COLONIAL STATES were deliberately designed to draw resources and power to the centre – for onward transfer to the Imperial Mothership— London, Paris, et cetera.

(The author is OB Sisay, an economist specialising in risk analysis. He’s also worked as one of the Directors of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) in Africa)

And like in all postcolonial states, the security services of Sierra Leone – starting from those who burned villages of their own people, under the command of White officers to, for example, force Bai Bureh to surrender, security forces in colonial states were never designed to protect the people. 

The security services of a colonial state were designed and trained to subdue, suppress or pacify anyone who challenged the authority of The Imperial Crown and its ability to rule, or disrupt its extraction of resources. That is their founding culture, not just in Sierra Leone, but across Africa, Latin America and everywhere else that has a state that was created by Imperial Colonisers. 

When we in Africa gained independence we did not seek to build a new state in our own image. We simply replaced the Governor-General – who had all the powers of The Queen – with a President. With the same powers. We did not negotiate the essential political settlement that underpins ALL durable states. One that accounted for the interest of its people. Our ‘STATE’ was NOT designed for OUR interests! We even have laws on our books from colonial days and we STILL use case law from our Imperial Colonisers to justify the decisions we make about OUR justice. We are politically independent but legally and structurally we are still colonies. 

This reality applies not just to Sierra Leone. But almost every other polity with a modern state that was created by imperialists. Even a shallow intellectual analysis using this lens will help one understand why our states are dysfunctional. All power flows to the centre. All resources flow to the centre. Local and municipal governance under our Constitutions are weak. There is too much power and little accountability at the centre. Winner takes ALL! Losers eat grass… until their time comes. 

This is the structural weakness in postcolonial states that results in most of the problems we see in Africa and elsewhere. You might even go as far back as Rome. And look at what happened to the states that were created by Roman imperialism and what happened after. What you will find is a continuum of instability, coups, revolutions et cetera… several hundred years later… that never stopped. Until a new state is created by its people. In their own image. 

Because without this organic evolution, which starts from one family deciding to live next to another… and another… then a village… then a country… you will never have a system of rules and systems that is designed to account for everyone’s interests in that village. 

The states we have were not designed in our interests. 

And given the political economy and lack of negotiated political settlements to create new states out of the colonial ones, there has been no incentive for postcolonial African leaders – in fact quite the opposite – to remedy this problem. Why would I reorganise my police force so it doesn’t seek to please me and ensure the stability of my regime? Especially considering the fact that independence in Africa came during the Cold War. When my worries are not about what my people GENUINELY WANT… but the risk of some Russian or CIA sponsored plot to destabilise me? Compare Sierra Leone’s Siaka Steven with Thomas Sankara, Cabral or Patrice Lumumba. Or ask Allende’s ghost what happened between him and Pinochet. 

In Sierra Leone today and yesterday, the Vice President of the day heads the Police Council. Which approves all senior promotions. No officer crosses Superintendent if Police Council doesn’t approve! And it is headed by the VP of the day! This explains why our police are always so over enthusiastic to please the government-of-the-day. And every time government changes, notice there’s a new Inspector-General; a new Anti-Corruption Commissioner. Why? When these functions should have no relation to politics? 

So, just like with our architecture of centralised power and resource control, this ethos of coercive concentration and pacification – via patronage or force – has continued in all of our institutions – including in the security services. Concentrate. Control. Subdue. Coerce. And pacify ANY opposition. 

Consider Siaka Stevens’ Internal Security Unit (ISU) that evolved into our current OSD of Benghazi fame (the infamous police detention centre in Freetown) – and many of its ilk across the continent. Their purpose, training and manning. To counter the army and suppress internal dissent. Soviet style anti internal insurgence training. 

Not much different from the Royal West African Frontier Forces the British created across their colonies – Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia and Sierra Leone. This idea originated from 1897 when the British completed their rejigging of the Egyptian Army. Just around the time of the Benin Expedition of 1897… when they also had issues with security in Nigeria. The genius responsible is called The Marquis of Lansdowne; Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for War at the time. 

Consider the French Gendarmerie and its ilk across former Francophone colonies in Africa. And look at the relationship between the ethos of Francophone policing culture and the French fear of public disorder – PTSD from the French Revolution and the storming of the Bastille. Few weeks ago, Liverpool fans from the UK at the UEFA Champions League final ended in bad taste for the French. And anyone who would have driven a vehicle with Sierra Leone license plates into Guinea about the same time… would’ve gotten theirs too 

Consider the very ethos of policing in the United States. Where it evolved out of a Sheriff – voted by the town – in frontier lands. With a posse. To serve as a force of fear for bandits. In the UK for example, you are taught that the policeman is your friend. In the US you are expected to fear the police. Even the US idea of the PERP WALK… making the captured prisoner walk in chains so everyone can see… is directly derived from catching the bandits and dragging them into town in chains. Behind the Sheriff’s horse— WANTED. DEAD OR ALIVE! 

This is why to this day, you will not see images of British Police arresting people in chains and cuffs… but the US media will gleefully show you the moment they dragged Bernie Mardorf, a nonviolent crook, out of his home in chains. Why? Is he a notorious barked robber? No. It is the US culture of justice!  It is also why the US police are all huge dudes on steroids, armed to the teeth, who don’t engage you to discuss. Only to issue orders that you are free to refuse at your peril. They are not your friend.  

These evolutionary differences inform the difference in policing cultures across major areas of the world.  

So. Wakanda (Africa). The exam question for you is this: 

In your villages you don’t have police, do you? Why? Well, it is because every citizen is a police officer and crime rates are minimal. 

So when your villages become towns and your towns become cities, how do you ensure that your police are SIMPLY those members of your village who are PAID to give their full time attention to ensuring the nonsense no villager will to tolerate is allowed to happen? Do you understand the roots of the concept called CITIZEN’S ARREST?

Next time a policeman slaps you on the streets; brutalises you; locks you up outside their legal mandate on orders from above, ask yourselves these questions: 

Are your police part of you? Do they represent your values? Or are they there to coerce you?

What is the culture of your policing? 

When you have the answer, you can begin to understand what kind of police you want.