A NATION IN DECAY
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
Sierra Leone is steeped in governance failures and wallows in dire socioeconomic entangles. The citizens are toiling, confronted with the harsh realities of daily survival. High cost of living, escalated inflation, poor medical facilities, lack of reliable electricity supply and pipe-borne water, costly transportation, a free education shrouded in subtle and psychological extortion and exploitation, all permeate, making life uneasy for majority of households.
In the face of abject poverty and squalor, the youths, who are the drivers of positive change and hope for a brighter future have been firmly gripped by the deep spell of drug addiction, and the abuse of the synthetic substance, kush, has been like a violent bolt from the blue pleasurably devouring their precious lives aggressively, and in no time. In such circumstances, not just the individual progress of the youth population is being jeopardized and shattered, but the country’s future is in tarters.
Sadly, as the unfortunate trend requires a robust and proactive action, the commitment to combat the drug plague appear to only remain on papers and in speeches. Though the president once declared a national state of emergency on drug substance and abuse, it has turned to what one would say a mere weapon instrumental only to attracting external funds—not anything designed to save the sinking youths of a drug-laden nation.
The failure to nip the use of kush in the bud may not have come from forgetfulness, or official incompetence—it’s an intentional act of inertia by those concerned because the barons allegedly inhabit the corridors of power, highly protected by the ranks and files of state authority. So, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) would gradually become a caricature of its exuberant past, not as a result of the lack of institutional might to deliver its established mandate—but it stems directly from insufficient funds, poor mobility, a limited workforce, and the lack of other administrative prerequisites.
And though the rehabilitation centers are jam-packed, kush victims could not be attended to, and are said to be daily dying in centers across the nooks of the country, resulting from lack of the required resources to operate effectively.
The fight against drug abuse has yielded no positive dividends in Sierra Leone. The authorities appear to be paying a lip service to the unfortunate situation, which has even left the image of the country in shambles, placing the entire Sierra Leonean citizenry at travel risks. Yet, behind this true picture of things in the country, the authorities would chose to detach themselves completely from the national plight, prioritising the expensive but fruitless international travels over doing positive things about the kush endemic.
If not for anything, the authorities should be restless about ending the drug situation in the country. Paying a lip service to this is like sacrificing the lives of youths at the altar of political expediency—a betrayal of national trust itself. The resources so far expended on international trips, put together, would have gone a long way to fully equipping the anti-drug agency and rehabilitation center. A major success in the anti-drug fight would have achieved—many youthful lives saved from perishing like flies, and being buried like paupers.
This is no longer a time the authorities should flaunt in flamboyant lifestyles and making empty public speeches about their commitment to the fight against drugs—it’s time to role up their sleeves and confront the drug plague headon— or else, the common good of this generation will be farfetched, setting generations yet unborn at stake. There is no wisdom in continuing spending millions of taxpayers’ money on journeys that bring no substantial returns.