Fantasy Isn’t Policy: Sierra Leone’s Democratic Struggles Demand More Than Andor’s Rebellion Logic

 

By Mahmud Tim Kargbo

As a television series, Andor is a commendable feat of storytelling. As a model for political instruction, however, it is dangerously misleading, particularly when examined through the lens of Sierra Leone’s hard won democratic gains, constitutional safeguards and fragile post conflict social fabric.

Western audiences have praised Andor, a Star Wars spin off on Disney+, not only for its artistic merit but also for its bold political narrative. Commentators across influential outlets have drawn parallels between the show’s depiction of authoritarianism and current global events, from Gaza to Los Angeles. Yet for those of us grappling with the delicate business of nation building, importing the political lessons of a galaxy far, far away may cause more harm than good.

Andor chronicles the rise of rebellion against a tyrannical Galactic Empire. It portrays violent resistance not only as necessary but as inevitable, with peaceful protest and political negotiation ultimately shown to be futile. While this may serve dramatic effect for streaming audiences, such narratives can prove dangerously seductive in fragile democracies like Sierra Leone, where state legitimacy, public trust and institutional strength remain under constant strain.

The Real Cost of Political Violence in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s recent history bears painful witness to the catastrophic consequences of political violence. The 11 year civil war (1991 to 2002), fuelled by endemic corruption, political exclusion and impunity, left more than 50,000 dead and millions displaced. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), “the main causes of the conflict were deeply rooted in endemic greed, corruption, and bad governance”

[http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/view-report-text-vol-2/item/volume-two-chapter-one].

The TRC warned strongly against romanticising rebellion, stating that “violence was used far too often and with too few consequences… civic engagement and democratic participation should be the foundation of governance reform”.

[http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/view-report-text-vol-2/item/volume-two-chapter-two].

The Constitution and Lawful Means of Change

The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone provides lawful avenues for redress and political transformation. It enshrines freedoms of expression, assembly and association (Sections 25 to 26), and clearly outlines mechanisms for checks and balances through Parliament, the judiciary, the Auditor General and other constitutional commissions

[http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/constitution1991.pdf].

To suggest, as Andor implicitly does, that rebellion is the only recourse to tyranny undermines Sierra Leone’s constitutional framework. Luthen Rael’s doctrine of violent manipulation and subversion may attract acclaim in the context of fictional resistance, but in our lived reality, it echoes the very chaos and impunity that fuelled rebel movements such as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), both of which perpetrated atrocities under the guise of liberation.

When Fantasy Undermines Accountability

In Andor, peaceful actors like Mon Mothma and the protestors on Ghorman are portrayed as ultimately ineffective. By contrast, violent actors are glorified. Yet Sierra Leone’s own TRC found that violence rarely led to democratic progress. Instead, it concluded that “violence led to the erosion of civic responsibility, respect for rule of law, and institutional legitimacy”

[http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/view-report-text-vol-2/item/volume-two-chapter-three].

What Sierra Leone requires is not rebellion but institutional accountability. Consider the 2022 Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) report, which uncovered unauthorised payments, undocumented procurement contracts and illegal cash withdrawals amounting to billions of Leones

[http://www.auditservice.gov.sl/report/annual-audit-2022]. These systemic failures cannot be corrected through insurrection. They require lawful protest, investigative journalism, parliamentary scrutiny and the activation of anti-corruption institutions.

Procurement, Propaganda and Institutional Failure

In Andor, the Empire’s propaganda machine is used to justify exploitation and repression. This resonates with Sierra Leoneans, who have witnessed how poor governance is frequently cloaked in bureaucratic technicalities. The Public Procurement Act of 2016 mandates open and transparent bidding processes for public contracts

[http://www.nppa.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Public-Procurement-Act-2016.pdf], yet both the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) and the ASSL have repeatedly reported breaches, from the Safe City surveillance contracts to the biometric voter registration deal with the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), awarded without competitive bidding and marred by red flags

[http://www.auditservice.gov.sl/report/biometric-elections-2023].

Combatting these abuses does not require blasters. It calls for robust investigative journalism, protections for whistleblowers and political courage to reinforce institutional integrity.

History Shows: Violence Begets Tyranny

While some may suggests that when the system fails, violence is the only answer. History suggests otherwise. The French, Russian, Iranian and Cuban revolutions all ushered in regimes as brutal, if not more so, than those they replaced. The TRC warns that “post conflict societies must resist the temptation to view violence as a solution, as it almost always gives rise to greater repression and prolonged instability”

[http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/view-report-text-vol-2/item/volume-two-chapter-four].

In contrast, non violent resistance has proven effective in transforming countries, from India to the United States. Sierra Leone’s own peace was restored through the Lomé Peace Accord, regional diplomacy and international mediation, not violent overthrow.

What Sierra Leone Really Needs

The greatest battle facing Sierra Leone is not between rebels and tyrants, but between public accountability and systemic dysfunction. As the TRC aptly noted, “the absence of transparency, the misuse of public funds, and weak institutional oversight fuelled the breakdown of public trust”

[http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/view-report-text-vol-2/item/volume-two-chapter-one].

What Sierra Leone urgently requires is:

A functioning justice system that can prosecute grand corruption

A fully empowered Audit Service and Public Accounts Committee

Civic education that demystifies governance for all citizens

Independent media, free from partisan capture

None of these reforms can arise from rebellion. All depend on civic discipline and fidelity to constitutional processes.

Entertainment ≠ Governance

There is no harm in enjoying Andor as fiction. However, the “pure idea of freedom” lauded in Karis Nemik’s final manifesto . “Freedom is a pure idea… even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward”, [quoted in Andor, Episode 12] is not only naïve, but potentially dangerous.

As dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn warned: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds… and it were necessary only to separate them… and destroy them”

[http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049367]. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through every human heart. Overthrowing systems without constructing institutional alternatives often leads to worse forms of oppression.

Andor is a brilliant piece of fiction. But for a post-war nation like Sierra Leone, where the cost of rebellion is measured in blood, trauma and institutional collapse, we cannot afford to mimic the logic of fantasy. We must remain anchored in the wisdom of our Constitution, the lessons of our TRC and the rigorous scrutiny of our audit institutions.

Our struggle is not galactic. It is constitutional. And the true rebellion lies in the quiet, persistent work of making governance accountable for everyone.