By Abayomi Johnson – An External Contributor
We talked, as Freetonians do, to pass the time and distract us from the cold. We were strangers but of course, we would talk about politics. Politics is as personal as it gets, affecting our most public and intimate lives. We had to ensure that everyone understood the issues, what was at stake if the wrong person was in power.
A delusional or hoodwinked person was insisting that Yvonne had done a good job in the five years she was the Mayor of Freetown and I couldn’t even muster the energy to roll my eyes.
It was a stormy May evening and I had sought cover from the rain under one of the many canopies that lined Salad Gron, PZ. The roof was leaking and I had to squeeze next to the other people escaping the brutal onslaught of the storm. From our vantage point, we could see a pregnant woman, maybe eight months along, with a plastic hair net on her head fighting with the wind to cover her wares. She was soaked to the bone, her translucent dress clinging to her body. You could smell the despair and desperation of the market. You could see it in the eyes of the traders who took the dirt and the disease in stride. You felt it whenever they grabbed on to you for dear life as you passed by, crying “na for ep me nor, me padi”. The hopelessness was a full body experience punching our senses. This isn’t the definition of a good job.
I decided to tell them why I was voting for Gento as Mayor of Freetown on the 24th June. Gento will fix Freetown for us all. Gento will clean Freetown for us all. Gento will provide clean water for us all. Gento will provide decent public spaces for us all. A Freetown with gyms, green parks, business centers and properly planned markets that have toilet, waste disposal and clean water. Gento will unite this city – my krio people and country people alike. I am voting for a future that is within reach. I’m voting for action over nice packaged words.
It was ridiculous that one of my new-found friends stated that a Mayor had to be an eloquent speaker with a master’s grasp of the English language. Since when did English become the basis of Intelligence and eloquence became equal to efficiency? I will stand behind a hard worker who delivers consistently as compared to someone with a thousand pretty speeches full of promises that amount to nothing. If I had to be as quiet, humble and unassuming as Gento to own a multi-million dollar construction company like his then hell, I was ready to not say a word ever again!
Freetown needs a leader who is a servant. Gento is ready to meet us all where we are and uplift us up from the proverbial miry clay. He sees us. He is one of us. He speaks our language. Freetown doesn’t need someone who is out of touch with our reality to tell us that she will help us, not when her “help”, her respect and her empathy depends on what tribe we belong to. Freetown doesn’t need division. We are one people and one country. Freetown is for all of us.
The rain refused to stop so I chose to brave it. A keke driver eventually took mercy on me and allowed me to board. My stomach growled from hunger and bladder contracted – needing to be unburdened. Nature was calling me. But alas, I couldn’t respond. Certainly not with my health and dignity intact. And not the markets and city that Yvonne Aki-Sawyer and her big words have left us in five years of her stewardship. Hold it until you get home.
Surely. We can do better.
