He cites among other things the numerous disadvantages that he and his friends labour under, from the new political masters – his own people - following the departure of the "white man" from the shores of Sierra Leone. Under the white man he could to go to sleep, wake up and head for his farm, and play his accordion without being molested. He was able to feed his family and send his children to school. But, he laments "now this thing called 'independence' has become like an albatross around the neck of my people". 

Pa Salia was cunningly critical of the 'new politics' that was being practised by the APC and the fact that those things that he had taken for granted as his' were no longer at his disposal. Mid way through his rendition, he all but invites the British to return and re-colonise his country. "Please come back, watch over me and free me from my woes"

In a similar vein, Madam Isata Nyambe another equally famous folk-cum-praise-singer, again recounts that once there was a time when there was only one party in Sierra Leone – that of Mama Queen. But nowadays, she continues with her muse, we have the APC, SLPP, and all these PP things. She more or less seemed to be craving for the good old days of peaceful and uninterrupted existence under British colonial rule, with rulers who were benign towards them as subjects of the crown.

Both Salia Koroma and Isata Nyambe belonged to an age when life in Sierra Leone was routinely stable and peaceful. There was even self-sufficiency in rice, the country's main staple food and surpluses were exported to other countries that were in need. Although education was not free as such, many parents were able to work, trade or farm and sell their produce, and sacrifice their meagre resources to pay for school fees, uniforms and books for their children. In cases where poverty and want were blocking opportunities for bright disadvantaged children, scholarships from central government, District Councils, native administrations, as well as missionary and religious institutions, contributed to a pool of copious resources to look after the needs of almost any child desirous of education.

By 1961 when we gained independence, this was the sort of country that was known to most Sierra Leoneans. It had been created and run by the British and later handed over to the indigenous citizens as their legacy, in the expectation that it would not only be sustained but be improved in perpetuity for future generations. The political leaders of Sierra Leone convinced the population at large that everything would be as before, if not better, but that in place of the white man, Sierra Leoneans themselves would henceforth be running their affairs at home and for themselves. It was an attractive message and it won the hearts and minds of the population.

Ma Isata's rather innocent commentary on the political state of the country was later opportunistically picked up by the late President Siaka Stevens in a speech that foreshadowed his introduction of the one-party constitution of 1971. He argued, to thunderous applause by his followers and an unsuspecting electorate, that when the British ruled this country there was only one political party – the Mama Queen Party - that was headed by the Governor. Suddenly, said Stevens, with independence there was a proliferation of political parties. But unlike the serious point that was intended by our musical Ma Isata, Stevens went on to make a joke about various fictional political parties: PPP, KPP, UPP, DPP, APP, NPP, MyPPP, YourPP, etc, etc., to a crescendo of laughter from his audience. 

His lament was not a call for the return of the colonial masters. No! In fact he had refused to sign the constitutional document granting independence to Sierra Leone at the constitutional conference in 1960. He believed that the country's new defence pact with Britain (also concluded at that conference) was a betrayal of Sierra Leone's sovereignty!

So Stevens was using this joke simply to justify his clamping down on political parties as a step towards declaring the country a one-party state, making his own party  - the All Peoples Congress (APC) - the sole, legitimate political party in Sierra Leone. He succeeded in doing so in 1971 and kept the one-party system in being until he retired from office in 1985. This thoroughly undemocratic system that he foisted on the country was later dismantled by his heir and successor ex President Momoh. It was he who re-introduced multi-partyism back into Sierra Leone politics, under the advice and active encouragement of a group of Fourah Bah College academics led by Dr Abdul Karim Turay (AKT), who later became Secretary to the President.

But damage to the body politic had already been done.

People's confidence in the political system had been dealt a serious blow. They no longer had faith in the ability of the State or its politicians to protect them, their families and their possessions, and to provide for their basic needs. They saw standards coming down all around them - the schools, hospitals, roads and economic infrastructure were deteriorating fast; district councils and native administrations were politicised; respect for traditional rulers was denuded speedily, etc, etc. These were not the sort of things that people had grown accustomed to expecting when the British were in the country. What's more, they were being persecuted and exploited by their own people!

Thus feelings of nostalgia for British colonial rule – that's really what they are! - are not really borne out of conviction. Far from that! Rather, they are the product of the accumulation of so many years of frustration and the total lack of confidence in the politicians and the political system that has been in operation ever since the mid 1960s, which is the period just after the premiership of the late and revered Sir Milton Margai, Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister. Most people's idea of good, honest and caring government is limited solely to the period up to and just after his premiership. Things have been downhill ever since that time.

It goes without saying that the people who express these yearnings for the return of the "white man" because of sheer exasperation are not in the main youths, but mainly those who were 'lucky' – yes, some even say 'privileged' - to have lived during an era when the British ruled the roost.

There has always been a soft spot for the British among Sierra Leoneans. That feeling has now come into full play, with public demands for the Brits to stay for as long as necessary, because of the helpless condition of the country. Like the pervasive influence of folklore, this welcoming feeling for the British has extended to the youth who never experienced the era for which their parents nourish such nostalgic yearnings.

It boils down to survival and the deep political void that Sierra Leoneans have experienced in their lives in the last forty years. It is simply popular desperation writ large!

27/05/00