THE TOOL OF OBJECTIVITY: The Path To A Better Society

Human perception fails with the absence of objectivity. A school of thought can judge peoples’ lineage based on tribe, surname and region. There is an alternative school of thought that would not hold such view. I was at a Baobab tree (social gathering) years back when someone said that, “the surnames Sheriff, Daramy, Kallon, Foday,etc., are associated with Sierra Leone Peoples' Party (SLPP) and the surnames Bangura, Sesay, Kanu, Samura, etc., are linked with All Peoples'Congress (APC)”. I was shocked by the statement but later realised it is his own view and a perception held by many. However, I was able to categorise him under the umbrella of the one-way thinkers. I further investigated his academic credentials and was told he is a university graduate. The information enabled me to know that one’s academic credentials have nothing to do with the knowledge of the real society we live in. Human society is delineated into three groups: social unifiers, non-social unifiers and the sly group. Social unifiers look at people as a nation and don’t make pre-emptive judgements. Non-social unifiers make mono-focal judgements about people or have one-way thinking. The sly group oscillates between social unification and non-social unification. People have their human rights to belong to a party of their choice, whether it is APC, SLPP, PMDC, and so on. It is one’s right to be linked to any of the parties, but disregarding your allegiance due to tribe, surname and region. It is important to belong to a party as a result of your conviction, like I belong to the Labour Party due to its principle of social justice. Others have their own conviction of being a member of the Tories. This is the nature of politics I am looking forward to in Sierra Leone. The fragile state of politics in our country is not about the political institutions, but those behind the driving seats. Unless and until our current political entities put aside their dominant self-interest and naivety, the national trend will remain blurring. It is time for Sierra Leoneans to put dirty politics in the bin and embrace themselves as the same blood and one family. We need to incorporate objectivity in the outlook of ourselves and shed-off the one-way thinking of people and society, as this is the recipe for a forward looking nation. It is good for one to look at issues from two-sides. Or, as the late Joseph Hill sang in his culture album that, "there are three sides to a story-your side, my side and the other side". Having an objective view about issues can salvage discord in society. In many instances, I came across people that were not convinced when I told them I do not belong to any of the parties in my country. They took my surname as a justification of their conviction. There is that preconceived view that the names linked to Mende are SLPP and names associated with Temne are APC. Yes, such conclusion is partially true, as there are those with the unwavering allegiance to a party because of their tribe. However, we are in modern times where such view is fading away, and there are those that had seen the true light of national cohesion. We have group of Sierra Leoneans who are clinging on two-sided perceptions. There are those that belong to a party because of its core values and those on the fence that feel these core values are not properly dispensed. We need a political landscape that is people centred and addresses the real welfare needs of the people that dwell in the nation. I was in our yearly teacher training programme one day in the Gambia when one of the trainers passed round a picture for us to look at and give our views about it. We all had varying views, but one thing that I learnt from the lesson is that, the trainer was trying to test our objective ability. This triggers the need for human beings to perceive people and issues objectively. During our time in university, I saw true brotherhood through our students’ union movement coupled with the fact that we shared and cared for each other. I was sick at one time and diagnosed of malaria (my common sickness when I was in Sierra Leone) and it was my room mate that cook a traditional food for me. We had individual clubs but the union was paramount to us, though it was fused by the government at some point in time. We lived on the down-to-earth principle, where no one would want to accept dominance, through our “yes sir syndrome” whenever we meet each other. We definitely had few people that were tied down to the cloak of myopia, but the dominant rationalists could not allow that to surface. I am perturbed that the table is turned with current students. We are hearing about students branding themselves as “black” and “white”, thereby breaking the foundation of rationality that we built in the University of Sierra Leone. Sometime I wonder whether we going to maintain the defective legacy we inherited or change it to a form likeable to incoming generations. I could remember when, as final year students in blocks J and H, our lavatories ceased to have running water for so long. We organised an action after a night vigil to see the principal, Professor Strasser-King at that time. When we reached his premises to report the matter, the situation went out of control, as one of our comrades forcefully entered the Principal’s bedroom, for which, he was not happy and pronounced the action of expelling our final year comrade. I stood out that, “if he expels him, we will come for his head”. We stood as a family to save the comrade from losing his honours degree. We did not betray him because his is from another tribe or region, but we firmly stood by his side as a member of family in the struggle. The spirit of viewing ourselves as one family is the way forward to a better society. I have to rest my case now and join our independent observers’ team to continue watching our country and the global society

Author: Prince Foday, England, United Kingdom

The author has multi-faceted skills in media, economics (econometrics), finance and management. He is an activist for social justice, and classed as a poor and vulnerable member of the global society.