By Umaru Fofana
Like presidential pardons, Presidential Awards the world over are almost always characterised – marred if you prefer – by controversy. There is bound to be criticism over who got honoured or who did not. Hardly does any awardee please everyone.
In Sierra Leone it has been far more questionable for far too long and it is about time something was done to improve on the quality of those who are honoured or include deserving people who get left out. In other words stopping the awards from being a love letter from the president of the day to those with whom he is pleased. So much so that some omissions can be incomprehensible.
First off, I have to state that as a matter of my personal principle I made it public some 15 years ago that I would never accept an award from the government on which I report, for as long as I continue as an active journalist. I believe, and strongly so, that such can be compromising. It will either make me become soft on the president in reporting on them, or be unfairly excessive in holding them or their government accountable to prove to my audience that I have not been compromised by the award/honour. So either way is bad for my conscience hence I cannot accept the honour.
The Independence Day presidential awards probably have their origins etched on Britain’s Queens Honors List which the monarch awards twice every year – on her birthday and on New Year’s Day. It is also akin to the Presidential Citizens Medal in the United States where the president bestows the award. It is the second-highest civilian award inferior only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom award.
Established in November 1969 by an executive order issued by President Richard Nixon, the awards recognise individuals who have “performed exemplary deeds or services” for their country or fellow citizens.
For a very long time, until the beginning of the 19th century, almost all the awards in Britain were reserved for members of the aristocracy and high-ranking military figures. But from then on, appointments have been drawn from a wider variety of backgrounds and fields.
Now, just this week, on Independence Day, there was a long list of awardees I still cannot get my head around. My irksomeness was as much about some of those who were listed as it was about those who were not. In the case of the recipients, while I do not wish to single out individuals for fame or shame, it looks pretty much like a déjà vu. Like years and decades before, the list read like who-is-who in the president’s favourite people mostly politicians. In other words, a group of undeserving individuals who tick the political or crony boxes, sprinkled with a few good men and women who have worked for the motherland to make it all look pleasant.
As for those who were omitted, I cannot, for example, understand why the entire LEONE STARS team and officials couldn’t get a mention that night. Each and every one of them deserved a medal. They achieved what the nation had yearned for but successive national football teams could not achieve for 20 years. Their performance at the Africa Cup of Nations brought the country together at a time when that was so badly needed and in a way not seen since the end of the bloody decade-long rebel war in 2002. At least the coach who qualified them and the old guards who are retiring or have announced their retirement should have been awarded. The legendary Kei Kamara comes to mind.
A blind man in Kono, Tamba Mathew Gbessay, retired from working as a translator for a church. He used his end-of-service benefit to build a school for blind children in his native Kono District so he would give these marginalised kids a future. He and his team travel from village to village in the district looking for blind children left in the lurch to bring them to his school which had a boarding facility however much they struggled with that.
Gbessay led the school and everyday was a struggle for him, but also a fulfilment because he was helping educate the children. He’s now retired from that as well. It is a given that he deserves to be invited and honoured by the country’s president. After all the idea behind these awards should be to get more people to do good and serve the country diligently and honourably! But many of those who received awards have done anything but good for the motherland.
Ishmael Charles has an interesting story. A former child combatant who has become an extraordinary human being with a heart of gold helping raise funds with his army of volunteers to fly children abroad for medical treatment they otherwise cannot get here. He has flown dozens of less-privileged children who could otherwise have died. And they raise their funds openly on the streets and online and they even once collaborated with the country’s First Lady. So the idea of suggesting that he was not noticed is unfathomable.
Mama Elissa is a Norwegian who dedicated years and decades of the most productive period of her life working for amputees left behind by Sierra Leone’s brutal conflict of the 1990s. She and her Norwegian Friends of Sierra Leone organisation mobilised resources and constructed hundreds of houses across Sierra Leone so that the men and women who had their arms and limbs hacked off could have a roof over their heads and their families’, with dignity. She’s elderly now and has returned home but keeps an eye and arms over the amputees here. It’s shocking to know that she has still not been recognized by the state of Sierra Leone.
I can talk about many other ordinary Sierra Leoneans and noncitizens alike who’ve made remarkable contributions towards improving this country. Our unsung heroes and heroines!!
And I know these lists are not prepared by the president (alone). But when many of the advisers who (help him) prepare them concern themselves with their friends and cronies and political allies and former school mates, it’s good to consult people outside that bubble, and look deeper and farther.
Anyone in Britain can recommend a British national for an honour/award. This way, many people who are not in the public eye get recognised for their service to the nation in various fields. By their tradition, such honours are awarded on the advice of the Cabinet Office. Sierra Leone can set up an independent committee that helps with recommendations for the attention of the President. The Anti-Corruption Commission, under Abdul Tejan-Cole, had an Integrity Committee that was completely independent of the Commission. They opened their nominations to the public and vetted nominees sent in. It was so transparent that hardly did anyone have any legitimate reason to cry down any of the awardees who included the now late Prof Eldred Jones and one Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh. She was an ordinary citizen who exhibited exemplary integrity working in the petroleum industry and later at NaCSA.
Such a committee can be set up and the process made truly for what it was intended – giving awards to deserving people who have diligently served the country or shown extraordinary kindness towards the growth of its citizens.
To those who deserve it but don’t get honoured, God’s award is the best. Keep working and be not deterred. Let’s hope the successive blunders by successive presidents happened because of genuine mistakes. Otherwise the whole awards thing will be as good as useless – presidential rewards instead of national awards.
Copyright © Politico Online (29/04/22)
