OPINION > Something To Think About A Case For Attitudinal Change....Officer Kamara's Plight in Sierra Leone Posted by on Apr 25, 2008, 13:47

His Excellency President Ernest Bai Koroma’s persistent clarion call for attitudinal change in a bid to lift this nation from the abyss of moral decadence to an enviable standard of moral attitude, economic prosperity and social progress is indeed timely and a positive step in the right direction

The nation is still bedeviled with vices such as tribalism, regionalism, nepotism and endemic corruption.  These over the years have had the cumulative effect of relegating this nation of being one of the least developed countries in the entire globe as per human development index, a stagnant status from which we are yet to rise.

This is in sharp contrast to the nation’s vast natural endowments coupled with the human capacity which constitutes sufficient condition for the nation to be classed among the richest in the world with an extremely high quality of life for its tiny but impoverished population.

Consequently, the prevalent negative attitudes are stumbling blocks to the nation’s realization of its developmental aspirations regardless of the available resources, a fact recognized by past governments but to which concerted effort was lacking and was devoid of the requisite political will.  The incumbent’s yearning for a reversal of this negative trend is most laudable and requires collective support if the concept is not to suffer still birth.

Change is not a new phenomenon in human activities such as the evolution of man, his life span and his relations to his environment.  Change is usually effected in any organization because of the realization of the need for change.

Three questions are basic to any change process, which are what, how and when.  The “What” involves the identification of the need for change, the “How” entails a strategy for change and the “When” encompasses time scales which are all intertwined in the overall strategy. In the president’s agenda for attitudinal change, a needs assessment has seemingly been conducted evident by the societal vices already catalogued to be tackled.  A clearly defined methodology and time frame in the change process are also key requirements for effectively dealing with the issues if attitudinal change is to be actualized in the nation, lest it remains a concept and farfetched dream. The “How” and “When” will require an institutional framework such as tasking an existing unit with an expanded membership to include key stakeholders under the aegis of the president for monitoring and evaluating the change process.

Change usually meets with resistance especially the shedding off of deep-seated practices as people may be reluctant to forgo what they had been used to for ages, for the new because of fear of the unknown.

This resistance can be surmounted by the careful selection champions of change and provisions of inducements for those who readily embrace the change. This propels this writer to the topical issue that has been highlighted by some sections of the press.  It has to do with ex-superintendent of police Mr. Usman Kamara who resigned from the Sierra Leone Police in March last year as a result of intense pressure from the ruling SLPP government for no justifiable reason as they perceived him as anti-SLPP and pro-PMDC. The circumstances that necessitated his action were highly publicized by the media.  The then leading opposition parties APC and PMDC found it a convenient weapon to lash out at the government whose back they were all keen to see.

Ex-supt. Kamara who was the then the Local Unit Commander of the Kenema Division was transferred from to Kailahun for allegedly providing high profile security for the PMDC leader during his visit to that part of the country  to launch the party in Kenema on July 2006.

Subsequently, in January 2007 his refusal to accede to an SLPP demand in Kailahun to cancel a PMDC rally for a second time in favour of the SLPP which had been earlier granted permission to proceed with its own rally after the scheduled rallies of the two parties had clashed, resulted into his swift transfer from Kailahun to a posting in Freetown reserved for LUCs which in one way or the other is a breach of the police regulations.

This was the last straw that break the camel’s back, that forced supt-Kamara to quit the force as there was a clear case of political victimization by the government that he was unwilling to countenance  ex-supt.Kamara was perceived to be a hindrance to the then vice president Solomon E. Berewa’s obsessional quest for the presidency.

Since the inception of the APC-led government relevant stakeholders have been apprised of the plight of ex-supt. Kamara in order for him to be either availed with an alternative means of livelihood or have him reinstated into the Sierra Leone Police.

 His resignation was a subject of political debates by political aspirants in the desperate search for the hearts and minds of the electorates during their campaigns.  His decision at the time was lauded by both politicians and the populace as worthy of emulation as it was quite rare in the nation’s history.

This patriot who portrayed such a great virtue by giving up his job on the ground of principle to draw public attention to an anomaly to enhance the electoral process that was very crucial to the nation’s ardent desire for change now seems forgotten and abandoned.This surely does not augur well for attitudinal change if people fear that if they endeavour to change for the better, they will have no succor but, rather be left in the toilet pit.

On the other hand acknowledging and motivating those who try to effect difference will definitely stimulate change and the process will gather momentum.

The actualization of this noble ideal of attitudinal change for qualitative change in our national outlook and improvement in the livelihood of all and sundry requires practical and realistic approaches and concerted effort by all, lest the much yearned for change does not dude us.

So ex-Supt. Usman Kamara’s case is a litmus test for the president’s heroic drive for attitudinal change.