It was a huge first for Sierra Leone’s politics when six of the men hoping to become the country’s first citizen and the people’s first servant found themselves extracted from the safety and comfort of adoring fans to tell the world what they stood for and how they will fix the country. The aspirants stood for over three hours to tell of their gripes as well as of how things could and should be better as they built their “why me?” arguments.

Noises from the ground suggest only three of the six on the televised Sierra Leone Decides 2018 Presidential Debate have realistic chances of making it to the State House. The rather firm but fair moderation of the debate actually delayed the fireworks which we now know were worth the wait as the closing arguments left the audience with an absolute gem and a valuable lesson.

“Ranka” is (Temne) for persons and actions that are devoid of purpose, focus or good intentions. When rationale is defied and wickedness kicks in, ‘ranka’ is the word you need. So, when abundances that should propel an economy fail to take a country off the bottom of human development indices, the reason must be ‘rankanomics’. Cheering for this priceless addition to an already vibrant lexicon was almost immediately followed by a stunning example of what happens when ‘ranka’ people take charge of an economy as one of the debaters announced that one of his brethren-in-scrutiny had been party to an eighteen million dollar pilfering operation some twenty-two years earlier. Without a hint of a denial the accused retorted by implying his accuser had been complicit in the crime.

Whatever the finer details, the important fact is that accused and accuser belong to the two parties which for all but six of independent Sierra Leone’s 57 years have been in charge of the country. Additionally, there is enough to convince the neutral observer that the two cabals are the only subsets of a group apparently determined to sustain the suffering of Sierra Leone’s people. For too long the major parties have behaved like the two dominant dogs among the many my family had in my growing days. When around their meal bowls, the dominant dogs would only growl at each other but always threw the combined force of their wrath at the other dogs if they dared to get close. Our monkey and the cats, maybe because they looked and behaved differently, would get the nastiest sides of the dominant dogs.

Sierra Leone’s political history is littered with examples of the remarkable ease with which people have moved between two big parties that, apparently with nods and winks, have excluded others from holding power or feeling they too can hold power. Sadly, there isn’t a lot more than examples of abdications of responsibilities to show for their at times ruthless determination to rule. In exactly two weeks the people can decide that enough is enough.

The people can make it clear they have had enough of the nearly six decades of mediocrity they and their country have endured. They could reject the carry on regardless mentality implied in the campaign slogan – “tolongbo”. They can signal that ‘ranka’ and ‘rankanomics’ have gone on for too long.

As Bob Marley said in ‘Stiff-Necked Fools’ – “you have gone for so long with your love for vanity… you have got the wrong interpretation mixed up with vain imagination”.

One of the options for Sierra Leone’s voters on 7th March 2018 will be whether to “tolongbo”. They could send a message that says the nonsense has gone on for #TooLongBo.

© Othame Kabia