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GREELEY, COLORADO, USA: PROF. KELFALA KALLON: The tendency for “bad” money to drive the “good” one out of circulation was discussed as far back as 405 B.C. by Aristophanes, the legendary Greek comedian and playwright in his play, The Frogs.

 

In fact, he proposed a political corollary of this tendency – that “bad” politicians tend to drive “good” ones out of circulation in the following verse:

[Athen’s] sterling townsmen, nobly born and nobly bred, Men of worth and rank and mettle, men of honourable fame,
Trained in every liberal science, choral dance, and manly game,
These we treat with scorn and insult, but the strangers newliest come...
Whom in earlier days the city hardly would have stooped to use
Even for her scapegoat victims, these for every task we choose.

This tendency (for bad money to drive good money out of circulation) became known as Gresham’s Law on account of Sir Thomas Gresham’s reiteration of it in a 1558 letter to Queen Elizabeth I. Although the economic intuition from Gresham’s Law is important in its own right, I will focus my attention on the political version of Gresham’s Law and its implications for Sierra Leone.

In this endeavor, I define a “bad” politician as one who cares more about gaining and maintaining political power than in promoting the long run interests of a country and its people. Thus, a “bad” politician is preoccupied with only short-run political gains, regardless of the means by which they are achieved. Therefore, to him/her, the end always justifies the means. Accordingly, he/she only pays lip-service to democracy and its tenets of freedom of assembly, association, expression, and free and fair electoral contests. In fact, if given the chance, “bad” politicians would trample on hard-won constitutional and civic rights of citizens in the name of politics because, to them, political competition is akin to war. Therefore, political opponents are enemies who must be destroyed by any means necessary. Perhaps the fictional Chief Nanga, the villain in Chinua Achebe’s Man of the People, best characterizes the quintessential “bad” politician in the African context.

The “good” politician, on the other hand, cares about the country and its people. He/she is deliberative and believes that the “means” matter just as much as the “ends”. Therefore, “good” politicians have the courage to go against their immediate political interests in order to protect and preserve the public interest. Accordingly, they prefer peace and stability to chaos, regardless of the personal political benefits they might derive from the latter. Moreover, “good” politicians prefer long-run economic growth and prosperity to short-term populist gimmicks. Finally, a “good” politician will uphold the rule of law and respect established institutions of governance. This includes respecting and protecting everyone’s property and constitutional rights, regardless of their political preferences.

One would think that a rational electorate will know the difference between these two types of politicians and always prefer the “good” politician. Consequently, free and fair elections should eventually weed the “bad” politicians out of circulation, and society would be better off. Why then does the reverse tend to hold in especially poor countries like Sierra Leone? The answer lies in the myopia of the average voter (the “mass man” in Ortega y Gassett’s Revolt of the Masses) who, given the economic hard times that characterize such countries, typically puts a premium on short-run gains. Thus, he/she is naturally drawn to “bad” politicians who have no moral scruples about making promises they know they cannot keep. And, simply because of their sheer numbers, the “masses” are likely to triumph in a democratic political dispensation and, thereby, herald the “bad” politicians into power. Professor y Gassett predicted that when this happens, society will eventually be reduced to chaos, economic hardship, social stress, and all the other social vices that he collectively described as “barbarianism”.

Indeed, it is unarguable that the 2007 elections resulted in the triumph of the “masses” when the APC unseated the SLPP, thanks to some number fudging between 8 and 9:30 a.m. on September 17. Prior to this day of infamy in the political annals of Sierra Leone, the country boasted of the fastest rate of economic growth in the West African sub-region. Shops and open markets throughout the country were filled with the basic necessities of life and the people of Sierra Leone never had to “toe-line” for anything, contrary to what had obtained during the latter half of the tenure of the “old” APC. The inflation rate was relatively steady and in low single digits. This was in spite of the fact that the country had just emerged from a decade-long brutal civil war, the seeds of which had been sown by over two decades of APC misrule and economic retrogression. Furthermore, the failed state that Sierra Leone had become was resuscitated to proudly take its place among the community of nations. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the democratic rights of all Sierra Leoneans were religiously respected and political violence became a thing of the past. Therefore, one can conclude that the agenda and accomplishments of the erstwhile SLPP government are the stuff that “good” politicians care about.

Of course, the “bad” politicians in the APC and their agents, decked in their full back-to-power regalia, cried down the SLPP’s policies and achievements in a crescendo that banished commonsense from the country’s political debate and replaced it with meaningless tribally-and regionally-laced drivels. Some APC partisans even went as far to sabotage the SLPP’s efforts to complete the Bumbuna project by stealing the copper cables that were meant for – just to ensure that the SLPP did not succeed in bringing affordable electricity to the people of the Western Area before the elections. In other words, to the APC, the “ends” (back-to-power) justified the means, regardless of their consequences on the people whose interests they claimed to be championing.

As it is their wont, the “masses” were mesmerized by the fantastic (pie-in-the-sky) promises of the APC – promises that Shakespeare would have glibly dismissed as tales “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” And, with the help of Christiana Thorpe’s “Cut-Yah, Put-Yanda” team of expert election fraudsters, the APC brazenly stole yet another election in perhaps the most unexpected manifestation of the political version of Gresham’s Law.

As predicted by Professor y Gasset, immediately after the APC took over the reins of power in Sierra Leone, the lives of most Sierra Leoneans (except the political elites and their friends and relatives) were turned upside down. Violence and intimidation have replaced the rule-of-law, as recently manifested by the APC rampage in Kono and now Tongo Field. Candidates for the forthcoming local elections are now being intimidated, as are student leaders who are seen as being unsympathetic to the APC cause. Moreover, contrary to their electioneering promises, the APC now revels in depriving Sierra Leoneans of their constitutional right to free speech – as the erstwhile attempt to silence Awareness Times’ Dr. Sylvia Blyden and the unlawful closure of the Unity Radio (the SLPP mouthpiece) most odiously demonstrate.

Indeed, by their actions, the so-called “New” APC have made it crystal clear that like their (“Old APC) predecessors, constitutional principles and legally-promulgated statutes are mere humbugs to be bludgeoned by state-sponsored violence and Presidential fiat when they are in conflict with the APC’s political interests. Gerrymandering of constituencies to enhance the APC’s electoral chances has become the order of the day. Corruption and its by-products of crass tribalism and regionalism have again raised their ugly heads in the public sphere. Finally, and most importantly, economic hardship is everywhere as the dual plagues of inflation and economic stagnation have replaced the economic prosperity that the SLPP government nurtured, maintained, and bequeathed to the APC. In a nutshell, history is being perilously reversed to the odious era of the “old” APC.

To add salt to our fresh national wound, the APC have now resorted to variously using their victims (the hardworking people of Sierra Leone) as scapegoats for their palpable failures at economic and political management by claiming that we lack the proper attitudes for economic prosperity. Additionally, APC partisans are vociferously blaming the dramatic economic hardships that their policies, or lack thereof, have imposed on the people of Sierra Leone, on “global phenomena” -- their second favorite set of buzz words, next only to “attitudinal change”.

Perhaps someone needs to remind the APC’s economic team that the classical theory of international trade has held for several centuries that small countries are “price takers” on world markets. Hence, Sierra Leone, like all other small countries, has always been subjected to global economic shocks. It is because of this exposure to international shocks that governments of such countries should follow prudent economic policies in order to enhance their abilities to mitigate some of the economic and social consequences of global shocks. Hence, global economic shocks did not just start adversely affecting Sierra Leone after September 17, 2007. They were there when the SLPP was in power. Yet, we did not hear the erstwhile government whining and wringing their collective hands in a “do-nothing” fashion and blaming the country’s problems on its people or on global phenomena. On the contrary, as a responsible government, the former SLPP government used the nation’s scarce resources wisely in order to mitigate the impact of such shocks on the average Sierra Leonean.

On the other hand, it appears as if the APC is totally bankrupt of ideas outside strong-arm politics and empty sloganeering. Hence, the creation of a presidential personality cult has replaced thoughtful economic policymaking. In this respect, much like the last APC presidency of Joseph Momoh, President Koroma is fast becoming a “do-nothing” president. Also, like another former APC president, Siaka Stevens, President Koroma has finessed to a science the feigning of ignorance of the bad things that are being done in his name and that of the APC – such as the brazen attack of the SLPP headquarters by his supporters on the day he was sworn-in as president, the attempt to silence Dr. Blyden by detaining her at CID Headquarters, the violence perpetrated on SLPP supporters, and even the unlawful closure of the SLPP’s Radio Unity. As I noted in an earlier essay several weeks ago, if it is really true that President Koroma has no knowledge of things that are happening at even State House, then it would be accurate to conclude that he has sub-contracted the running of the country to the “hooligan” wing of his party. This would make him a “know-nothing” president also.

Perhaps to get away from the hardship that his government has inexcusably imposed on the people of Sierra Leone, our “know-nothing, do-nothing” President has now become the Minister of Expensive Foreign Travels. Finally, much to the surprise of Sierra Leoneans, the President who promised to run Sierra Leone like a business is now presiding over a government that awards contracts – for electricity, drugs, and catering for state functions, among others – to the relatives, friends, and business associates of APC functionaries without adhering to proper procurement guidelines, thus creating the perception among many Sierra Leoneans that the country is fast becoming what Emerson Bockarie of Bobor Belleh fame would describe as an APC “family farm”. Is it any wonder, then, that Sierra Leoneans have begun musing that President Koroma’s much-touted attitudinal change is very much needed at State House – perhaps more than anywhere else in the country?

The APC must be constantly reminded that a Lockean “social contract” exists between us and our government in which we ceded our inalienable natural rights (to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”) to the government in return for social order and an environment in which we could pursue our happiness. Contrary to what one would expect from a government that cares about fulfilling its obligations under the “social contract”, the APC have brought social chaos to our beloved Sierra Leone by reintroducing violence and hooliganism into our civic lives. Moreover, the economic hardship they have imposed on us has made it impossible for the average Sierra Leonean to pursue happiness in any meaningful sense. In essence, therefore, APC have reneged on the “social contract” they signed with Sierra Leoneans.

Finally, although Aristotle opined several centuries ago that a people will get a government they deserve, one cannot rightly claim at this time that Sierra Leoneans deserve this second dose of APC misrule because of the shamelessly sad role that Mammy Thorpe’s Cut-Yah, Put-Yanda team played in the President Koroma’s (s)election victory. However, if we fail to do to the APC exactly what the British electorate recently did to the Labour Party by voting massively against them in the forthcoming local elections, we would have removed all doubt that ours is a land that has been afflicted with the most virulent form of the political version of Gresham’s Law. In that case, we would deserve the APC – with their warts and everything else.