According to seasoned political scientists no country on earth can attain true socio-economic prosperity if its citizens are not cohesively united. Widespread disenchantment, according to them, is a recipe for conflagration and such has the tendency of reversing gains that have been achieved.
This sharply brings to the fore the proposed Bintumani 3 slated to commence on the 23rd May 2019 in Sierra Leone which is geared towards creating a platform where citizens of all shades of opinion will sit around a roundtable to deliberate on sensitive national issues to chart a formidable roadmap to move the country in the right direction for an improved standard of living.
Indeed, it is of paramount importance for us as a nation to undertake stocktaking from how far we have come so far, examine the things that are keeping us apart so that at the end of the day we will build up recommendations as to how we could squarely deal with challenges.
This is exactly what Bintumani 3 is all about, completely devoid of exclusively dwelling on partisan issues but rather to foster national cohesion and sustainable peace. Let us make no mistake that Sierra Leone is a fragile State, although we are not sitting on a time bomb, but there is the need to come together as one people to frankly discuss national issues and proffer solutions that may take us to a brighter future.
There are of course various complaints that have been coming up from certain Civil Society Organizations, individuals against State and Non-State actors. Indeed, we have relevant institutions that were set up to address grievances, impunity though the efficacy of some have been questioned but Bintumani 3 is not meant to usurp their functions but rather to strengthen accountability, transparency and at the end of the day promote peace.
Bintumani 1 which called for dialogue with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Bintumani 2 which called for election before peace all had successful outcomes culminating in fostering peace and cohesion. It is highly likely and expected that Bintumani 3 will have a similar result. It is said that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
Indeed, there is no justification to politicize Bintumani 3 which is intended to be purely a national dialogue and not the projection of the image of any political party. It should not be narrowed down to adjudicating any political impasse but rather to discuss national issues to take us from where we are today to another level.
At the end of the day recommendations will be made in order to close gaps, eliminate lapses and those suggestions will be documented which could form the basis for a Commission to be set up to implement them.
Sierra Leoneans, it is high time we rise above parochial interests and put Sierra Leone first. Let all embrace Bintumani 3. May Common Sense Prevail!
