People often confuse two things and thus end up confusing the nation. People should know what is tribalism and what is opportunism. Once they do, they would not confuse the two and they would not make the mistake of conceiving the weakness of a political figure as strength.
If tribalism was a reality, then those who subscribe to it would not want to live in prosperity while the vast majority of one’s group live in poverty . In short, those who became liberators due to love of country and people were ready to die for the people so that we could have Independent Nations. If they were alive today they would not accept how opportunists have transformed their sacrifice into tool for self- enrichment and self- perpetuating rule.
For more than 30 years of the leadership of the first President, from internal self -government in 1963 to the coup of 1994 those who came from the same place in Niani and speak the same language are languishing in the worst state of poverty that humankind has ever known. Sharing the same place of origin or language grouping has not resulted in the upgrading of the lives of the vast majority.
In the same vein, for 22 years of the leadership of the second President, from 1994 to 2016, most of those who came from the same place and speak the same language are languishing in the worst form of poverty known to humankind.
Knowledge of how to cure a patient , build a house , construct a bridge , run a power plant, audit accounts , formulate a policy, prepare a strategic plan, implement programmes to provide adequate nutritious food, clean drinking water, proper sanitation , appropriate medical services , proper shelter and recreational facilities is not the property of a group in society. It is the property of all. Hence any leader who claims to be a tribalist would have to show how he or she would build hospitals , schools, roads , facilities for electricity , clean drinking water , proper shelter , access to food only to his or her group. Is that possible ? It is not possible . If development comes to a nation it either comes to a few excluding the many, including members of one’ s group or to all, excluding none . Those who aim to bring development to a few cannot save a tribe from poverty. They could only enrich themselves at the expense of the people of all language groupings. They talk about tribe in word to get to power only to seek to enrich themselves in deed at the expense of all without exception . This is opportunism
Mobilisation of people on tribal grounds in politics is just a tool of the opportunist to get to power and leave wealthy lives at the expense of the poor of all tribes. This is the lesson of history that we may refuse to acknowledge at our own peril. We need national salvation. The salvation of each group comes through national salvation. To call for group salvation without national salvation is to expect fish to survive without water. Development must either be for all or just for a few. If we close our eyes to this fact, then we are in a perfect state of slumber. The wise learns the easy way . Fools learn the hard way. The choice is yours.
