Let’s Keep the Fire Burning Until We See the Morning!

By Alpha Amadu Jalloh, Author, Monopoly of Happiness: Unveiling Sierra Leone’s Social Imbalance, and Recipient, Africa Renaissance Leadership Award 2025

Like the lyrics of a soulful song, I find myself asking: What did we do? What crime did we commit, except to ask questions? To speak truth in the face of injustice? To raise our voices against corruption, inequality and abuse of power? For this, we are threatened. For this, trumped-up charges are built to silence us. For this, our families are harassed, our homes watched, and our livelihoods shaken.

We are living in dangerous times. Merely questioning authority is treated like rebellion. Demanding accountability is seen as treason. Standing for what is right is punished more than those who loot, lie and betray the public trust. But we will not be silenced. We will not back down. We must keep on keeping on. We must keep the fire burning until the morning. Until Sierra Leone becomes the peaceful, just and prosperous haven it is meant to be.

Let it be known. We are not afraid. When one of us is arrested, let ten more step forward. When ten are arrested, let one hundred come forward. When one hundred are jailed, let one thousand take their place. Eventually, there will be no more cells to hold us. No more prisons will be enough to contain our collective courage. This is not a call to violence. It is a call to conscience. A call to peaceful, determined resistance. A call to civil disobedience rooted in love for country and hope for a better tomorrow.

We are tired of a nation where the poor are always wrong and the rich are always right. We are tired of a system that punishes the powerless and rewards the powerful. We are tired of elections that do not reflect the will of the people. Courts that serve the political elite. Leaders who govern by fear instead of vision.

But we must remain hopeful. Mama, pray for us. The morning will come. Until then, we must light our candles and keep them burning. Not with hate, but with truth. Not with revenge, but with resilience.

Imagine this. A movement not of violence, but of presence. Thousands of us, silently standing at junctions across the streets of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Kono and Makeni. No chants. No slogans. Just silent witnesses holding placards that say: “We are not giving up.” “We demand justice.” “We want accountability.” “We want a future.” What will they do then? Arrest us all? Beat us all? Threaten us all?

Let the government know. Intimidation does not weaken us. It strengthens us. Each act of repression becomes another log on the fire of resistance. Each injustice only sharpens our commitment to justice.

Our goal is not to destroy. Our goal is to build. To rebuild a nation hijacked by greed. To restore dignity to a people humiliated by corruption. To return power to the people who have for too long been treated like disposable tools.

We are not alone. All around us, from the slums of Kroo Bay to the hills of Hill Station, the fire is burning. In the markets where mothers struggle to sell a few cups of rice. In the classrooms where children study without books. In the health centers where patients die for lack of care. In the hearts of diaspora brothers and sisters watching helplessly from afar. The fire is burning.

This is not a one-day fight. This is a lifelong commitment. Some of us may fall. Some of us may be broken. But the dream cannot die. Our struggle is for our children and our children’s children. It is for that day when no Sierra Leonean is denied justice because of tribe, party, region or status. That day when a schoolgirl in Pujehun, a fisherman in Shenge, a nurse in Kabala and a student in Njala all feel that Sierra Leone belongs to them. Not just to those who sit in high offices.

Until then, we march. We fast. We pray. We speak. We write. We organise. We resist. Let no one deceive you into thinking that change is impossible. Change is slow. Change is painful. But change is coming. It begins with each of us refusing to accept what is wrong, even when it feels risky. It begins with each of us choosing to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.

The morning will come. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next year. But it will come. When it does, we must be ready. Ready with a new generation of leaders who value honesty over hype, service over status, people over politics.

So I say to you reading this. Do not let the fire die. Fan the flame of hope. Keep your head up. Speak your truth. Join hands with others. Let your silence be louder than their noise. Let your conscience be stronger than their threats.

Let us keep the fire burning. Until we see the morning. And may that morning be ours.

Amen. Ameen. So shall it be.