By Dadson A. Musa

Our country, Sierra Leone had long suffered from backwardness even with all our many natural resources. We also have rich human resource capacity that is serving the world well. But we have not turned these blessings into something that can work for our general good. We respect, love and value other people more than we do for ourselves. These have mitigated against our development to the extent that our compatriots continue to suffer and the future still is not looking bright as it should be.  From the political , through economic to that of sports we have not shown that we want our own to thrive and be better.

Our colonial masters may have played a part in make sure our country works for them better than it works for us. Pull-him-down-syndrome has been a feature of our lives in Sierra Leone. And this has played a part in reducing our country to what it is.

Recently, we have seen the president of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association, Martin Momoh Bangura being dragged to the gutter after doing so much for the association. And then came in the issue of Mohamed Kallon, a man who has done so much for the country when it comes to football. And Sierra Leoneans are happy about it that their own did not get it. Now we have a situation where a foreigner has been placed over our own compatriot and being paid more money.  Where is our local content policy in this?

Not loving ourselves is a serious issue affecting our country and we need to do something about it collectively for the good of this country. Sierra Leone is a country that has gone through so many bad spells due to us not loving ourselves.  We relish in seeing our compatriots languishing, or in bad states rather than seeing them happy or in good conditions. Typical cases in point recently are those of Martin Momoh Bangura, president of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association, a fine gentleman who is being hounded after bringing so much stability and reform to the association. Mohamed Kallon, a fine gentleman and the only football icon that we have of no small feat has been treated like a trash after making us watch good football even when he did it without salary has now been sidelined thereby going against our local content policy. Someone whose coaching pedigree is lacking depth has been brought in with a comparatively sumptuous wage than our own hero, Kallon.

Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Wednesday, 1st July 2026 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)