March 12, 2021
Albert Baron Ansu
By now we are all in agreement that violent tendency among all ages not only young people is boiling over. And if we are to take the imagery of boiling water- simmering to spill over and cut out the fire… It is a loss, no benefit to set the pot in the fire and allow it boil over. Imagine the spilling ashes that dirty the water and corrosive effect on the metal coal pot even the wonder coal pot. Then follow this image of natural science to have glimpse of the consequence of choosing to be extreme- in raw and crude disposition.
We have a name for it ‘Disgun…’ It is the corrupt version of the English word disgruntle… ‘Disgun’ has thus become a notorious krio register that was accommodated after the war. Now, you can hear those who want to flaunt the inclination to be violent saying ‘ar disgun.’ I am disgruntled…. And that is a banal way of saying I am ready to do something disgusting, even nasty… It is street slang, even spewed in homes by family members who get irritable and want to throw out some tantrums.
Something fostered disgruntlement in the war days. Too many pains and injustices meted out to the citizenry by the warring factions. It led to traumatized citizenry.
In the immediate post war environment we use to the expression of: Everybody heart warm… But the war ended a very long time. Even those young folks who did not witness the war that have become ‘disgun’ cannot justify the natural direct psychological effect of what the war generated in creating condition of momentary mental tripping over. I am arguing that this state of ‘disgun’ has more to it than its being a post war hangover.
The age bracket of those engaged in various forms of violence is mostly youth that did not see the war. There are also those that participated in the war who are evincing the ‘disgun’ virus, if you would. What other factors can be responsible for this conditioning must be explored.
It can be poor upbringing and negative peer pressure. It can be drug related, the notorious ‘Kush’ that is driving its users somewhat crazy. It is also the political impulse of the two dominant parties, the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party and the opposition All People Congress always prepared to outdo each other in showing violence.
Emmerson Bockarie, the undoubted premier musical social commentator had found a name from the forced and false krio entry when he says “dem done begin dem gbagbati…” Right, they have started their outlawry and brazen acts of rudeness leading to spilling of blood.
As Editorial Consultant of this daily that edits everything contained in every edition, I am appalled by the gory and bloody stories of murder and aggravations committed across the country. The Police Boss Ambrose Sovula has been lamenting this trend and seems worried that it might reach a height to create national crisis. The ‘disguns’ are a national menace to be tackled. Every other day it is a situation of running battles with the Police and tear gas canisters are unleashed. If it is not in the city center of Belgium, it is at Lumley where Okada bike riders are rioting. Even in the villages as in Futa Kpejeh Pujehun district, the youth had the temerity to block the way of the Presidential convoy in the self-same style of Makeni youth standoff with law enforcement agents wanting to investigate former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The state of affair might not only be restricted to Sierra Leone, we have seen such violent outbursts in the sub region and the world at large to even include the United States.
One can therefore be tempted to say that the COVID 19 effect must not be ignored. In closed economies and lock down the poverty situations have risen. So it is likely that the hungry man is an angry chant can be examined to accommodate its application to the prevailing context to some extent.
Read this to agree with my suggestion: We don’t have a lot of evidence that the rate of domestic violence incidence is going up during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a little bit of evidence that the rate of murder-suicide, in which a male partner kills a female and then himself, has risen since the same time last year. Coronavirus and Domestic Violence: What You Should Know | Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Okay, many of those conditioned to be disgruntled to act in manic depressive or bipolar forms; demonstrating contempt of the rule of law…they might not be reading this; but somebody has to read this and share its imports in the neighborhoods, households and the wider society that the current legal trajectory of the President Bio government has no sympathy for them that are raising hell for whatever reason. The Office of National Security has fired the first shot-disbanding political thugs referred to as Marshalls; the court stories are full of sentencing of those who run amok to commit criminal and felonious offenses.
The bottom-line is: to be ‘disgun’ is to be self-destructive, powerless prone to go down…Stop it!!!!