By Amara Thoronka
The family is considered by sociologists as a powerful agent of socialisation – the process through which a person learns about the norms, principles and realities of life and the society. As someone goes through this process, he understands good and evil, compromise and integrity, respect and disrespect, lawfulness and lawlessness, wisdom and foolishness, morality and immorality, tolerance and intolerance, and corruptibility and incorruptibility. The process is essentially crucial in shaping a person so that he can imbibe the qualities and principles needed to serve humanity, in whatever capacity, diligently and incorruptibly.
The family is significantly pivotal in instilling discipline, integrity, morality, tolerance and other social essentials necessary in enhancing a sustainably flourishing society. If it is deficient, the society would be deficient, but if it is instrumental the nation would flourish. It is a fundamental engine that drives a society to either prosperity or poverty. It is within the family that the formation and development of character, attitude and beliefs take place
The family is the bedrock of the society. It is evident that strong families build strong communities which eventually build a strong nation. It is in the family we first learn moral, spiritual and societal values which give meanings to our lives. The family is a society on its own original right and the first and vital cell of society. This is because the family is the first agent of socialisation that makes or unmakes a society.
People working for government and the private sector come from families. Most often, the actions and behaviours of people working the formal and informal sectors are influenced by their family backgrounds. This is alluded to by Benedict XVI who referred to the family as “humanity’s principal asset.” Many families do not uphold dignity, integrity and morality and in such families, money and power are the only considerations.
People who come from disciplined and morality-driven families are more likely to refrain from corrupt or criminal activities in positions of trust or engage, encourage or sponsor any act that has an adverse implication on the socio-economic and political fabrics of people and the nation. These are people who perceive life as grass that flourishes during the rains and perishes in the dry season or a vapour that vanishes into thin air. For these set of people or families, happiness is found in contentment and uprightness. They care more for eternity than worldliness.
Conversely, people from money and power driven families see nothing wrong in exploiting others and the nation. The only focus or consideration for such families is the amassment of unimaginable wealth at the expense of others. These are the families that convince or persuade their relatives in positions of trust to loot the national treasury to gratify their aggrandisement. They persuade them to be greedy, corrupt and evil just to gain the world.
I am of the fervent conviction that the family is hugely responsible for the corruption, ills, and mishaps of our nation. It has significantly defaulted in performing its role as a transformer that changes lives; a porter that moulds and shapes people; and an enforcer of morality, integrity and discipline.
Many homes are broken and shattered. Everyone’s focus, including mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts and other members in the family circle, is to make money. Children are now left to grow up all by themselves without guidance and values. They end up completing their schooling or university and occupy positions of trust without integrity and uprightness. Their families did not inculcate any moral values in them. These are the people who see nothing wrong in converting State funds to theirs and letting the majority of Sierra Leoneans experience maximum and excruciating socio-economic challenges which have even led to loss of lives and shattering of aspirations.
Recently, President Bio, as a way of fulfilling constitutional obligation, published the reports of the Commissions of Inquiry (COI) established to investigate the administration of the erstwhile government of ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma; alongside the White Paper which shows the position of government on the findings and recommendations of the COI reports. No matter what one may say or have against the outcome of the COI, it is sad to see families defending their relatives being implicated by the White Paper to have engaged in various financial and administrative improprieties. They describe any accountability process meant to subject public officials, inclusive their relatives, as “witch hunt, bias or selective.” I hold the opinion that if officials of this Government involve in corrupt practices they should be subjected to similar accountability process.
We have also seen families where children are encouraged to involve in examination malpractice to be promoted from one class to the other. Parents in such families introduce their children to bribe their way through; and where there is no money, girls use their bodies to earn good grades and achieve “academic excellence.” You would see parents actively perpetrating or influencing the perpetration of corrupt practices for their failed children not to repeat the classes where they failed. What do you expect employees, especially public or civil servants who came from such corrupt and compromising families to do when they are in parliament, the presidency, cabinet, judiciary and any other public or private authoritative or influential capacities. It is simple: gives and takes bribe and compromises all core values.
People, especially youths engaging in violence; putting on half-naked dress; abusing or misusing social media; having affair with married men and women; using colloquial expressions in formal engagements; robbing people and places; using their bodies to make a living or an achievement; and terrorising well-meaning people with acts of gangsterism or hooliganism, are all coming from respective families. With a painstaking observation, one would realise that most, if not all, of the aforementioned people are not emanating from disciplined and uncompromising families. The same could be said for those mismanaging billions of State resources but get the backing of their families.
It could be deduced from above that the family is pivotal in having a sustainably developed nation. If a majority, if not all of Sierra Leonean families begin to discourage themselves from the immoral, unethical and unprofessional acts of their relatives, at community and national levels, that would instil integrity, decency and professionalism in those relatives in diverse works of life. Supporting one’s child, husband, sister, brother, father, mother, uncle, aunt etc in doing the wrong thing is an endorsement of criminality, corruption and immorality which are destructive and militating ills against the growth and development of a nation.
