His Excellency,
In most of my pieces in the past two years or so, I have presented the notion that the greatest problem of our African Democracies is most of our African leaders leading in a patronage mentality and system of governance. In this system our corrupt presidents and their contriving top public servants are sacred cows to deify. They are above the laws of our respective countries, while they continually keep their nations and masses hijacked in the artificial poverty created by their extreme greed and heartless callousness. What shameless aberration!!
And unfortunately most of our ECOWAS and AU leaders are always protecting that syndrome, while trumpeting and flaunting their bogus democracies and paying lip service to the plights and aspirations of the African masses. At best, I can say they are conflicted because they support their corrupt kinds, while leaving the masses to wallow in endless avoidable suffering; which they do not care about, as long as they could continue to maintain and protect themselves in power. They never seem to learn from the spree of “justified military coups in West Africa” that have come to truncate their “democratic dictatorships riddled in reckless corruption with impunity – garnished in ‘scapegoat justice’.” One of them do not mind “comfortably” stealing what could be used to better the lives and livelihoods of a million or people just to illegally amass untold and unexplained wealth to themselves, their families and cronies – with no bother about how it deprives the masses.
Having made the afore preamble, and avoiding redundancy in the narratives of the past Sierra Leone general elections of June 2023, for the purpose of brevity and some obvious realities, I would like to state that both ECOWAS and AU are effectively turning themselves into ‘white elephants’ that Africans seem to be seeing as irrelevant both in their political and economic lives and livelihoods. This is because, ranging from Guinea (Conakry) to Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger Republic, Sudan, etc., they have never intervened to control the heartless corruption, constitutional manoeuvrings and bad governance in their member states. Rather they always come in to impose and protect dictatorial regimes and corrupt leaders and their “empires” upon the nations and peoples of Africa. To them, democracy is all about elections and maintaining term limits – not the provision of the basic necessities and amenities for comfort of their citizenries; as well as ensuring the rule of law without disparity and expanding the investment landscape of their countries, given the abundant domestic resources and foreign investments, donations and loans.
While I do not discountenance the unabated economic hardship and human right abuses of the Julius Maada Bio regime, (that need to be swiftly, decisively and realistically confronted,) the past November 26, 2023 alleged coup plot was one of the most dastardly undemocratic moves in that country in recent times. And I think ECOWAS should support the current Sierra Leone government to fully investigate the intrigues of such a plot that saw up to 18 of its security personnel and civilians killed.
The investigation and prosecution of a former president by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and courts of Sierra Leone respectively should not be considered a taboo, once they are done without any political vendetta and by impartial and open court proceedings. In fact this is enforcing and elevating the rule of law above personalities and breaking the obnoxious patronage mentality and system that has plagued that nation’s political and economic systems and rendered a naturally rich country grossly impoverished, while turning their greedy and corrupt leaders and public servants into millionaires overnight.
This is also a major root cause of their past 11 year senseless and gruesome civil war. And for our Nigerian and Senegalese Presidents to request the release of former President Ernest Koroma into asylum in Nigeria and drop all charges against him, and as well as protect all his properties, etc. while the IPOB political and Biafra secessionist agitator, Nnamdi Kanu is still held in unlawful imprisonment is very absurd – and Senegal still keeps repressing the opposition.
The idea that investigating and prosecuting former allegedly corrupt and criminally culpable leaders in Africa is a witch-hunt only promotes public corruption and holds our artificially impoverished nations in the fearful captivity of perpetual greed with systemic impunity – holding us hostages of their callous patronage system that keeps us as “rich-paupers” while they remain ”glorified national robbers.” Is this how our ECOWAS and AU regional and continental actors would have us continually proceed? We defy that syndrome and say NO to bogus democracy and economic slavery!!
May the good, generous, just and merciful LORD intervene into the affairs of SIERRA LEONE (and AFRICA) now?
Best Regards,
Dr. Abraham J. Williams
Rights Advocate/Expert & Anti-graft Campaigner
