This past weekend, the nation flared up in furore when a group of educated men and women decided to coalesce into a union of SLPP lecturers. Don’t get me wrong, they did not commit any crime or violate the country’s constitution. But they were simply out of sync with the political and moral order of the day. Scripture says that all things are lawful but not all things are helpful. In unison, civil society activists and ordinary citizens denounced the creation of that entity as a recipe for politicization of learning in the University of Sierra Leone. The majority sentiment was that the nation was over-grappling with divisive politics and so the creation of a union of SLPP lecturers was going to be the handy fuel to burn the neutrality of academia in the body politic of our nation. Notable among the antagonists of the nascent union was the son, yes the son of the first elected chairman of the said union—Prof. Samuel Edmond Nonie. I assumed he would have privately remonstrated his father’s decision to be a part of the formation of the union but that did not stop him from stating his unequivocal opposition on Facebook. In his own words, Edmond Nonie wrote, “The creation of the SLPP Union of Lecturers is wrong”. Earlier, as friends and comrades of the Auradicals fraternity, he had sought clarification on the legality or otherwise of the union. I explained the legal position and the non-legitimacy argument against the said creation. But he only just needed that note of clarity for his unambiguous outrage at his father’s day-old union. Before one could utter “Jack Bockarie”, his Facebook post was viralised. Many in the upper echelons of society applauded the courage and honesty of the young man. In less than 24 hours, in a notice signed by his father, the union was dissolved with a public apology to the nation. It seemed just like a speaking son, there was a listening father.
So yesterday, while the nation was enthralled by the revelations of another young man—Chernoh Bah—who has embarked on a crusade to expose corruption in the current regime and the Press Release of the Anti-Corruption Commission on their investigations of the Office of First Lady going back 14 years, my mind was fixated on Edmond Nonie. This is because as a young person myself, my loyalty to friends and allies has been questioned on some occasions just because of my private and public views on some of their transgressions in public office. Edmond was not telling off his friend for doing something wrong. He was calling out his own father in public. That was for me the height of honesty and courage. He is not a public servant—he did not owe us any obligation—but he chose to stand for the public good. It seems to be we need many more ‘Edmond Nonies’ not only to stand up against public misdemeanors but also to have the courage to look at our loved ones and call them out for the sake of love of country. To put nation above self is not for the lips, it is for moments when loyalty to nation is summoned. It may be justified to be loyal to your family and friends, but it is more noble to stand on the aisle of the common good and truth. This is the honesty creed that should be emblazoned on the conscience of every public officer and especially young people. I don’t care how many young people are failing us and breaking our hearts in public service. For now, I’ll celebrate Edmond Nonie and pray for multiplication of his kind.