Speeches of Former Amb. Chaveas

Education Week 2003

November 18, 2003

REMARKS TO THE SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF MORAL AND CIVIC EDUCATION IN PROMOTING PEACE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN SIERRA LEONE IN CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK

Thank you for joining us today on the occasion of International Education Week. It is particularly satisfying to have with us so many of those Sierra Leoneans who have benefited from various programs of study and travel in the United States and who as a result, form a critical element of the ties that bind our two societies together. Hopefully, as a result of your experiences, you have a better understanding of the United States. I am quite confident that as a result of our association with you, we have a better understanding of Sierra Leone.

The theme for our symposium today is “The Role of Moral and Civic Education in Promoting Peace and Good Governance in Sierra Leone.” We are considering this theme at a time when Sierra Leone is benefiting from a window of opportunity afforded by the very substantial investment of the international community in the effort to establish sustainable peace and to permit Sierra Leone to rebuild on a sounder foundation that hopefully will prevent a repeat of the tragedy that has been this country’s experience not just for the past decade but for much of its independent history. It is absolutely critical that Sierra Leone take advantage of this opportunity because it will not last forever.  Indeed, the window will close much sooner if Sierra Leoneans do not show greater will NOW to address the fundamental causes of their recent national tragedy.  I do not wish to suggest here that I have a comprehensive understanding of those fundamental causes. Far from it. But I would like to offer some brief thoughts on the broader context that is Sierra Leone more than one and a half years after the end of eleven years of horrific civil strife and pose some questions about what lessons have or have not been learned. I don’t know what you might learn from my thoughts but I am sure that I would profit from your reactions and reflections.

Perhaps the most important fact about Sierra Leone today is that since December 2001 there has been no significant violence. In May of last year, the country held the most peaceful national elections in its history. In neighboring Liberia, the violence that contributed to Sierra Leone’s tragedy is showing some promise of drawing to a close.  Sierra Leone is being examined as a success story for international peacekeeping and its “lessons learned” are being studied for their relevance to Liberia and elsewhere.  Within the borders of Sierra Leone, life for the majority of the population is returning to a semblance of normality, albeit at an economic level that earns Sierra Leone the dubious distinction of ranking last on the UN Human Development Index. 

It is that very “normality” that gives me great pause.  The international community, with strong leadership from the United Kingdom and the United Nations, has made an exceptional and very expensive effort to pull Sierra Leone back from the brink.  Recognizing that just stopping the fighting and holding elections does not make for a sustainable situation, the international community continues to invest heavily in rebuilding infrastructure and in building human capacity.  Through the Special Court, it seeks to identify those who bear the greatest responsibility and break the cycle of impunity that has been a trademark of conflict and bad governance in this sub-region. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it seeks to help all Sierra Leoneans come to terms with the abuse they have visited upon each other.

You will note, of course, that I am talking here only about what the international community is doing. That is the crux of my concern. There is inadequate Sierra Leonean ownership of this process. Some of that probably can be attributed to the exhaustion and depletion of human capital resulting from years of violence and decades of bad governance. In some cases, it may well be because we in the international community are not listening closely enough and are too wedded to our own models of how things should be. But I am concerned that there may be a more fundamental problem. Is the cultural foundation upon which we are trying to build compatible with our development objectives? Do the values of Sierra Leone society support desirable change in the interest of the well being of Sierra Leone’s people?

I am very purposefully posing this concern as questions. I don’t pretend to know the answers. More importantly, I believe that it is critical that the answer(s) come not from outsiders but from within Sierra Leonean society and I am hopeful that this symposium today might make some contribution in that regard. My concern as an outsider, and one who represents a government whose taxpayers have invested heavily in seeking positive and sustainable change, is that I do not see the questions or any variant of them being posed or seriously debated within this country.  Rather, I see a leadership class that contains some who seek genuine change but many more who seek to return to “normality,” to “traditional” ways of doing things, to the very business as usual approach that has served this country and its citizens so poorly for most of its independent history and even before.

This is an assertion that I made in so many words in a very public forum almost a year ago.  The speaker who followed me departed from his prepared remarks to strongly endorse my analysis. That speaker was President Kabbah.  I returned to this idea in a public statement to the TRC in July and I have used some more restricted fora to do likewise.  Let me reiterate that I am not trying to impose any particular answers. I simply believe that it is critical that basic questions be asked and I do not see that happening.  It is for that very reason that we have chosen the theme for our symposium today. We are seeking ways to be a catalyst for the questioning process and would welcome any comments/suggestions you may have to offer, including suggestions that I am completely off base! Thank you for your attention and I look forward to the interventions of our distinguished panelists.