October 26, 2021
By: Mohamed Jalloh
The Vice president of the republic of Sierra Leone has engaged young political leaders and civil society groups across West Africa where he was invited by the young political leadership school of Africa to serve as the key note speaker in Monrovia, Liberia.
Dr Juldeh Jalloh graced the occasion and spoke on the theme: “inspiring young political leaders with integrity and character to improve democracy and good governance”.
He said character is an important element that defines an individual to fight for democracy and good governance, as according to him it is an important attribute of leadership because a leader must stand for something irrespective of the circumstances and cost involved.
The Vice president cited an example of civil society groups in Burkina Faso under the reign of the former ousted president Blaise Compaorae who resisted attempts at cooption in government to return that country to democratic constitutional rule.
He also extoled “very courageous” civil society groups in Liberia during the county`s civil war who snubbed lucrative international jobs that pays $5000 to champion the fight for the restoration of democratic rule in that country.
Dr Jalloh explained about his role in the development of a strong civil society voice back home in Sierra Leone, which he says he is passionate about irrespective of whether he is inside or outside of government.
He noted that most of the civil society activists he helped in recruiting from universities at the turn of the millennium are now the leaders of civil society groups in Sierra Leone.
The vice president further emphasized on tolerance as an important feature of leadership and urged young political leaders to exercise high level of tolerance that transcends ethno-regional and religious barriers if they want to champion the cause of democracy and good governance in their respective countries.
“Young people must fight to promote inclusiveness and national cohesion by exercising tolerance which is very vital for democracy”, Dr Jalloh implored.
He warned young political leaders to eschew the things that are inimical to democracy and good governance and entreated them to promote economic inclusivity and to be gender sensitive as a way of ensuring radical inclusion that leaves no one behind.
He beseeched them to continue with the work of civic engagement that would open up the democratic space as according to him lack of civic engagement would lead to the subsequent contraction of the civic space which is bad for democracy.
The Vive president concluded by pleading to the young political leaders to be patriotic to their respective countries, as he puts it “a sincere act of patriotism would never go unnoticed by the people”.