Advance letter to the new President of Sierra Leone
Dear Mr President,
Congratulations on your victory. Your new role makes you accountable for the development and welfare of a nation of seven million people for the next five years. I am sure you will agree there is an enormous amount of work to be done and I hope that by the end of your period in office, we will no longer be in the bottom 10 of the Human Development Index.
At the beginning of your tenure, you will have the significant advantage of a period of grace. The public sector will be more cooperative and the general public and media will be receptive to your ideas and policies. There will be a temporary easing of the pressures that bedevilled the previous government.
The honeymoon period it is called. Or as someone recently described it to me — it is as if the clock has been reset. You come with the goodwill of the electorate. Most of the nation will have been convinced by your campaign promises and assured of your ability to deliver.
A vote after all, is the ultimate declaration of trust.
However, I would be surprised if your honeymoon period lasted as long as one of those ‘made in China’ presidential campaign T shirts that everyone is wearing.
Disillusion will kick in when people realise that Sierra Leone’s economic revival still has a long way to go. If we are depending on our economy to be buoyed up by the price of iron ore, we are likely to be disappointed. Major global producers can produce for as little as $11–12/t. With our skills gap, energy deficit, and all the other costs of doing business in Sierra Leone — can we match that? As a consequence, finding the funds for urgently needed improvements to public health and our education system will not be easy.
We will also be expecting you to bring about a rapid reduction in the culture of corruption within our country. Its causes are complex and although we all suffer the negative effects, curtailing it will take time and a major change in attitudes. Please lead by example.
The campaign funds that have kept our underemployed youth population in temporary employment will have dried up. All the freebies, rallies and general carnival atmosphere afforded by the election will be over and done with and they will be back to being broke and marginalised.
And of course you will start to backtrack on some of your campaign promises because we haven’t the wherewithal to pay for them and revenue generation depends in part on building up the private sector and ensuring everyone pays their tax, rates etc and does not dip into the public purse.
Nevertheless, the strategic importance of the honeymoon period for any new head of state cannot be overemphasised.
Please make the most of it:
• Look at it as an opportunity for you to assert your leadership style and start as you mean to go on.
• Your new leadership team will reflect the aspirations you have for our country. Sierra Leone has some outstanding people. Appoint them.
• Capitalise on your popularity to make some of the hard but necessary decisions that previous regimes have judged politically expedient to ignore. It will make it easier for you to take tough decisions in the longer term.
• Precedents for purposeful engagement with the general public were set during the campaigning period. Let’s build on them to communicate your vision honestly and openly, but don’t promise miracles. You won’t be able to achieve them.
• Above all remember that you are our leader. You are also our servant.
You have been elected by the people of Sierra Leone to lead the country for the next five years. It is a privilege and a great honour.
I look forward to a better Sierra Leone.
Yours faithfully,
Memuna Forna
