May 2021
By Kingsley Lington
One day in May 2015, as the United
Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency
Response in Sierra Leone
was winding down its operations,
a colleague, a European, who was part of the
response team told me she had decided to
live the rest of her life in Sierra Leone.
That kind of decision usually springs
from the guts, triggered by an emotional
event, such as suddenly finding a life partner
worth, figuratively, a 30-carat well-polished
diamond.
But no, she had simply been trapped in
Sierra Leone’s allures: its natural beauty,
the undulating hills, its smorgasbord of
cultures, hospitality, the optimism of the
young, the sense of community of the old,
and more.
It was déjà vu for me; I felt the same way in
1991 when I first arrived in the country. Then
I wanted to stay for five months but ended
up living there for 15 years. I found peace and
comfort in Sierra Leone, and I found the love
of my life. And my destiny became inextricably
linked to this beautiful country.
Sierra Leone’s natural and cultural attributes
often overshadow its mountain-high development
challenges. Which is why my colleague, or
anyone for that matter, would substitute the neon
lights of western capitals for a verdant suburb in
a poor country.
Sixty years is a ripe age to take stock of life’s
progress. And for Sierra Leone, this is the time
of the year when the gravediggers of the past will
assess the country’s journey since independence
in 1961.
You can expect a visceral reaction to the question
of whether Sierra Leone has lived up to its
promise. It’s all about sensory perceptions. In
other words, the evidence of our eyes: too many
jobless people on the streets; overflowing garbage
bins on Kissy road; drip-drop taps in Adonkia;
power outages in Freetown; bad roads in Kono;
a collapsing bridge somewhere; a raped woman
elsewhere; a bag full of money cannot buy an
empty bag.
And then you will hear a litany of the seemingly
perennial problems of poverty, of corruption,
of hunger—woes aplenty!
But what if there is another, data-driven narrative,
which conveys a cup half-full instead of
one that’s totally empty. Let me explain.
First, a 60-year-old individual may well be on
the last lap of life’s race, but a country at 60 could
be forgiven for still taking its first tentative steps.
The United States gained independence 245 years
ago; Great Britain was formed some 314 years
ago; China is about 5,000 years old—more than
five times the age of Methuselah.
Second, despite the frustrations of underdevelopment,
progress has not necessarily been
static or moved in reverse gear. For example, life
expectancy for Sierra Leoneans at independence
in 1961 was 31 years. It improved marginally to
40 years in 1982 and dipped to 37 years in 1995—
obviously because of the rebel war. But the latest
World Bank figure puts it at 57 years.
Think about it: from 31 to 57 years in development
terms is a pole-volt jump. And
indications are that the quality of life is in an
upswing with life expectancy expected to kiss
60 years soon.
Other granular metrics for measuring socioeconomic
development such as secondary school
enrollment and literacy levels, GDP growth,
public debt, infant and maternal mortality, and
so on have neither been terrific nor terrible for
Sierra Leone, which is why it’s OK to crow a little
during this year’s anniversary.
Still, we must not discount the opinions of
those who argue that the pace of progress since
independence resembles the lazy movement of
an ocean liner instead of that of a speedboat.
They have a point.
They may point to Madagascar, which gained
independence in 1960, but whose citizens have a
life expectancy of 67 years. Of course, an RUFkind
of war did not bog down Madagascar.
What about Rwanda?
In 1994, while the RUF war was disemboweling
Sierra Leone, a genocide was decimating
Rwanda, purging in pogroms some one million
citizens.
By the time the 100-day genocide ended in
July 1994, Rwanda had become a mere geographical
expression, its soul asphyxiated and deaths
and destruction limned its narrative.
But Rwanda rose from the ashes, with grit
and grind, its citizens and leaders determined
to move past its moral calamity.
Life expectancy in Rwanda today is 69 years.
The country is a global leader in gender equality—
the first-ever country with a female majority
in parliament—now at 61 percent. It’s a leader
in the deployment of information technology to
foster development.
If Rwanda, a landlocked country, can do it,
so should and must Sierra Leone, the land that
flows with milk and honey.
Currently 182nd out of 189 countries, Sierra
Leone needn’t cling tightly to the lower rungs of
the human development index.
There is no point relitigating past profligacy
or the vitriolic politics of the present. The focus
should be on the future, which is bright and within
reach. It’s a future now championed by Sierra
Leoneans and from among whom we are beginning
to see flashes of effective leadership.
Here’s why I am hopeful.
The democratization of knowledge, the
globalization of information, the apparent universalism
of the parameters of good governance
help citizens set high expectations for their leaders.
Therefore, what may sometimes sound like
a babel of acidic voices regarding the country’s
trajectory reflects people’s lived experience of
the gap between reality and expectation.
Besides, abundant natural resources—gold,
diamond, iron ore, bauxite, rutile, fertile land,
fisheries, etc.— and incredible human resource—
yes, some of Africa’s brightest are Sierra
Leoneans—underscore that there’s nothing bad
with Sierra Leone that cannot be corrected by
what is good with Sierra Leone (apologies Bill
Clinton).
Let me list a few low-hanging fruits:
Tourism. Tanzania earned $2.4 billion from
tourism alone in 2018, an amount three times
the national budget of Sierra Leone. Tanzanian
beaches and other tourist attractions are not better
than ours. Significant investments in tourism
will have a domino effect on other sectors.
Agribusiness. African agribusiness will be
worth $1 trillion by 2030, potentially lifting
millions out of poverty. Governments across
the continent are racing to the farms. Sierra
Leone must jump on the bandwagon, make the
right investments and transform agriculture into
agribusiness, creating thousands of good-paying
jobs for a teeming youth population. Ethiopia
raked in $900 million from just coffee and cocoa
bean in 2017.
Entrepreneurship. Under a successful African
Continental Free Trade Area, Africa’s
consolidated market of 1.2 billion people and a
combined GDP of more than $3 trillion should
guarantee scale for ambitious Sierra Leonean
entrepreneurs. Policies must be in place to leverage
this opportunity.
Youth energy. Up to 60 percent of the Sierra
Leonean population is under 25 years. Young
people are restless, energetic, impatient, and innovative.
Give them the space and the enabling
environment—electricity, catalytic policies,
financing, etc.— to unleash their talents.
What is the alternative to fiscal discipline,
job creation, and good governance? It is every
man, woman, and child staring poverty in the
face, hopeless, on a cliff edge, their thoughts
oscillating between committing a crime and
surrendering to a life of misery.
I still believe in Sierra Leone, a country that
was kind to me in so many ways. I can sense
an inflection point, a tipping point that’s likely
to trigger an epidemic of prosperity (no pun
intended).
But we must nudge ourselves out of slumber.
We need a huge dose of transformational political
leadership, courage, a collective effort—allhands-
on-deck approach—irrespective of tribe,
religion, or political affiliation.
Let’s get to work for the land that we love our
Sierra Leone.
Dr. Kingsley Lington is a strategic communications
specialist with the UN headquarters in
New York