Dr. Christiana Thorpe-An Appreciation

By Patrick Bernard,Lancaster, PA,USA.

For over a month now, during which time Sierra Leone successfully conducted its most historically significant national elections after its decade-long brutal civil war, the individual who represented the face and vision of the country during the entire electioneering process is the Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Dr. Christiana Thorpe.

Throughout the process, she exuded confidence, assurance, decisiveness and purpose to guide a country on electoral tenterhooks emanating primarily, but not wholly, from tribal, ethnic, regional and ideological affiliations to its first transparent elections. Her sparkling, if not infectious, smile was disarming, ebullient, exuberant, with a touch of willed innocence, but at the same time stern, firm and pragmatic.

In her daily press briefings, either to report the progressive tally of the election results or to provide other NEC-related information, she rarely referred to herself or the deliberations of NEC in the first person singular pronoun; rather, she mostly spoke as “we,” a language choice that was deliberate as its was inclusive; perhaps it reveals her style of leadership, her view of democracy, and her vision of the nation. Speaking as “we” obviously discards the egotistic (“I”) voice, the hallmark of political rhetoric, positing instead a vision of leadership that acknowledges a communal ethos. In doing so, she was also saying that the elections were not about individuals but about the nation. She, therefore, was speaking on behalf of all Sierra Leoneans.

When President Kabbah, in his television address on September 12, admonished Sierra Leoneans to remain calm as the votes from the presidential run-off elections of September 8 were being counted, he did so by also reassuring us that NEC “Officials were trustworthy”, and that he had “confidence in the integrity of that body.” Perhaps the person who captured that trustworthiness and integrity the most is Dr. Thorpe whose unpretentiousness and conscientiousness galvanized the nation and captivated the attention of international observers. She demonstrated a reassuring calm in the midst of a contentious election; she provided neutrality amid the deep ideological divide of party politics; she remained coherent in her interpretation and communication of murky election laws and procedures; she was dutifully aggressive in her defense of the people’s right to free and fair elections and the place of the laws to guarantee just that.

She took her job with an enormous sense of responsibility and accountability, and brought into it a profound respect for the rule of law and the culture of trust and honesty. She emerged from the process a powerful administrator and a vibrant leader who used the levers of government for its own good and for the service of the people. By so doing, she has transformed our election system, radically altering it from a rig-prone apparatus to a model of accountability and transparency. We just have to wait and see if this will take root in our democracy.

Not surprisingly, praises for Dr. Thorpe, from Sierra Leoneans who were looking for tamper- and violence-free elections, and International observes who witnessed and monitored and subsequently affirmed a free, fair, and peaceful election carried out with integrity and transparency, have been superlative, and deservedly so. She made the country proud; she provided a different script from the normal narratives about elections in Africa. For Sierra Leoneans in the country, and for those in the Diaspora as well, her conduct of the elections provides a ray of hopeful light in a country that for many, many years now has made peace with darkness. How we capitalize on this ray of hopeful light now that the elections are over lies mainly in the hands of the new administration.

But what Dr. Thorpe symbolized during this pivotal moment in our national journey towards democratization is something deeper and profound -a craving and yearning for: a leadership that is dispassionate, patriotic and compassionate; a sense of national direction that is as forward-looking as it is goals-oriented; a commitment to the rule of law and the principles of justice that are executed impartially; a frankness that is direct but at the same time purposefully tolerant and patient; an avowed devotion to the policies rather than the politics of our election laws and practices; a defensive but modestly overwhelming desire to make our democracy work in the interest of the people. She did not allow the rancorous and divisive politics within the country, or the dissents or disagreements within NEC, to sway and divert her from the huge national responsibilities that were on her shoulders. In fact her will and action to maintain the independence of NEC remained unflagging; she did not underestimate any complaint or challenge of electoral malpractice and shenanigans, real or imagined. Most important of all, she did mot succumb to the temptations of bribery and corruption. In all this, Dr. Thorpe torpedoed a political culture that valorized and perpetuated corruption as the shameful benchmark of our national identity.

In doing so, she managed with panache the fears and anxieties, panic and paranoia, doubts and obsessions, mistrusts and suspicions, dreams and visions, aspirations and wishes, and hesitations and determinations of Sierra Leoneans. She, therefore, became the projection screen for our multiple wishes, wishful thinking, and fantasies.

She also emerged as a faithful and dependable leader, and defender, of the people’s right. That is, she never wavered in her commitment to the ethos and practice of democracy to cater to the supreme and sacrosanct will of the people. And nothing speaks more to this fact than this point in her final statement: “The people of Sierra Leone deserve to exercise their rights in an atmosphere of freedom, fairness and transparency. This is what NEC strived to provide and will continue to strive for in the future-nothing less will be tolerated.” Say what you may about her; have your reservations and cynicisms about her because of your politics; however, the one fundamental and memorable thing she achieved was to make the will and voice of the people speak. Dr. Thorpe’s assertion about the peoples’ right to freedom, fairness, and transparency should not be limited to elections only; rather her observation signals what we must expect from our governments, including the newly elected one.

Dr. Thorpe will remain an iconic figure in our discourse on, and practice of, democracy in Sierra Leone. Representing far more than a face or a chair to an election process, she symbolizes the possibilities of what women in Sierra Leone can and will do if given the space and wherewithal to contribute to our national development. Dr. Thorpe performed her job as Chairperson of NEC not because she is a woman, but because she is a Sierra Leonean committed to a functional democracy. However, the fact that she is a woman should not be ancillary to the way we judge the tremendous work she has done for the country. Gender is a sub (or core) text in how we evaluate her.

As a matter of fact, her gender should be foregrounded for the reasons that she has demonstrated what women can do when given the opportunity; she has also pointed to, albeit indirectly, the serious gender problems we have in Sierra Leone where, on the whole, women have limited opportunities. Gender imbalances are still evident in: (a) the way we value the education of boys over girls; (b) the patriarchal and traditional mores that shortchange and stifle the capabilities and potential of women and (c) our lackadaisical and anemic approach to institute, and practice, laws that promote gender equity. Dr. Thorpe has exemplified the necessity of making available more opportunities for women in meaningful leadership roles. Her performance is an emphatic entry into that domain of male preserve of decision-making. Her decisiveness in accomplishing this national obligation marks a symbolic ceremony of arrival for Sierra Leonean women. We now must translate the symbol to the actual ceremony of empowering our women by creating leadership opportunities and spaces they can comfortably and legitimately occupy.

But Dr. Christiana Thorpe represents for Sierra Leoneans something else, a metaphor of sorts; her performance as chief of NEC is a metaphor of the type of leadership we want: a pragmatic and productive leadership that takes the country out of its paralyzing doldrums. Her firmness, discipline, dedication, fairness, decisiveness, result-orientedness, dispassionateness, honesty, tolerance and patience are leadership qualities we need, more than ever, at this particular moment in our history. These qualities will transform for the better this country that is allergic to its own possibilities and potential. But above all, her very subtle lesson that a leader should speak and act as “we” provides a leadership model that is progressive, inclusive, consensus-driven, and reassuringly fresh.

Photo: Dr. Christiana Thorpe.