In our preceding section we lay down the bricks of our concern for our beloved country Guinea. Now let’s proceed to view the contrast to map out major issues that will give us clues to better understand the overwhelming problems in our context. Looking at developed countries where democratic principles and norms are exercised, we can discover that as a result of intellectual freedom the moral values of people have fully grown to a considerable degree or standard. Whereas, ours or the moral value of people where there is no freedom of expression (and public/civil society participation) are falling to a situation beyond control or rectification. In a free society, there has always been a strong belief in individual responsibility and given the freedom to act on his/her own knowledge and capacity, whatever the result may be, it would be directly attributed to the individual
Consequently, everyone in a free state is fully responsible for his/her actions. This is not the case in a state or society where freedom is hampered by despots. For example, in Guinea, what goes right is mostly or always attributed to its incumbent leader. The present situation of frantic crowd dancing their hell-out on every street-corner of major cities in Guinea for Sékou Konate, the incumbent interim transitional president, just for a mere election that he himself acknowledged to have been rigged could be regarded here as a case in point. Every fortune and success in the election is now been attributed to him, forgetting that he is merely assigned there to do a specific task initiated by the populace under the close observation and guidance of the international community. What is there to be attributed to a man who kept deaf-ears to the voices of our people calling for justice when it was most needed? Furthermore, everything (or all) that goes/went wrong no one is ever been held responsible. In fact, it is not even talk about or heard of. Take for instance, the inauguration of the newly constructed bridge in Boffa at the Fatala River in 2005; the then government bragged high in the sky as if the cost of building the bridge was their personal hard earned money. It was name after our past leader (General Lansan Conte), just as the name given to the new “bungalow” Public University located at Sonfonia. Besides, the case of our former Prime Minister (PM), Lounseny Fall, could serve as a typical example of the wrongs that no one takes responsibility of. Who do you think was responsible for our MP’s defection? Let me reiterate, I did not ask why he defected, but who was responsible? The term, “defection,” which I used in this case is more appropriate than the term “resignation” as proclaimed by the authority, because technically, he did not resigned, else we would have been informed by the government. But absolutely nothing was heard of it, except from the rumours and the foreign media.
Before I turn to the other side of the coin, let me briefly elaborate upon a fact which every Guineans ought to be familiar with but is often forgotten. “That freedom is the matrix required for the growth of moral values of a society.” And this is quite obvious, because it is only when individuals have the choice to determine their inherent responsibilities that they will have the occasion to affirm existing values and to contribute to its further growth – to earn themselves moral merit. One should note that free societies have always nurtured law abiding citizens and in our modem era this has been the source of all humanitarian movements and activities aiming actively to help the weak, the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. On the other hand, unfree societies normally develop disrespect for the law and callous attitudes towards each other, deploring the weak and the innocents. This brings us to the central issues we are facing, and these contribute to the most awful moment in the history of our nation. I consider it as nothing but the issues of human rights, freedom, insecurity and injustice. These are directly related to our moral values, and as a consequence we are living on the thresholds of a period which particularly everything our livelihood, our future, the future of our love ones is at a great risk. Unless we firmly assume our individual responsibility to society to discharge our rightful duties as concerned citizens, our nation will be doomed to continuous stagnation and underdevelopment.
Moreover, by the term intellectual here, I mean the class of many professional men and women – such as the scientists, doctors, engineers, professors and lectures, business executives, musicians etc.- whose respective expert knowledge on their own fields are worth to be listened to, with respect to most others. There is no doubt of the truth that the power of these intellectuals, who make their peculiar opinions on issues of general concern, influences decision makers or politicians in general. When a nation is in turmoil, the most vulnerable men and women would desperately seek to inject new contents into political life. But what I observed in this country is that, the so-called classical elites or intellectuals, who come from various academic fields of knowledge that should have act as watch-dogs of political life, deliberately confined themselves in a sort of an ivory tower claiming innocence and completely disregarding what is happening around them. And I am poised to ask: is it right for people to ignore the phantom that is destroying the very freedom they are bound to protect? Are they not accountable for what is happening around them?
In my view, this has been, in fact, the frequent conflict mentioned in both the Holly Qur’aan and the Bible between man and his God. We have been given the free-will by God, but He will hold us responsible for making whatever decision, right or wrong, since we are the only creatures on earth that are given the top-intelligence to determine what is right or wrong. Certainly, people are accountable for all that what is happening around them. And frankly speaking, it is impossible to struggle against dictatorships, while, at the same time we continue to adhere to the structure that favoured the system. In order to put my point clearly, let me quote The Economist Laureate, Milton Freedman. In his book, Capitalism and Freedom (1982), he stated that: “The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country. He will rather ask: What can my compatriots and I do through government to help us discharge our individual responsibilities, to achieve our several goals and purposes, and above all, to protect our freedom?” And this question is accompanied by another, which is most relevant to our present political situation. And that is: “How can we keep the upcoming (newly elected) government from becoming a Frankenstein that destroys the very freedom it is establish to protect?” Freedom is something rare and delicate; it’s like a seed in the process of germination. History and experience has thought us that, the greatest threat to freedom is the concentration of power or what I call political monopoly.
At this point, let me remind my fellow Guineans of a disturbing event that we may face in the future, should we decide to let the bygones be bygones. Imagine yourself 10 to 20 years form now, when one of your grand-child would one day ask: Grand-dad or Granny! Where were you or what did you do when such and such were happening in our country? Didn’t you think of the future generation? We most be cautioned here, because failing to answer this questions enthusiastically will render us culprits to his/her generation. As an intellectual, I am deeply bordered by the fear of anticipating such questions without having the right answer to respond. This brings us to the main appeal in this current discussion which is to rescue our nation by or through a unanimous voice of intellectual awareness to our daunting problems. This is the subject of the final part of our discussion for the next posting. God bless la Guinée!
