🇸🇱 RETHINKING THE DRUG CRISIS IN SIERRA LEONE: A CALL FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDIA AND OBJECTIVE POLITICS 🇸🇱
By Aba Mans
It is time for an honest, objective conversation about the drug epidemic in our country. We must stop using this crisis as a weapon for cheap political point-scoring and instead start using strategic governance and national policy as tools to dismantle it.
The reality is stark: Drugs are everywhere, and drug dealers are incredibly powerful, well-funded networks.
However, we must correct the narrative about our nation’s standing. Sierra Leone is NOT the highest drug trafficking country in West Africa and has never been refersto as NARCOTICS STATE. According to reports by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), other regional nations like Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Ghana, and Guinea serve as much larger, multi-ton global transit hubs for narcotics.
But there is a massive difference in how citizens and systems in those countries react compared to us:
1. The Regional Reality: In countries like Nigeria or Guinea-Bissau, citizens understand that powerful, rogue individuals and international syndicates run these operations without the knowledge or approval of the state. They do not automatically blame their central government for the existence of the trade.
2. The Sierra Leonean Problem: In Sierra Leone, everything is weaponized through the lens of politics and political affiliations. Instead of fighting the dealers, we fight each other. We act as if a drug crisis can bring down one political party or lift another into power.
A Stern Call to Our National Media Houses:
Our local media networks must stop being the common enemies of the Sierra Leonean state. Western media outlets protect their countries’ international image at all costs, yet in Sierra Leone, the opposite happens. National media houses must always verify information and bring balance to a story instead of tarnish the image of the very country they claim they want to protect.
It is time to put fairness and professional ethics back into journalism, leaving behind personal attachments or political backgrounds. Sensationalized, unverified reporting only damages our global reputation and helps the traffickers.
Let’s be absolutely clear: Political weaponization and reckless journalism will not solve addiction, nor will they arrest powerful traffickers. What actually brings a political party to power and what keeps them there is a concrete, measurable Developmental Plan for the nation.
We need a united front. We must use politics not to divide us, but as a regulatory and legal tool to enforce strict border control, rehabilitate our youth, and prosecute syndicates. Let’s change the narrative from political blame to national development! 🇸🇱💪
#SierraLeone #SaloneDevelopment #DrugFreeSalone #ResponsibleJournalism #WestAfrica #UNODC #SalonePolitics
@SLAJ (Association of Journalists Sierra Leone)
@Independent Media Commission – IMC Sierra Leone
@AYV Television (Africa Young Voices)
@FTV Sierra Leone (Freetown Television)
@SLBC (Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation)
@Star TV Sierra Leone
@Kalleone TV
@Epic Radio & TV Sierra Leone
@Radio Democracy 98.1 FM
@AYV Radio 101.6 FM
@Star Radio Sierra Leone
@Kalleone Radio 105.7 FM
@President Julius Maada Bio
@Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara
@Sierra Leone People’s Party – SLPP
@All Peoples Congress-APC
@National Grand Coalition – NGC
@Ministry of Information and Civic Education – Sierra Leone. In my next post I will bring other evidences to show is the list drug trafficker.
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