A Deep Reflection by Dr. Ibrahim Bangura on The Need for a United Sierra Leone
By Ibrahim Alieu Kanu
In a recent interview, Dr. Ibrahim Bangura explained why “Love Over Hate” was added to the “Heal, Unite, and Build” agenda even as that agenda has already gained traction and momentum across all corners of Sierra Leone
He brought us back to the 11 years of blood, fire, and betrayal that nearly collapsed Sierra Leone. He spoke not as a politician, but as a boy who survived it. As a witness to the January 6th, 1999 invasion of Freetown the day the state collapsed, neighbours turned on neighbours, and the streets of our capital ran red.
“Never again,” he said. “Never again will we allow our people to be sacrificed to barbarism, to state failure, and to the political greed that fueled that war.”
He recounted a chilling encounter with an ex-combatant whonteld him they have been disarmed, But the war is not done.
“The war is not over,” the man told him. “Because the factors that ignited it are still visible. Tribalism, corruption, and nepotism still live in the corridors of power. They still dictate how we treat our own people.”
Sierra Leone never healed. We buried the bodies and the truth with them.
We signed peace accords, but we refused the one thing peace actually demands: an honest national conversation.
A conversation about exclusion. About elite manipulation. About a political class that profits from keeping us divided.
Dr. Bangura reflected on the communities he lived in during his school and university days. The story hasn’t changed:
No water, no electricity. no jobs and no dignity.
Poverty is still used as a weapon against the masses. Neglect is still government policy. And we expect peace to survive on an empty stomach? “It is impossible,” he averred.
“A nation cannot develop without peace. And there can be no peace without justice, without unity, without truth,” he declared.
He called out the rot still poisoning our politics:
Your surname should not decide your opportunity.
Your region should not decide your access.
Your tribe should not decide your future.
“We are one people, one nation and until we act like it, we will keep bleeding as a nation.”
Dr. Bangura has seen war in other nations. He knows what collapse looks like. He knows what happens when leaders choose hate over love, division over unity, and personal ambition over nation-building.
Love Over Hate is not a slogan, It is a demand, It is a warning, it is the line between rebuilding this nation or watching it fall again.
He concluded by calling on all Sierra Leoneans to join the campaign of Heal, Unite, Build and LOVE OVER HATE.
Because Sierra Leone is the only country we have.