By Ing. Yayah A.B. Conteh.
Past experiences across the years have shown that whenever a small group of Sierra Leoneans meet along a pathway, on a public bus ride, or simply in a local ‘Ataya’ base, etc., their conversation will sooner or later slide into a litany of our national deficiencies, including our character or attitudinal deficiency, of which I wish to speak.
Scholars and non-scholars alike, especially from an African point of view, have always opined that a vast difference exists in behaviour and general approach between a man catapulted from humble beginnings to a position of affluence in society and those of his kind not so blessed.
People, including friends, relatives, and close associates, have broadly lamented, echoed, and re-echoed the nonchalant behaviour of their fellow men and women when once they assume some positions of trust and responsibility in their midst.
I write here with brutal frankness that I too belong to that same province of belief as those who lament others in this regard, basing my belief and judgment on experiences gathered across the years.
Past reflections confirm to a large degree that the practical demonstration of this type of attitude is not unconnected with those individuals who enter into politics or who happen to bag political appointments more by accident than by design or those who find their fortunes multiplying by the hour in some business ventures they have undertaken, originally starting modestly at the national level and later going international, enabling them now to travel far and wide across the globe.
Other schools of thought have been advanced that this practice is more common among those species of our citizenry that have been Europeanized or detribalized in some way or other.
It is sometimes sickening to observe that the general character of one man, being either a former friend or blood relation, can easily generate a quantum change in that person’s social and moral behaviour towards his fellowmen with whom he had had unbroken ties for many a long decade.
What an unfortunate fact of life it is to find out that old-time friends and comrades who had been known to have a mild and cherubic appearance, on acquiring certain positions of affluence in society or rising a rung higher on the social ladder, suddenly become fierce and unaccommodating towards others not so blessed!
Why do people who have risen from nowhere but whom providence and good fortune have suddenly positioned on a more positive and successful trajectory in life frown at and even find it difficult to reciprocate the good old habits of theirs towards their fellowmen? These good old habits that have always gravitated and propelled them towards their fellowmen suddenly become something of the past, which eventually end up crippling and inhibiting the golden aspirations and opportunities inherent in the best of them towards this unfortunate lot.
Having already developed wings to fly, be it in the political, business, or other fields of passion, they now see their lives confined to a close circle within which they move. They suddenly acquire an air of pomposity and become ostentatious, dishonest, and vulgar. Most often, they prefer to stand aloof from the lot of their kind with whom they had experienced the humblest of beginnings, simply because they now dine and wine with people that constitute the powers that be, the crème de la crème of society; above all, they now deliver jaw-breaking speeches in places they had hitherto undreamt of being, travel extensively from one corner of the globe to another in search of fortune and adventure.
Replying to telephone messages or even responding to telephone calls from former friends, relatives, and close associates becomes anathema to them. Every one of these messages or calls to them is laden with multifarious problems begging for solutions. This can be true at times but not always. Afterwards, not every one of these calls or messages invites problems. To most of them, the mere exchange of mutual greetings with their old-time friends and relatives from time to time is enough to propel them to crave their companionship.
To add more insult to injury, these fortunate lots always pretend not to be in their accommodating moods in moments of receiving calls or messages and dismiss their old-time friends, relatives, and close associates with a kind of distant affection.
The judgments they make of others now become notably ill-informed and capricious. And because their egos are full of emptiness towards their fellow men and women, and they discover a similar behaviour among their new-found class with whom they now grease palms and rub shoulders together, they look upon the whole race of humanity as being equally empty.
In some circles even, some people expect their relatives, friends, and close associates to be bonded to them by unbroken bonds, helpless at their mercy. They expect them to become their personal instruments to be thrown into whatever adventure or enterprise that they, and they alone, decide upon.
To me, their general behaviour does not seem to be too far from people that suffer from periodic bouts of megalomania.
Indeed, the truest test of a man’s loyalty and sincerity to his old-time friends, relatives, and close associates can only be measured when compared at a time he stands between starvation and plenty!
Nonetheless, in the midst of all these challenges, there are still others who do not deflect an iota from their own chosen course of actions and from their beliefs and convictions towards others. They identify themselves with old-time friends and relatives even in the midst of abundant opportunities. The personal pronoun “I” does not exist in their vocabulary. They hardly use it in the company of their unfortunate brethren. Instead, the spirit of collectivism is so ingrained in their minds that they even visit these people in their respective residences, leave their doors or business centers open to them on an appointment basis, or even schedule dates for them to socialize together.
But can you guess the percentage of such people in our midst? A ten (10) percent or less would probably be my own guess! And yours?
Inculcating the habit of true brotherhood and an unblemished spirit of oneness in our societies will help build a country that will usher in an unparalleled degree of unity amongst the lot of us, whereby those at the bottom rung of the social ladder can tap and benefit from those at the top.
Unfortunately, Sierra Leoneans in particular, and Africans in general, are not so famous for this.
It is still not too late to change the narrative.
Ing. Yayah A. B. Conteh is the former director of the Mechanical Services Department (MSD) of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA).
Tel. nos.: 076640364 / 077718805.
E-mail: contehyayahab2020@gmail.com.
