the whole world is faced with hardship like never before. People everywhere in the world are crying of violation of human right and  a threat to their livelihood. It can be harder for us if we choose violence than constructive criticism of happenings.

~Amadu Wurie Jalloh
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