Just over forty-seven years ago, while sat on a barber’s chair near the Freetown (Sierra Leone) East End Police Station, I saw half a dozen men in red shirts kick to a pulp a bloke dressed in green. So brutal was this introduction to the adversarial game of politics for my brothers and me that we still talk about it; albeit usually after a drink… or three.

In the decade-and-a-bit after that incident, my tutelage in politics has included experiences and lessons of the depths to which its practitioners can sink alongside proof that good people can make it a force for good. Gunshots through the night while still in primary school, a roadside strip search alongside my parents and siblings by the age of twelve, choking on tear gas many times in my teens, execution of a family friend, and fleeing protests locations after sporadic shooting was the character building I got. Apparently, walks in the countryside and nights around campfires or in tents delivered the same effect in other places.

As I grew older, my consciousness of a wider world beyond Sierra Leone’s borders increased. I heard of Dr Martin Luther King Jr alongside news of that struggle in Rhodesia and conflict in the Middle East. There was also the music of Sonny Okusun, Fela Ransome Kuti, Bob Marley and many others telling me there was much out there that was far from good. Briefly, Robert Mugabe became a hero as he led his people from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe but the tactics of Idi Amin were soon getting deployed against the people of Matabeleland. Africa and Latin America had juntas and strongmen, East Europeans were not exactly ‘living the dream’, and Asia had Mrs Marcos’s shoes among other issues. Had the world, after the Mahatma and the Preacher, lost the knack for producing good leaders? No it would seem. For there was incarcerated in South Africa a man called Mandela; a man who insisted – “your freedom and mine cannot be separated”.

Then came that day in early 1990 when Mr De Klerk released Mr Mandela from prison and started to work with him to achieve what many dreamt of but didn’t quite see happening in a hurry. Two adversaries took South Africa on a journey that confirmed politics can indeed be a force for good and rightly shared the highest prize for peace. With breakdowns of tyranny and dictatorships collapsing all around, humankind seemed fixed on a trajectory that rejected all the ills my childhood learning was filled with. Yes, there were mistakes, bad decisions and some wobbles but the direction of travel seemed generally safe. Hope was not a swear word and respect for others was far from a concept to be ashamed of as leaders who saw the nations of the world sharing a common destiny worked to shape it for all their peoples. However, as with many good dreams, there is the not always pleasant waking up to reality; and the reality is that hope has been kicked into touch by fear and respect for others is seen as a weakness. All over the world leaders are popping up who offer confrontation as strategy.

“Or else” represents the new posture of governments and leaders; and people everywhere seem to be pushing for that. It is anybody’s guess where it could all lead to but I plan to bear in mind that advice often heard before any flight and will keep my seat belt buckled in case of unexpected turbulence or, as our American cousins call it, rough air.

© Othame