By Richmond B. Tholley
Every four to five years, we watch the same ritual. A man or woman stands before the chief justice, places a hand on the Holy Bible or the Holy Quran, and swears before God and country. They pledge to preserve the Constitution, to serve without fear or favour, and to work tirelessly for the people of Sierra Leone.
The camera flashes. The crowd claps. The convoy moves.
Then the oath is forgotten.
The Constitution of Sierra Leone is clear. Sections 65, 75, and 105 demand oaths of office from the President, Ministers, and Members of Parliament. The words are sacred: “…I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties… I will do right to all manner of people… So help me, God.”
We are a nation of believers. Muslims and Christians make up over 99% of this country. Our leaders swear by the very books we hold holy. They invoke Allah. They invoke Christ. They call God as their witness.
Yet 65 years after independence, Sierra Leone remains trapped in poverty. More than half our people live on less than $2 a day. Our hospitals lack Panadol. Our schools lack chalk. Our youth lack jobs.
How does a nation so faithful to God produce leaders so faithless to their oaths?
In our villages from Yoni, Koinadugu, to Pujehun, we teach our children that lying with your hand on the Quran or Bible brings a curse. We tell them an oath is not a performance. It is a covenant.
But in Freetown, the oath has become a theatre. Ministers swear to serve the people and then serve themselves. MPs swear to do right, then sell their votes. Presidents swear to protect the Constitution, then bend it.
They leave State House with the Bible in one hand and a corrupt contract in the other. They leave Parliament with the Quran in one pocket and stolen millions in the other.
If a common man steals a goat and swears falsely in court, he goes to Pademba Road.
When a leader steals the future and swears falsely in office, he goes to a diplomatic post.
The problem is not the oath. The problem is that breaking it has no cost. In 65 years, not one public official has been prosecuted for violating their oath of office. Instead, we recycle them. We promote them. We name streets after them.
So the next generation learns the real lesson: Swear on anything. Just win.
We have taught an entire country that perjury pays — if you do it in a suit.
Sierra Leone has customs and traditions older than the Constitution. Every tribe — Temne, Mende, Limba, Kono, Krio, and all others — has sacred places and deities that command real fear. In our villages, a man will not steal a chicken after swearing at the shrine because he believes the consequences are swift and certain. The ancestors do not delay justice.
Our politicians come from these same ethnic groups. They know these traditions. They believe in their power. Yet for office, we let them swear only on foreign books, knowing they can violate that oath without shaking.
So we, the people of Sierra Leone, now recommend this: _
Let our leaders take a second oath — not in court, but in our traditions. Take them to the sacred shrines of their forefathers. Let them stand before the deities their tribes fear. Let them swear there, in the presence of elders and society heads, that they will steal nothing from the poor, take no bribe, and do nothing that threatens the existence of the wider society.
Let the Mende leader swear at the Wunde shrine. Let the Temne leader swear before Gbankasoka. Let the Limba leader face the spirits of the Biriwa Hills. Let each man swear where his own people know the curse is real.
We have tried the Bible. We have tried the Quran. They swear and then sin.
Now let them face the gods of the land. Let them swear where they know there is no appeal, no delay, and no diplomatic immunity.
If they refuse to take the traditional oath, they are unfit to lead traditional people. If they take it and break it, then let the consequences fall — not from the ACC, but from the ancestors they claim to respect.
We have had 65 years of independence from Britain.
What we need now is independence from leaders who use God and Allah as a ladder and kick it away once they climb.
True independence is a government that fears something enough to keep its word. For 65 years, that fear has been absent. Perhaps it is time we restored it – through the traditions that raised us.
The Bible and the Quran are still holy.
But our shrines are still feared.
Let us use what works before we swear again.
So help us God. And so help us, our ancestors.
