EPISODE 24 – Freetown at the Crossroads: A Mayor’s Courage in a Troubled Time
By Dr Doma
There comes a time in every nation’s story when politics must give way to principle.
Sierra Leone has reached that point.
Across our borders and international headline our country’s name is once again being tied to the global drug trade, from Kush destroying young lives in Freetown, to traffickers caught at our borders and the embarrassing discovery of cocaine in a vehicle linked to our diplomatic mission in Guinea.
Then came the arrest of a Turkish citizen holding a Sierra Leonean diplomatic passport, a scandal that sent shockwaves far beyond our shores.
The damage is not abstract.
It is real, personal and painful.
Ordinary Sierra Leoneans, students, professionals, travelers are now subjected to humiliating scrutiny at airports, questioned and profiled simply because of the passport they carry.
This is more than a crime issue.
It is a crisis of governance, of image and of identity. And in moments like this, the true test of leadership is not who hides behind silence but who stands up and acts.
In this moment of national shame one leader has chosen courage over convenience, the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, OBE.
While many have looked away from the deepening drug crisis, she has spoken up again and again warning of the rising number of Kush-related deaths in her city, calling attention to the devastating social and moral cost. Freetown’s streets, she reminds us are littered with the consequences of neglect.
But Mayor Aki-Sawyerr is not just a messenger of despair; she’s a maker of change.
Through her work with C40 Cities a network of global mayors tackling climate and sustainability challenges she has lifted Freetown’s name into international spaces where real partnerships are built. Her overseas engagements have not been about prestige or politics.
They have been about purpose.
Speaking recently on AYV, she explained how her meetings during the New York Climate Week and the UN General Assembly opened doors that led directly to support for Freetown, the kind that translates into development, not talk.
A clear example of that impact is the Central Business District Regeneration Project, supported by the City of Zurich.
This major initiative, part of the Transform Freetown Transforming Lives plan, aims to reshape the city’s heart, creating safer, cleaner and more vibrant public spaces.
That partnership didn’t happen by luck.
It happened because a leader showed up, spoke truth and earned trust, something rare in today’s politics.
Beyond the international headlines the Mayor’s work has quietly transformed the lives of ordinary Freetownians.
Through innovative waste management programs her administration has turned trash into opportunity, empowering young people and women to build small businesses from recycling and waste collection.
What was once viewed as dirty work is now a source of dignity and income.
This is what leadership looks like not waiting for change but creating it.
The drug trade is not just destroying lives; it’s eroding the soul of the nation.
It threatens our youth our borders and our reputation abroad.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s open warnings about the scale of the Kush crisis are not attacks on anyone; they are a call to conscience. Because when the capital city becomes a graveyard for wasted young lives no political slogan can hide the truth.
We cannot rebuild our image with propaganda.
We must rebuild it with honesty, discipline and moral leadership.
As APC delegates prepare for the choices that will shape their party’s future and by extension, the country, this moment offers a powerful lesson. Leadership is not about position; it is about purpose.
It is not about who shouts loudest but who works hardest when no one is watching.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr’s example shows that transparency, courage and results are not foreign ideas, they are possible right here, in Sierra Leone.
So as you reflect on the path ahead, remember this: our nation’s image our young people’s future and our collective dignity are all bigger than party politics. Because in the end, history won’t remember which delegate voted for whom, it will remember who stood for Sierra Leone when her name was on the line.
