THE OSWALD HANCILES COLUMN
Her Worship Aki-Sawyer Must Wear Sack Cloth and Put Ash on Her Head
I do not condemn the Mayor of Freetown (Sierra Leone), Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, even as I suggest that she should do the biblical right thing of PENITENCE by wearing โsack cloth and putting ash on her headโ – for her recent tribal slur of the Mende people of Sierra Leone; the tribe in the southeast of Sierra Leone that are the dominant supporters of the SLPP whose Leader is President of Sierra Leone; the SLPP with the MAJORITY in Parliament; the tribe that has probably a vastly disproportionate number of Western-educated citizens and professionals in our knowledge-malnourished nation, with severe professional deficit.
I love the Mayor. I admire her. From what I could see from the outside, I risk saying that she is the BEST Mayor of Sierra Leone since the 1980s. (I need more facts and figures to credibly argue that assertion).
Also, Aki-Sawyer has charm. With her low Afro-cut, and toothpaste film star smile, almost always dressed in flowery African-style print that fits perfectly on her trim figureโฆ she is an African woman Africans should be proud of. She speaks her English language with London-accented- English – the way it would be easy for the elites among English-speaking people in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africaโฆ the Middle Eastโฆ to understand.
Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries on earth, and still carries the stigma in the global consciousness of the country of โBlood Diamondsโ where schizophrenic-like drug-induced child combatants would chop off the hands and legs of the hapless citizenry for political profit; and diamondsโฆ This image of senseless violence associated with โSierra Leoneโ was given a new dimension by the Ebola scourge of 2014. To change the minds of most of the influential people of the world about the negative images of Sierra Leone in their subconscious; to attract desperately-need Foreign Direct Investment and international aid into Sierra Leone, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s passionate articulation of the English language is an immense asset to Sierra Leone. Alsoโฆ.
โYvonne Aki Sawyer, the Mayor of Freetown has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Next Most Influential People in the world (2021). The annual list is an expansion of the flagship TIME 100 franchise that highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future. She was nominated by British-Sierra Leonean famous film star, Idris Elba, and she is the only Sierra Leonean to be on the list … She has launched a three-year multi-pronged development plan called the โTransform Freetown initiative.โ This initiative is covering the cleaning of Freetownโs streets, fixing drainage systems, planting a million trees, and implementation of property tax reform..โ (SOURCE: Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyer named as TIME100 Next Most Influential People; Sierra Leone News [switsalone.com], by Alhassan Lamin February 18, 2021)..
โI got to witness Yvonne Aki-Sawyerrโs energy firsthand when I met her on my first visit to Freetown, Sierra Leoneโs capital city, in 2019. โฆ Whether itโs in her efforts to clean up Freetownโs streets, fix its drainage systems, plant a million trees or implement property tax reform, Yvonne comes to her work as someone with a practical perspective on how to reinstate the glory of Freetown. Her young energy, genuine dynamism, and can-do spirit, are inspiringโ: the film star who almost clinched the role of ‘the next James Bond’, Idris Elba, wrote, as he nominated Aki-Sawyer for the TIME magazine list. . (SOURCE :Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr Is on the TIME100 Next 2021 List | TIME).
Those who are calling for Aki-Sawyer to be crucified โ for, as Andrew Keili wrote, โโฆโPlaying deadโ to the SLPP initially so she could achieve success by stealth for APCโฆโ – should do well to check their surge of negative tribal or SLPP partisan emotions. Engineer Andrew Keili (one of my handful of Sierra Leonean heroes; a man I rank among the top 1% of most brilliant people in Sierra Leone today), who described himself as a โproud Mende manโ; the son of the first non-Krio bishop of the Anglican Church of Sierra Leone, has rose to Aki-Sawyer’s defense in his weekly โPONDER MY THOUGHTSโ newspaper column, as a โโฆ.friend of the Morgan familyโ. Keiliโs character reference for the โMorganโ family that Aki-Sawyer hails from is soulful:
โThey are very passionate about the development of Sierra Leone โ from Yvonneโs dad, Professor Hector Morgan, to her ever-smiling mum (โnar ee mama Yvonne feba for the broad smile so mineโฆโ), Aunty Marion, who was always active in church and womenโs emancipation issues (especially disadvantaged girls) to my buddy Trudy, who is head of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers, Yvonne and her husband, Keith, have been involved in working in projects for Sierra Leone even before she became Mayor.
Professor Morgan attended Bo School (the school Sierra Leoneโs President, Retired Brigadier Maada Bio, also is an alumnus of; the school whose alumni exhibit an almost jingoistic camaraderie), and her mother is of Mende heritage. (โUna way nar sabi read English good; wartin Keili rite so nar dis: Yvonne Aki-Sawyer ee mama nar MENDE woman!!)โ. Andrew Keili (an engineer with over thirty years experience in the diamond and titanium industries; co-partner and executive director in the CEMMATS engineering consultancy, the most successful engineering consultancy in the history of Sierra Leone, etc, etc.) put his enviable reputation on the line in his defense of Aki-Sawyer: โI havenโt seen a fibre of bigotry in her. Impatience to get things done right and timeously and commitment to accomplishing resultsโฆyes! She is associated closely in her work with many other South Easterners.
I have never seen her as one who would discriminate against people because of tribeโ. I am not going to believe all what Andrew Keili has written about Aki-Sawyer because Andrew is one of my heroes; after all, as I wrote on social media a few days ago, Andrew Keili himself is a โsociological Krioโ, even if he is a Mende in his genes. I still think Aki-Sawyer should wear โsack cloth and put ashes on her headโ for that leaked audio slurring the Mende people.
For the about 70% of Sierra Leoneans who claim adherence to Islam, this is what โwearing sack cloth and putting ashes on the headโ means. In biblical times among the Jewish people, when one has committed a grave sin one must show remorse, and โwearing sack cloth and putting ashes on the headโ is a sign to say: โI am deeply sorry, I have wronged God and manโ.
One of the most egregious sins in the Bible was by King David. His military commander had gone to war. King David power-raped the commanderโs wife, Bathsheba, and got her pregnant. To cover up his sexual sin, King David arranged for the commander to be killed in battle. King Davidโs personal prophet, Nathan, rebuked David. David realized his sin; and repented. King David did not engage in spin, like Aki-Sawyer has started doing on television. David did not eat for a week; and wore sack cloth. Andrew Keili who was almost literally hearing biblical verses when he was a five month old fetus in his pregnant motherโs stomach; who breakfasted, lunched, and dinnered with the Bible while growing up in his Christian clergy father’s household; who still attends church regularly and preaches there, is more versed in the Bible than a free-thinker like me. He would not have the courage to publicly debate with me that Aki-Sawyer should not wear a sack cloth in remorse. Stillโฆ
A consortium of civil society organizations have asked the police for permission to demonstrate to demand the resignation of Aki-Sawyer. In biblical context, they are ready to have Aki-Sawyer ‘stoned to death’ for her โsinsโ. If there are Christians among them, I would ask, quoting Jesus, โWhich one among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stoneโ… at Aki-Sawyer.
Surely, this up-in-arms-against-tribalism CSOs should have known when Mustapha Kemokai, the Environmental and Sanitation officer posted to the Freetown City Council by the central government, defiantly stayed on in the FCC against the Mayorโs expressed orders. If Aki-Sawyer wasnโt that over-bred, if she were a MAN, she would have gone to Kemokai and screamed at him with fists shaking: โGet out!!โ. She had absorbed that humiliation. The aiding and abetting of the central government in that humiliation of the elected Mayor of the capital city of Sierra Leone manifest the lurking ethnic supremacist thinking of some of the Mende people who dominate the governing SLPP.
They have no moral authority to throw stones at Aki-Sawyer.
To me, Aki-Sawyerโs gravest sin in this matter is where she said what she is being bashed for: at the governing council of the APC. She was trying to impress, or, placate, the APC brass, that she has been cleverly fooling the SLPP to get the support of the central government for her developmental programs to capacitate the APC to win the presidency in 2023 โ politically correct, but, she was guilty of the โSlave Mentality Sinโ.
Aki-Sawyer certainly knows that the slums, the over-crowding, the poor drainages, the lack of access to drinking water, the frightening deforestation in Freetown that led to 1,000 people being buried in mud in Freetown in 2017โฆ were nurtured with the APC holding the reins of the premiership/presidency from 1968 to 1992, 2007 to March, 2018.
To give the impression that the APCโs over three decades of bad governance and predatory ethos that has caused the despoliation of Freetown would be empowered to cleanse it up as a solution, and blaming the SLPP for the problems, is sheer hypocrisy. Indeed, the words that Aki-Sawyer is being lampooned for gives us a wonderful opportunity to confront the lurking demons of Political Tribalism in the collective subconscious of Sierra Leoneans. Our President can show leadership how he handles this crisis.
Topographically, Freetown is the most beautiful city in West Africa; but, Freetown is being rapidly destroyed; and the COLLECTIVE MADNESS of our poisonous partisan politics especially in Freetown has been like a ticking time bomb. Letโs defuse this bomb before it detonates. Now is the time for โbook menโ like the Chief Minister, Prof. David Francis, to prove that the theory of his academic degree in โpeace studiesโ in the United Kingdom can be put into positive use within Sierra. (TO BE CONTINUED).
I pause,
Oswald Hanciles, The Guru.
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