In this interview Winnipeg-based Randolph Gorvie engages Sierra Leone Nationals Association Vice President Abu Bakarr (Biggie) Kamara on various issues. Interview was done by email.
Randolph Gorvie: Congratulations on your elevation as the Vice President of the Sierra Leone Nationals Association of Manitoba (SALNAM). In my opinion, I’ll venture to say you were very effective as the former Secretary General of the organization, considering the fact that it is not always easy to run and to manage the affairs of a non profit organization particularly in communities that are still trying to define their collective interests in a multicultural society such as ours in Manitoba. Do you agree with my observation and if you do, I’ll like to know SALNAM’s role in helping the community to have defined its collective interests during the past period of SALNAM’s mandate.
ABK: Randolph before I agree with you and answer your question, let me first of all thank all the progressive minded members of our community who have appreciated our work and have decided to let some of us go unopposed for very good reasons, I believe. These are the kind of people that understand the difficulties we encounter in running a non-profit community based organization, particularly African organizations, like ours. And as stated Randolph, I totally agree with your observation.
As the parent body of organizations in our Sierra Leonean community in Manitoba, SALNAM has a major role to help our community define its collective interests while striving for successful settlement, adaptation and integration into Canadian society. The primary strategy for community empowerment, which also helps us promote our aspirations, is the establishment of a Community Association. For that reason sir, I would like to thank you and the few others who thought about forming this great Association way back in 1980.
Organizations inspire community pride and raise public awareness. They provide a gold template or grid to enlighten, educate, influence, mentor and support their community. Community organizations are good medicine for the community both inside and outside the structure. They empower members and their families. The only limitation or caveat relative to those statements is the modus operandi of the organization which is that the community organization must be healthy and robust and relatively free of dissension among members.
In our case here, we held meetings to apprise our members about current and past activities of the organization. Emails with relevant information were widely distributed to the community especially to emails in our database. Most of the information we sent out could be beneficial to our members and they included employment, scholarships and other social opportunities.
A symposium, in which you played a central role, was held as a component part of Sierra Leone at 50 celebrations here in Winnipeg, with the theme: Strategies for empowering the African Canadian Community of Manitoba. The purpose, outcome and theme of that symposium indicate we have worked towards helping our community define its collective interests.
We are continuing in this direction with more emphasis on developing and implementing culturally appropriate programming initiatives that actually fit the goals and objectives of this enviable organization. For far too long, SALNAM has operated in a vacuum in the sense it has failed to plan. The implication Randolph of failing to plan is planning to fail. This time around, we are determined to work in a planning environment, operating on the margin should no longer be an option for SALNAM.
We are running this body like a business concern, we are putting together a strategic plan that highlights our goals for the next three years and how we go about achieving them. We have well thought out ideas, sound policies and a realistic mission; what we need now is a well developed strategic plan to implement our vision and mission. Non profit and community based organizations like ours represent the life blood of civil society and we must run them with the seriousness they deserve. Organizational development within the community is not only important to the existence and infrastructure of the community per se, they are the training institutes for leaders.
We are also organizing a workshop that promotes cross cultural understanding. This project is to help dispel stereotypes, promote social interactions between new immigrants and the host community among a list of other goals. It is designed under the aegis of the Welcoming Communities Manitoba program which is to promote the strengthened participation in society and foster more inclusive and welcoming communities for new immigrants.
The Welcoming Communities Initiative is part of the Government of Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism. We are working on promoting this event widely to encourage our community to partake and share their perspectives of the Canadian life as well as their cultural values. I have even had a preliminary discussion with Manitoba’s minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, Hon. Christine Melnick, about our interest in having her deliver a keynote speech on the relevance of multiculturalism in this first of a kind event in the African community. Correct me if I am wrong Randolph.
With all these great moves, we still have a vast room for improvement especially in the area of our communication with the community. We are using an integrated approach this time to contact our members whenever the need arises; we are developing a comprehensive communication plan. This will entail mass emailing, community websites, social networking sites and phone calls like a “robo” call system. People have to be informed about every aspect of SALNAM; information is the life blood of an organization. How our community respond to them is another part of the equation which can also be challenging at times, especially when we are delivering programs that promote our mission as a vibrant organization as well as those that help our community meets its needs in the pursuit of its desire to enjoy fully the socio economic and political opportunities of this new socio cultural nation.
RG: I have been an observer of community politics for a long time in this province. I have seen periods of heightened and enhanced inter community activities among the African and the Caribbean communities here in Manitoba during the 80s, a time when the entire membership of SALNAM consisted of fewer than ten families. Today SALNAM is a popular topic of conversation around the kitchen tables in many Sierra Leonean homes in this town and to some extent; a growing number of other communities are also taking note of SALNAM’s contributions to the multicultural development of this province. Arguably, in the short run, SALNAM may not be a major player now, but certainly it is an important player in the multicultural fabric of this province. In your own words, please help your reader understand the evolving role SALNAM is playing in to work with other communities outside of your own. Do you see inter community collaboration taking central stage as we gallop our way into the future? In other words, can SALNAM succeed on its own without joining forces with other community organizations? Your thoughts.
ABK: SALNAM is engaging on networking and partnering with other communities and organizations. We interact with a host of organizations ranging from ethno cultural to host organizations here in Manitoba on a number of issues to help address the myriad of problems that face us all as Manitobans. In December 2009, we took part in a workshop: The Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination (CMARD), an initiative of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and organized by the City of Winnipeg’s Citizens Equity Committee. At this interactive event, where Winnipeg’s Mayor Sam Katz was a participant; we had the opportunity to make viable contributions for an outcome that would entail drafting the Winnipeg Anti-Racism, Discrimination and Hate Crime Strategy; developing CMARD Action Plan for Winnipeg; and approving the wording of the Winnipeg Declaration on Racism, Discrimination and Hate Crime.
At this conference, I met with a senior police officer who invited me to an exploratory meeting between the Winnipeg Police Services and community, and other immigrant, organizations. This has culminated into the formation of a working group called UMOJA with the goal of building trust and promoting mutual respect and understanding between the police and new immigrants. We also look at ways of developing strategies that help reduce or eliminate crime in new immigrant and the wider communities by taking proactive measures and introducing early intervention programs. The new Chief of Winnipeg Police Services, Devon Clunis, who happens to be the first black and minority to assume that position, also sits in that committee as well as our hardworking president, Allieu Sesay. We are all over the place Randolph. We meet with government and social services agencies as well to promote the aspirations of our community.
We definitely need to work on building more, and enhancing our current relationships with other ethno cultural communities as well as host organizations here in the province. In as much as SALNAM can make some achievements on its own, it can certainly achieve more when it partners and collaborates with other community organizations, again, including host organizations, depending on the issue being addressed.
I also had the opportunity to sit in a steering committee formed by the Winnipeg Foundation and True Sport Manitoba, to review and approve proposals for physical activity programs around the central park area. This I am listing to show how much and how far we have reached out. Well the president, Allieu Sesay and I already sit on the African Communities of Manitoba Inc (ACOMI) Steering Council, as representatives of SALNAM, to discuss issues that affect our respective communities and to chart a course that helps us address them.
RG: The effectiveness of a Vice President’s position within an organizational structure is usually a function of how the president defines the responsibility of that position. Never mind what the constitution says. As a shovel brigade in the last executive, in the sense that you were among the “go to” persons on a range of issues, specifically what do you have in mind to make this position become useful, productive and effective? I know you had a healthy working relationship with Allieu Sesay (SS) and I cannot see a change in the equilibrium anytime soon in your working relationship with him, the president. Your comments.
ABK: Let me quickly use this opportunity to thank him briefly for the trust and confidence he has in me to represent this organization and to develop and implement programs that meet its mandates.
I want to use this office to assist us tremendously uncover hidden resources and to enlist the support of both in the private and public sectors as we strive as a community to identify, plan and deliver programs and services that benefit our community.
I just wrapped up a meeting with the Director of Manitoba Multiculturalism Secretariat where I informed her that we have acquired funding from the City of Winnipeg to help us own and operate a Resource Centre for holistic and culturally sensitive community development initiatives with programs for youths and for other disadvantaged groups in our community. I also apprised her that in collaboration with SEED Winnipeg, we are developing a business plan for a proposed Day Care Centre that will operate in the Resource Centre.
There is shortage of childcare services in Manitoba especially those that consider cultural sensitivity and operations outside the traditional 9am to 5pm hours, and Monday to Friday days. A Day Care Centre designed with culturally sensitive play based programs will help us meet the childcare needs of our community. It would also help us sustain a Resource Centre. A quality early childhood education is essential in building our children’s developmental assets which also have a positive effect in helping them to become successful citizens of society as they grow into adulthood. Additionally, early childhood education and care can strengthen the foundations of lifelong learning for all children and support the broad educational and social needs of families. It would even create jobs for those with Early Childhood Education certificates in our community.
I believe, if SALNAM is to have a higher success rate in its efforts of positively engaging our youth; its holistic approach has to entail early childhood education.
I am confident to say the meeting with the Director of the Secretariat was productive and she is working on helping us connect with the right resources to help us operate the proposed Centre. Expect to see me exploring avenues SALNAM could use as a vehicle to meet its goals and objectives. Simply put, I am redefining the role of a SALNAM Vice President just like I did for the role of a SALNAM Secretary General. As you yourself have stated and you always jokingly say; I am the shovel brigade. Laughs.
I will also be involved actively in the community and in fulfilling my role as stated in the constitution.
RG: What new challenges do you foresee facing the organization for the next three years and what specific programs and services is SALNAM contemplating to plan for the evolving needs of the community?, taking into account there is still an unfinished business on the agenda. Is there going to be a Resource Centre any time soon?
ABK: The challenges facing us range from all executive members performing their duties efficiently and the community fully supporting all the programs and activities that fulfill the purpose of this organization. An organization is not a static entity but a dynamic mélange of individuals, including executive and other community members, who work assiduously to make the organization and by extension the community pumped up. Elected individuals need to be enthusiastic, happy, genuine and committed to the cause; ready for the unexpected and able to cope with the unplanned situations which may not be many but in keeping with Murphy’s Law will all occur simultaneously.
As I noted earlier on, we are developing a strategic plan backed with action plans and timelines for the next three years. Terms of references stating the mandates of committees will also be created.
Our short and medium term goals include the development of an event calendar, a directory of our members, an integrated and comprehensive communication plan, the Day Care and Resource Centre project as well as workshops and symposia that help promote our mission.
The other programs and services SALNAM plan to deliver depend on the establishment of the Resource and Day Care Centre. They include childcare services; stay in school and youth development programs; cultural awareness and youth drop in / after school programs; recreation and computer training; adult basic education and counselling services (include referral services and employment and job search skills). A key component of the cultural awareness program is the teaching of the political, social, and cultural history of Sierra Leone as it helps our youth to learn about themselves, understand their parents’ value systems and to appreciate the opportunities given them by virtue of being Canadian citizens.
Recently, we supported our youth to organize a successful forum and a back to school barbeque, where all those entering university and college this year were recognized with the aim of empowering them to continue the good work they do in school. We believe youth representation can be at any level: committee, board, and if their talents and work ethics are exceptional can be full director or manage a portfolio. Youth in general are very determined and energetic; they articulate unique approaches to stale debates and put a new perspective on issues. They often have a plethora of ideas which means the sky is the limit, and innovation becomes a buzz word. Youth involvement in the operations of SALNAM results in the following strategic outcomes: succession planning and building capacity of the organization. We look forward to successfully launching the new youth coordinator position to keep engaging our youth in meaningful activities.
Finally Randolph, another important need of our community here is the establishment of a Sierra Leonean honorary consul. There are hundreds of Sierra Leoneans in Winnipeg alone and the numbers of people who travel to visit in Sierra Leone continue to rise every year. Against this backdrop, Allieu Sesay, SALNAM president; delivered our proposal to the Sierra Leonean Ambassador for North America, H.E. Mr. Bockarie Kortu Stevens for onward transmission to the Government of Sierra Leone at a brief meeting our community had with him at the Canad Inn in Winnipeg on Saturday August 25th, 2012.
Ideally, the consulate is not only beneficial to our community; it brings the Sierra Leone government closer to the government of Manitoba, the captains of industry, other private institutions such as churches, NGOS, and most importantly into the living rooms of the various communities and neighbourhoods. Manitobans, generally, are known for their philanthropic support of worthy causes in many parts of the world. We also believe the presence of an honorary consul in Manitoba is another avenue for sensitizing Manitobans about Sierra Leone’s developmental needs in a cost effective manner.
RG: Why the controversy about the last SALNAM General Elections? The high rate of unopposed candidates was unusually high, but I understand the outgoing Executive Council abided by the terms of the constitution to hold the elections. And if you followed the mandate of the constitution, the question becomes: why the lack of community participation in such a sensitive election? In my opinion, the problem lies in the collective failure of the community to have taken its responsibility seriously. What went wrong?
ABK: I agree with your assessment my friend. But if we can play the devil’s advocate for a minute, you may also want to take a stand in the affirmative that majority of the people thought we should go unopposed because of the good work they believed we did. In fact, most of them did not even want elections to be held, we heard it a lot. But to respect our democracy and to give everyone the chance to express their rights to contest or vote for any position, we abided by the mandate of the constitution. In other words, we wanted to avoid disenfranchising our members by not imposing Stalinism or monocracy in this small but strong community.
The only mandate of the constitution relative to the elections that we did not implement is the Executive Council hand-picking or selecting not more than three (3) people to form a nominating committee which determines the eligibility of potential candidates using a selected set of criteria. Let me highlight the clause about elections as stated in the constitution, which we also strictly adhered to, with the exception of the stated mandate of selecting a nomination panel:
ELECTIONS
31.1 Process: Elections to be held in September.
31.2 Dissolution of Executive: The Executive shall be dissolved on the 1st (First) Saturday in September.
31.3 Nominations for all potential candidates for different positions shall take place on the 2nd (Second) Saturday in September.
31.4 Debates shall take place on the 3rd (third) Sunday in September.
31.5 General Elections shall take place on the 4th (Fourth) Saturday in September.
31.6 At the expiry of the term of office of the Executive Council, all its offices shall be declared vacant for election.
31.7 The conduct of all elections shall be the responsibility of an independent electoral commission headed by a chief electoral commissioner and not more than two assistant commissioners.
31.8 The Chief Electoral Commissioner shall be appointed by the President, but not answerable to him or her. The Chief Electoral Commissioner shall have a Casting vote in the event of a tie.
31.10 Executive member(s) shall not be eligible for re-election for the same office after serving two consecutive terms.
31.11 The Executive shall dissolve itself on the day of dissolution and hand over all official documents to the Electoral Commission
31.12 General elections shall be held at the end of the third fiscal year
I would agree that the elections were not widely publicized though majority of the people knew about it. To alleviate or avert this problem in the future, an integrated communication approach would be good to adopt. The “robo” call system followed by mass emails, the SALNAM and other community websites as well as the social media would create an effective way to reach our community, to apprise them of our programs and activities, including elections, meetings, workshops, fundraising events, the list continues. SALNAM is trying to put structures in place to support its efforts of operating in a planning environment. It takes time to get everything done by a hand few, and that is why my appeal is for everyone to come on board to help us do the business of the community. We have people with the skills, the expertise to help our organization reach its goals. Together everyone can achieve more.
Honestly having the controversy over the elections should sometimes be considered as a good thing. Usually Randolph, restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress. Sidney Howard said: “one-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” And Nelson Mandela added: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
The history of our country, Sierra Leone, would tell you that our journey as a nation has sometimes been travelled in different and conflicting directions dictated by changing circumstances of a prevailing moment. In spite of all the difficulties and challenges in nation building, the people have beavered successfully over the years to build a prosperous nation based on the ideals of freedom, unity and justice. Here, as a community, we sometimes subconsciously marginalize ourselves by not participating in Canadian life, including our community organizations, preventing us from taking full advantage of the many advantages available to all Canadians.
We should not resign to helplessness, passivity and reside in what I call sedentary agitation and thus allow our inability to do everything all at once undermine our collective ability to do something productive now. Of course there are expected differences of opinions and debate. No one anticipates that there will be agreement on all issues but after hearing the arguments, consensus is the order of the day. Also, the ability to accept constructive, not destructive, criticism is a hallmark of good leadership. In organizational development, positive criticism is actually vital for success and moving forward. Dr. Linus Pauling discovered, without a bit of stress not even humans can survive. Now that the election is over, I hope we would put our differences aside and work for the collective interests of our community; all of us can do things to create radical transformation, to help our community progress and succeed in its efforts to build a strong Sierra Leonean identity in this province.
Randolph Gorvie: How would you describe the community’s participation in SALNAM’s activities during the last three years?
ABK: The community has been very supportive of our programs but the degree of support differs depending on the activity. People have a heightened interest in social functions compared to the level of support for programs like workshops or symposia, even for general meetings. On the whole, once again, they have been very participative.
We were able to solicit funds from most of our members to ship the 40 ft. container loaded with over $850,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies in 2010, to selected hospitals in Freetown. They also participate in fundraising and other community events. It’s been good Randolph.
Let me don’t forget to thank the Sierra Ambassadors of Manitoba (Golden Conclave), the Koinadugu Adult Association of Manitoba (KAAM) and others for their unflinching support for our programs and activities. We hope to further our good relationships in the interest of our community.
RG: Yours is a wife / husband team on the Executive Council of SALNAM which demonstrates a very high level of commitment and dedication of service to your community. I thank you and your beautiful wife for doing this and for believing in your community.
ABK: You are very welcome. I know she will do a good job on the Council, she is smart and dedicated. Loads of thanks to you too Mr. Gorvie for your inspiring words and the positive reinforcements I have received from you in the past. You have been critical of our work in a positive way and that is what we need.
May God Almighty guide and protect each and every one of us in this province and Sierra Leoneans in all of Canada and the diaspora at large. May He grant our leaders, including our president of the Republic of Sierra Leone, the strength, the courage and wisdom to pursue growth and development for the betterment of the people, especially those who are living in abject poverty.
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