18.05.12

Sierra Leone @ 50: Confronting Old Problems and Preparing for New Challenges

By Yusuf Bangura,

UN Research Institute for Social Development

Palais des Nations 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland

Email address: Bangura@unrisd.org

The number 50 tends to enjoy much reverence in the public imagination. The celebration of a 50 year event in most parts of the world evokes the high sounding phrase “golden jubilee”—with the word golden depicting all that is bright in the history of the person, institution or activity. In this type of celebration, individuals and states share one important thing in common: at 50, a person can no longer blame his or her parents for failures associated with choices during the life cycle; the person may have started life with a weak foundation that can be traced to parental circumstances, but at 50 that person is assumed to be mature and is expected to bear responsibility for at least some of the outcomes in choices made. The same goes for a state. When a state celebrates 50 years of independence, it cannot place all the blame for its failure or backwardness on its former colonial master, even though the colonial encounter may have imposed constraints on the life of the new state. The big question such a state will face, especially from its citizens who did not experience colonial rule, is: what did our leaders do to overcome the constraints of colonialism, improve our lives, and justify our quest for independence?

Source: Patriotic Vanguard