Oswald Hanciles (the guru): Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 December 2019:
“In our political systems, there is blind ethnic/regional voting by the electorate. In a schizophrenic way, the electorate would dance and romp, and fiercely defend and vote for political parties and candidates that would have done absolutely nothing to lift them out of poverty.
“In a five year term, the man would live in a zinc shack that would be filled with flood water during the rainy season. He would struggle every hour to feed his children. (Photo: Poverty in Sierra Leone).
Every malaria typhoid infection in his household would be a crisis. Some of his children would prematurely die as he would buy drugs which are fake.
“His children would go to schools that would leave them mal-educated — only to go out and be petty traders or keke riders after 14 years of schooling. He would have no savings.
All his hand-to-mouth earnings would barely afford him fish and meat daily; even to buy adequate drinking water would be a problem.
99% of his relatives and friends would be like him — in desperate, poverty-stricken living conditions. That was the situation with his father and his grandfather, going back to the 1960s. Yet…
“Yet, this impoverished man would spend most of his evening hours fiercely defending his political party. Come elections time, he would wear his party colours and steam out into streets frenetically dancing for his party; and he and his neighbors wallowing in abject poverty would vote massively for “na we party “.
“The predatory political elite and bureaucratic elite in successive governments treat the people with contempt; they are disdainful of inquisitive journalists and assertive civil society activists. Why?
“They know that the gullible and illiterate and mal-educated majority would always be bamboozled with the tribal logic, and continue to empower those who have impoverished them.” – Oswald Hanciles (the guru).
Based on this assessment means Democracy in our country is Overrated. But growing up in Sierra Leone in the 60’s and 70’s Sierra Leone was considered one of the brightest example in Africa. On a personal note, I will like to appeal to this newspaper to replace some of these old photos with the current photos which reveals that under the leadership of our current Mayor Freetown is one of the cleanest city in our region.
Right on point commentary, however, we have educated folks behaving the same manner as the many illiterate voters described in your commentary. In fact, several exists in this platform.