Speaking out: political protest and print cultures in West Africa

Article by:  Stephanie Newell, Dr Marion Wallace

West Africans made powerful use of writing and publishing to oppose colonialism and fight for independence. Since then, authors have not been reluctant to comment on the state of their nations and the world. Stephanie Newell (Yale University) and Marion Wallace (British Library) reflect on these developments.

Literature in West Africa

Authorship in West Africa takes a huge variety of forms. It can mean the work of an oral historian or poet whose compositions are set to music, an Islamic scholar writing or annotating manuscripts in Arabic, or a journalist, a novelist or a blogger. The common thread is that, whether oral or written, performed or printed, West African literatures tend to be dynamic and socially responsive as well as creative and inventive.

Postcard showing griot (musician and story-teller), c. 1904

This postcard shows a photograph taken by Edmond Fortier, a French photographer, in Senegal. 

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Free from known copyright restrictions 

Copyright: © Daniela Moreau (for digital image)

Speaking out through print

West African authors have used the medium of print not only to describe the world, but to participate in it. On the coast of West Africa, an African elite started to produce printed books and newspapers in European and African languages in the middle of the 19th century. They built on technologies and innovations brought by Christian missionaries – Western education, the printing press, the roman script (now used to write many African languages) and European languages, especially English. They wrote on a whole variety of subjects, from politics to medicine, history and geography, with varying degrees of radicalism.

Sawyerr's bookselling, printing, and stationery trade circular

This newspaper was published by T.J. Sawyerr, who from the 1880s ran the only African-owned bookshop in British West Africa.

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Free from known copyright restrictions 

Opposing colonial rule 

Colonial rule came to West Africa over several centuries, but it was at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 that Britain, France, Germany and Portugal cemented their rule over the region. Germany lost its colonies after the First World War and by 1922, Britain had possession of what is now Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and part of Cameroon. Portugal held Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, and France occupied the remaining territories, including Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Senegal. The only country in the region to retain its independence was Liberia, which dates back to 1820, when freed slaves emigrated there from North America; it declared independence in 1847.

Map of West Africa in 1922

At the Berlin Conference of 1884–5 Britain, France, Germany and Portugal divided most of West Africa among themselves.

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Copyright: © British Library

It was against this background of European intervention and colonial rule that West African authors used their writings to speak out against enslavement and for racial equality. They argued against colonial stereotypes of Africans as ‘primitive’, ‘savage’ and lacking distinctive cultural and political systems of their own. These authors included the leading pan-African thinker Edward W. Blyden (1832–1912), who insisted that ‘[n]o nation or race has a monopoly of the channels which lead to the sources of divine grace or spiritual knowledge’.i Blyden, originally from the Caribbean, emigrated to Liberia in 1850 and later moved to Sierra Leone.

Edward Blyden, Christianity, Islam and the Negro race

One of the major works of Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832–1912), a pioneer of Pan-Africanist ideas.

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In 1911, the Ghanaian writer, journalist, lawyer and politician Joseph E. Casely-Hayford (1866–1930) published his novel Ethiopia unbound: studies in race emancipation. The book portrays the life of a highly educated intellectual, Kwamankra, who probes European religious and legal questions from the standpoint of African spiritual systems. He celebrates the subtlety and humanity of African society, which he contrasts with the European racist belief systems that underpinned colonialism. Authors such as Blyden and Casely-Hayford insisted that all humans are complex and culturally located, and that all societies have rich histories and traditions.

Early women writers

Most of the writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries were men, but a small number of women stood out as published authors and as activists. The earliest major female campaigner and writer to emerge was Adelaide Casely-Hayford, née Smith (1868–1960), an educator, feminist, cultural nationalist and writer who spent most of her life in Sierra Leone. She was ahead of her time in promoting female education, founding a girls’ school in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Adelaide Casely-Hayford

Adelaide Casely-Hayford (1868–1960), née Smith, educator, feminist, cultural nationalist and writer from Sierra Leone.

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Copyright: © The Hunter family

Her daughter (with her husband J.E. Casely-Hayford), Gladys May Casely-Hayford (1904–1950), was a talented modernist poet. As one of the first writers to break away from Standard English in her poetry, she experimented with the syntax of Sierra Leonean Creole and successfully captured the nuanced voices of non-elite Africans in Freetown in her collection of poetry, Take ’Um So, published in 1948.

Another outstanding woman was Mabel Dove (Danquah), the only African woman to work as a journalist in Ghana in the 1930s. In 1954 she also became the first African woman to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ghana. 

Dove wrote mainly for the Times of West Africa, where in 1934 she published a bitingly comic satire of George Bernard Shaw’s The adventures of the black girl in her search for God (1932), which was an attack on colonialism and mission. Dove called her version The adventures of the black girl in her search for Mr Shaw. In it, she mocks Shaw’s ‘black girl’ as ‘a very old type long gone out of date’. Dove herself creates a heroine who is a brilliantly sharp-witted ‘modern black girl’, and describes her encounters with racist colonial men, patronising white missionaries and supercilious European women.

Independence

The leaders of the generation who brought their countries to independence from the 1950s were influenced by similar thinking, although many moved in a more radical direction. The first president of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), stated that imperialism and colonialism were ‘unspeakably inhuman’.ii  ‘We affirm the right of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny’, he declared in a resolution adopted by the Pan-African Congress held in Manchester in October 1945.iii  

In 1957, Ghana became the first of Africa’s colonies to achieve independence in the 20th century. Guinea followed a year later. Most of West Africa became free of colonial rule in 1960, with the independence of France’s other West African colonies as well as Nigeria. Sierra Leone followed in 1961, and The Gambia in 1965. Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde were the last, in 1974 and 1975 respectively.

In many of these countries, independence campaigns were led by nationalist leaders with charismatic personalities and great intellectual ability. In touch with international Pan-Africanist, and in some cases Marxist, networks, they were able to frame ideas of equality, nationalism and Pan-Africanism in a way that both reached the masses and resonated at home and abroad. They published their ideas in newspapers, which were hugely important in communicating political messages, in books, and in short pamphlets, which were easily affordable. 

How Dr. Nkrumah conquered colonialism

This pamphlet celebrates the influence of Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72), Ghana’s first president.

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We have been unable to locate the copyright holder for . Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.

The Nigerian nationalist and first president Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996), for example, used his popular newspapers – including the African Morning Post in Accra, Ghana, and the West African Pilot in Lagos, Nigeria – to expose the unacceptable principles on which imperialism was built.

The first president of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), was an internationally acclaimed poet and one of the co-founders of the Negritude movement. This originated in 1930s Paris and aimed, through the arts, to reclaim Black identity, history and culture, oppose colonialism and assert racial equality.

Printed cloth showing President Senghor of Senegal

This printed cloth marks 15 years of Senegal’s independence in 1975.

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Writing and comment after independence

In the period after independence, writers and other commentators including musicians like Fela Kuti have responded to, and shaped, times often troubled by civil war, dictatorship, poverty and corruption. They have also reflected on the damage wrought by colonialism and the hopes brought by independence. 

This creativity has taken many forms in different times and places. The Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War) of 1967–70 is one example of an event which led to an outpouring of fiction and poetry. The war broke out when Nigeria’s south-eastern region broke away, as the Republic of Biafra, following a period of political instability and violence. The war caused an estimated 1.5 million deaths and ended with the defeat of Biafra. 

Among the dead was the poet Christopher Okigbo, a highly regarded modernist poet who joined the Biafran army at the outbreak of the war and was killed in action three months later. Others lived to produce literature ‘out of an experience red-hot with the memories and physical wounds of a most excruciating civil war’.iv  They adopted a variety of standpoints, some, like Flora Nwapa, concentrating on the violence and damage of war, others taking a position for or against Biafran independence.

Letter by Ken Saro-Wiwa

The execution by the Nigerian government of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995 shocked the world. This letter to his son was written from prison after his arrest.

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Copyright: © Ken Saro-Wiwa Jnr

Among Biafra’s supporters was Chinua Achebe. Those who opposed it included Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose novel on the theme, Sozaboy, deals with the experience of a minority ethnic group in Biafra. Saro-Wiwa was both a novelist and a campaigner against the devastating environmental effects of oil extraction in the Niger Delta region. In 1995, to international outrage, he was executed for alleged murder.

Writers, performers and musicians continue to engage with society, to demand rights and freedom and to reflect on political questions. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2015, Angélique Kidjo, a singer and activist from Benin, said, ‘What I want to tell [world leaders] is…the world we’re living in won’t be sustainable if we don’t share its wealth more equally. And we have to work at this every day, every hour, every minute. Each of us with our own voice.’

i E. W. Blyden, West Africa before Europe and other addresses delivered in England in 1901 and 1903 (London: C.M. Phillips, 1905), p. 132.

ii Kwame Nkrumah, Towards colonial freedom: Africa in the struggle against world imperialism (London: Heinemann, 1962), p. x. This pamphlet was written in 1942 but iii Nkrumah could not find a publisher willing to print it for another twenty years. Nkrumah, Towards Colonial Freedom, p. 44.

iv Emmanuel Obiechina, ‘Foreword’, in Chinua Achebe, Arthur Nwankwo, Samuel Ifejika, Flora Nwapa et al., The insider: stories of war and peace from Nigeria (Enugu: Nwankwo-Ifejika and Co., 1971), p. vi.

• Written by  Stephanie Newell

• Stephanie Newell, Ph.D., is Professor of English at Yale University, USA. Her research focuses on the public sphere in colonial West Africa and issues of gender, sexuality, and power as articulated through popular print cultures, including newspapers, pamphlets, posters, and magazines. She studies how local intellectuals debated moral and political issues through the medium of print. She is interested in the cultural histories of printing and reading in Africa, and the spaces for local creativity and subversive resistance in colonial-era newspapers. Her research project, “The Cultural Politics of Dirt in Africa, 1880-present,” positions these interests in an interdisciplinary and comparative historical perspective, and includes the study of popular discourses about dirt in Nairobi and Lagos in relation to changing ideas about taste and disgust, sexuality, multiculturalism, and urbanisation.

• and Dr Marion Wallace

• Dr Marion Wallace is Lead Curator, African Collections at the British Library. In 2015, she co-curated the British Library’s major exhibition ‘West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song’. Her research interests centre on the history of Namibia, and she has also written on subjects including West African history and the impact of the digital revolution on African Studies. She was Chair of SCOLMA (the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa) 2011–2014.

See also

Other Related Articles

• Building West Africa
• How word, symbol and song shaped history
• Crossings: African writers in the era of the transatlantic slave trade

Related Teaching Resources

• Introduction to West Africa through primary sources 
• Language systems: words, symbols, objects, and pictures
• Word, symbol and song: reading the image
• Key historical events that shape the circulation of cultural art forms between the diaspora and the wider world
• Who tells the story? West African writers and voices of protest
• Stories of the past to shape the present

• West Africa
• Articles

- See more at: http://www.bl.uk/west-africa/articles/speaking-out-political-protest-and-print-cultures-in-west-africa#sthash.QEbHGEBk.dpuf

BLACK HISTORY: BLACK LOYALISTS IN 18th CENTURY LONDON

Brief history of Black Loyalist [Slaves] who fought for Briton in the US Civil War  and their links with Sierra Leone. (344 freed blacks sailed to Sierra Leone in the Ship "MYRO" in 1787.

{Courtesy:  Mzuri Semra Silva; feeling the truth with Maria Miffy Smith- Facebook post - Tagged to me by Israel L Parper}

It was during the War of Independence in the colony of America that Britain gained herself these unlikely allies. Black loyalists fought for Britain against the American colonists. Free blacks were joined by thousands of slaves who had been promised freedom and land by Britain if they joined in this battle. The idea of British freedom, i.e. complete freedom in the shortest possible time, was appealing to the escaped Africans who in the 1770s made their way to the British army position to fight for Britain and for freedom.

In September 1783, the independence of the United States and the formation of its boundaries were formally recognised. The new country was founded by an egalitarian movement and based on the philosophy of ‘equal rights’ for all.  After this treaty had been signed, the whole British faction had to leave the United States. In the eight months between April and November 1783, over 3,000 black people leaving the country on British ships for destinations as varied as Nova Scotia, the West Indies, England, Germany, Quebec or Belgium, were recorded in the Book of Negroes .

Black Loyalists in 18th Century London

London had a severe poverty problem in the 18th century. This became more pronounced as growing numbers of African-American loyalists arriving from America ended up living on the streets. The black and white loyalists had all been promised compensation for their losses in the War of Independence, however, the majority of claims from the black loyalists were denied or they were given derisory amounts condemning them to lives of destitution. The Parliamentary Commission Compensation Board reviewing the claims stated, on several occasions, that they believed the black claimants were being deceptive in claiming they were free men with property and should adopt a state of gratitude that they were now at liberty rather than pursue applications for financial assistance. In 1786 there were over 1,000 black loyalists living in London. As the negative sentiment regarding the presence of Africans in England increased there were suggestions of where to relocate these black people; the main areas proposed where the Bahamas, where other loyalists had moved to or Sierra Leone, on the West African coast.

The following year around 200 of this impoverished group migrated to Sierra Leone with government assistance; the government wanted to remove the problem of black poverty and the presence of large groups of free black people from the streets of England. There were 344 poor black people on the ship Myro that sailed from London in 1787.  The plan was to move the burden of the ‘troublesome’ black person from the attention of the public, forever . This was an indication of the racially nationalist philosophy that was to perpetuate the abolitionist movement.

Further reading and research

The Book of Negroes – that listed all the Black Loyalists evacuated from America – can be found in the archives at Kew (Public Records Office).

There is also a copy available online here

The National Archives contain records, that can only be viewed in the reading room, about the Committee for the Relief of Poor Blacks and their emigration to Sierra Leone; this covers the details of events between May 1786 to April 1787.

This article was contributed by Marjorie Morgan.Writer, Researcher. © 2013 | Blackpresence has special permission to publish this article.

Related Link: Black Loyalists

http://www.blackpresence.co.uk/category/black-history/black-britain/

HOME EDUCATION: Sierra Leone-Fourah Bay College - 2!

The “THE TEARS OF FOURAH BAY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE”

BY: DR. DENIS M SANDY 

        {Courtesy: Sierra Leone Matters

            (sierraleonematters.co.uk)}

“The – Great Fourah Bay College, Citadel of Learning, Athens of West Africa and Centre of Academic Excellence, Beacon of Light of Education in Africa, Pride of Sierra Leone , etc, …”- this was how FBC was referred to in the greater part of the 20th Century. Yes, we were so proud of “our” FBC that the mere mention of its name and “us” being students were enough to instill fear in others and make them bow.

Unfortunately, the current FBC is totally different and the tears flowing from its eyes are asking just a single question- why? This is because FBC has not been given the attention it deserves in recent times and of the 3 constituent colleges of the University of Sierra Leone, FBC (including its environs) is on a life support machine, and it has been in such a state for almost 6 years now.

The entire infrastructure is completely decrepit – you name them – the buildings are completely dilapidated with no renovations for a long time now; the library is a mini pool during the raining season; the tiles in the EJ Hall (newly constructed few years ago) and Chemistry building (another floor has been recently added to the original building) have resurrected; the physics theatre and the engineering department are in a state of paralysis. To compound these ugly scenes, FBC is the only college in the world where a college is not a college, for there have been no accommodation facilities for students over the past 5 years.

The “Great” Blocks of A, C, G, E, M, H and J and the beautiful Lati Hyde and Beethoven have completely deteriorated. Scrambling for chairs and tables amongst students; and clamouring for lecture halls amongst lecturers have now become a norm at FBC – one reason being the increase in the student population over time has not equaled the available infrastructure which have almost remained constant. This mismatch has created tension between students and lecturers on one hand; and friction between lecturers and the Administration on the other.

Summing these problems is the deplorable state of the road from Lower Faculty, on campus as far as The Great Kennedy Building; and going towards Kortrght as far as that deep curve (immediately after the Principal’s residence at Kortright to where Prof Joe AD Alie is now staying). Talk to the students, lecturers and the Administration on why this sad state of affairs and you will hear a compendium of excuses/reasons. Without prejudice to any of these players/stakeholders, a summary has been provided below – lack of vision of the Administration, neglect by the government as current and past budgets over the years have not captured any rehabilitation component for FBC, no established research fund to spur Research and Innovation, inadequate “lecturing and understanding” materials, investment by the Administration not in tandem with the priorities of the college, (in)competent lecturers, ASA not getting the required support from colleague lecturers, lack of coordination between the Administration and the government, lack of trust between the lecturers and the Administration, lazy and dishonest students who want to have good degrees without deserving them and have made exams malpractices their specialties; etc, etc.

What has however seriously exacerbated the situation at FBC is this over reliance on BADEA to give a facelift to the entire college. In simple terms, BADEA is supposed to be the principal financier to transform the entire FBC (from hostels to lecture halls) but the project is yet to commence. Five years now down the road, nothing is happening in terms of rehabilitation and the paradigm around campus for a very long time now is “we are waiting on BADEA”. This BADEA project is a classic example of how donor dependency has hindered the implementation of projects in most Developing Countries and by extension making a whole generation to suffer.

So many students have started their studies at FBC without any hostel facility and have eventually graduated without any. For those students coming from the rural areas, you can now imagine the difficulties they are going through. It’s really a shame that too much emphasis has been placed on BADEA when the government has the resources to transform FBC – after all, education is one of the pillars of the Post Ebola Recovery Strategy. The writer strongly believes that FBC’s rehabilitation can be undertaken without BADEA. Exploring PPP is one route; the role of the Alumni Associations all over the world could be another; donations from philanthropists in the country and individuals are surest routes (for example, Hedge Fund Mogul Paulson donated US $ 400 M to Harvard University in America few months ago and this is why such universities are flourishing – so there are people here who can also do similar thing). This is because if these same people and MDAs made significant donations to His Excellency, the President at State House during the Ebola crisis, then they can also do the same for FBC.

What is more, even the lecturers are willing to contribute Le 200,000 of their salaries every month towards the rehabilitation of one of the buildings (preferable Arts Building) but should be given the authority to control the management of the funds and the eventual awarding of the contract. This should tell the reader the extent to which FBC has deteriorated and the displeasure of most lecturers to see how best the situation could be salvaged. The government can demonstrate its commitment towards FBC rehabilitation by first reconstructing the deplorable road through and on campus. This track is not even a mile long and as a Development Economist and Project Planner, US $ 300,000 can do the trick – I bet my last dollar.

To justify this, FBC has now become a thoroughfare as government and private vehicles are plying this route towards Gloucester, Leicester, Hill Station, Southridge, Regent and even Lumley. Hence, the once peaceful and tranquil FBC especially on a Sunday has been lost. The deplorable condition of the road with so many potholes has further dented the image of this once “adored” college. His Excellency, the President is the “Champion of Infrastructural Development” in the country and so, FBC should not be left out in this drive. An Executive Directive to the Deputy Minister of Works is all that is required for the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) through the Roads Maintenance Fund to turn FBC into a works yard. When that happens, FBC will start the next academic year with a bang. So if BADEA cannot start now, let the road reconstruction at least commence now.

As for the encroachment on FBC land, that is going to be an interesting piece soon
To summarize the discussion, the current priorities/demands of FBC are as follows –
1) Let the government rehabilitate the college road immediately after the bridge through Lower Faculty, on campus and as far as Kennedy Building; and through campus as far as Professor Alie’s residence.
2) Let adequate “lecturing and understanding” materials and equipment be procured/provided before the commencement of the 2015/16 AY.
3) Let other avenues be explored for the transformation of FBC and government can take the lead in this by allocating 0.6% of the country’s GDP. We should not wait for BADEA any longer.

Until these happen, pray that the Obituary of FBC is not announced because the tears flowing from its face resembles a (wo)man lying on h(er)/is death bed and saying h(er)/is last wishes with tears rolling down.

 

About the Author:

Dr. Sandi is a lecturer at the Department of Economics and Commerce at Fourah Bay College.

COMMENTS- (Facebook)

Francis Amara

Hopefully, an alumnus from FBC (possibly from the diaspora) may want to embrace a leadership role to initiate RENEWAL of the college. As a Sierra Leonean academic ( didn't attend  FBC/Njala University College), I am ready to help an emerging leader willing to take on this role. It is really easy, some one needs to START! All the best of luck

Syl Juxon Smith

I CANNOT UNDER THIS FOURAH BAY COLLEGE QUAGMIRE STATE OF AFFAIRS. These are the kind of institution NASSIT or Sierra Leone Commercial Bank must take responsibility to take over, refinanced, refurbished, partially managed until such a period of time when the management can be stabilized. This is a national priority that has become already a national disgrace.........! 

Syl Juxon Smith

IF "NASSIT" CAN BUILD HOUSES AND SHOPPING MALLS, REHABILITATE HOTELS WHY NOT A NATIONAL PRIORITY SUCH AS THE FIRST UNIVERSITY IN AFRICA - FOURAH BAY COLLEGE.........? Why cant it take it up as well just like all the other projects it has already invested in that are still to yield any dividend..............!

Francis Amara

FBC is only going to be saved by its alumni.........This is the  hard truth! This is the case for all universities, even in Canada or the USA! Waiting for government or financial institutions to  infuse extra funds into universities can be long overdue.   I still hope a brave and courageous alumnus will step forward to start the ball rolling. It takes only a small stone to start a ripple! I cannot believe and accept the notion that, at least, there is no former graduate from FBC that can take up this challenge. Hopefully, someone can prove me right!

Peter Dumbuya

I lectured in the Law Department during the 2013/14 academic year, and so can attest to what Dr. Sandy has written about the deplorable conditions at FBC. Where's the Chancellor in all of this mess that goes on at FBC? I attended the University's first funding conference in 2014 and the Minister of Finance made it abundantly clear that the USL has to come up with a funding plan, which the Universities Act of 2005 provides for. I am willing and able to join our many compatriots at home and abroad, as Dr. Sandy has suggested, to rebuild FBC. It's our moral obligation to do what is right for our students and country!

http://sierraleonematters.co.uk/the-tears-of-fourah-bay-college-university-of-sierra-leone/

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Milton Margai -(Athens Of West Africa- Facebook post)

The Tears of #FBC, University of #SierraLeone

"What is more, even the lecturers are willing to contribute Le 200,000 of their salaries every month towards the rehabilitation of one of the buildings (preferable Arts Building) but should be given the authority to control the management of the funds and the eventual awarding of the contract. This should tell the reader the extent to which FBC has deteriorated and the displeasure of most lecturers to see how best the situation could be salvaged."

Comments

Abdul Barrie

Pls pls pls Messers Chancellor of the U S L and Minister of Education, dont wait to be told directly that this institution is the most precious jewel our nation can pass to future generations. Its a symbol of freedom and power! We all must jealously up-keep this institution n with utmost reverence! The state of the  U SL  reflects, in a way, the future of the Nation. Cant go further coz am drowning in tears!!!!! Y ? Y? Y?

Blanshard Meheu

Museums are managers of consciousness, they give us an interpretation  of history, of how to view the world and locate ourselves in it. They are, if you want to put it in positive terms, great educational institutions.  In Sierra Leone today, thought is subversive, destructive and terrible. It is merciless to established historical institutions, and comfortable habit. It has devoured the essence of glory, leaving the carcass of prestige to blind the eyes of bewildered onlookers.

PRINCIPAL A J LASITE - 30 Years Head Of Sierra Leone Grammar School.

Mr. Lasite, 30 years at the helm of THE school in Sierra Leone

By Vickie Remoe - November 21, 2015 2 697 

{Courtesy: SwitSalone}

    Principal Akinwande Josia Lasite

For the last 45 years Mr. Akinwande Lasite has served at Sierra Leone’s oldest learning institution, the Grammar School, where he has been principal for the last 3 decades. The Sierra Leone Grammar School was the first secondary educational institution for West Africans with a European curriculum when it was opened in 1845. In this candid and rare interview with Switsalone’s Augustine Kargbo, Mr Lasite talks about his leadership skills, the one, yes one student he admires the most in recent times, and tips for academic success at any institution. How does this fourth generation Regentionian thinks he will be most remembered by his students? What does he find most difficult about his job? Which one of the accomplishments under his tenure is he most proud? All this and more below. 

The Interview:

*Interview Recorded & Transcribed – Pls indicate any typos*.

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Switsalone 

Full name, Age, period of time working as principal? 

Mr. Lasite 

I am Mr. Akinwande Lasite principal Sierra Leone Grammar School; I have served in this school since 1970 and became principal of this school in 1985 and I am 68 years old. 

 Switsalone 

Tell us why you are interested in this school? 

 Mr. Lasite 

There are couple of reasons why I am very much interested in my alma mater Sierra Leone Grammar School, I have family connections. My grandfather attended this school and taught in this school, my father attended this school. I have uncles who attended this school, all my brothers attended this school, so there is that family link with the school. Apart from that I’m an Anglican and the school is the property of the Bishop of the Anglican Church.

 Switsalone 

Tell us what it takes to be the principal of a school of excellence over the past years? What are the strategies implemented. 

Mr. Lasite 

Well it is not easy. There are challenges here and there, but there are also opportunities. What we have done over the years is to collaborate with different groups of people. Our prime partners are the Old Boys locally and oversees. We involve them as much as we can in school development planning and implementation. We also have our teachers. Although they may change from time to time we try to establish a strong cohesive work force, collaborating both in attitude and outlook. Then we have our parents. Again the complexion changes, but I must say we have maintained very good relations with our parents over the years. They have confidence in the school and they think they can send their children to this school for what we consider to be quality education. We should not forget the pupils because they are vital in the success of the school. They are the raw materials in fact with which we work so that we have a well finished product that will serve the country and humanity as a whole.

 Switsalone 

What accomplishment are you most proud of? 

Mr. Lasite 

Well, that is a difficult question. When one has served as a principal for 30 years there must I may presume be a number of accomplishments that one may look into. I am thankful to God. I may say our main accomplishment is the recovery of our school land. There was a time in the early 80s when people were building on the school land. Now I have almost acquired every inch of our schoolyard apart from the areas we have by the buildings and the school field. The Judicial System as a whole, the Police Force, were all involved. In the end the involvement of the Sierra Leone Police in reclaiming the land and evicting the encroachers was very important. I consider that as important because it restored the heritage of our school. 

Switsalone 

What is the hardest decision you have had to make in your career? 

Mr. Lasite 

I think that would involve a pupil, when one may at times take a difficult decision telling a pupil he is no longer required in the school. We think our pupils love the school and so when a pupil has contravened school regulations to the extent that one makes that kind of decision and the pupil has to be informed about it, apart from the fact that a letter may be written but verbal information has to be given. That can be a very difficult thing but as a Head over the years one has picked up some cancelling skills one may use to transmit that sort of difficult decision. 

Switsalone 

What are the three critical things you would do in a school to accelerate school growth and ensure that every child is learning?

 

 Mr. Lasite 

Well, this must be the employment of qualified teachers because they are the ones who will transmit knowledge to the pupils in the classroom setting. As a principal one should always know what is happening in the classroom so there is need for monitoring and that will tell whether the teachers are going regularly to their classes and also delivering quality lessons. The third would be to encourage the pupils themselves to treat their work seriously and that is what we do on a regular basis. When a pupil is about to join this school we normally have a meeting with the parents and the pupil. One of the first things we say is nothing comes easy at the Sierra Leone Grammar School you have to work hard. If you were influenced in coming to the Sierra Leone Grammar School because you know of Regentonians who seem to have succeeded in life and said as I go my future is certain you would be mistaken. You have to work hard and that is what we regularly impress on our pupils, that they should be active participants in the teaching and learning process.

 Switsalone 

Tell us about one student in your career that stands out in your mind. Why does this student stand out? 

Mr. Lasite 

Well, again for 30 years one has been dealing with thousands of pupils. I cannot say all of them have exceled but one has to think, but a fair number, and I’m sure if others have to see this interview, they would say Mr. Lasite didn’t select me but you have narrowed it down to just one individual. It is difficult really to make such a decision but one person I can think of is someone who left the school not so long ago, Abdul Njai who is now a medical student at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. This was an all-rounder in the sense that he performed in various subjects. He was very very good but he would also go out to link up with his colleagues for them to study together and I’m sure what he lacked he gained from some of them and what they lacked he passed on to them. That is what I admired in him, that he didn’t keep everything to himself literally he was willing to share. Of the numerous pupils who gone through my hands this is someone I can identify as a pupil whom I related well with and whose general attitude and outlook look impressed me.

 Switsalone 

Tell us about a time when you implemented a new strategy. What was the strategy? The actions you took and the results? Why did you think the strategy was the best solution? How did the strategy align to standards? How was it differentiated to meet the needs of all students, across grade levels? What happened with the strategy? 

Mr. Lasite 

The question you have asked goes right through my age. I can not think of the number of things but probably one could focus on the change of status. Our school was founded in 1845 and it remained and independent, self-supporting school until the early 1940s when it became a Government assisted school. However, sometime in the early 1990s the desire developed among the school authority including myself that probably we should go on to another level. We thought that becoming a self-supported school was vital for the school’s survival and so the idea of the change of status of the school from a government assisted school to a private school began to develop. It took us quite some time before that was finally achieved in 2007. That could alone be possible because of the collaboration that one was able to achieve between the different stakeholders. Some of us were really afraid of the change; will we be able to make it? Will we be able to finance the school operations on our own? We convinced the doubters that we could do it, and they gave us that push that support to go ahead. I may say since 2007 we have been performing to their satisfaction and our performance in the area of academic work and other areas have shown the community at large that we are making strides at the Grammar School. No one can say that the strategy or that change has not been successful although more work still has to be done in that area. And then when we look at the new building one can see it as an outgrowth from that change of status because that gave us the zeal to put up a structure that will convey to the public that our school was moving forward.  

  Switsalone 

Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a difficult situation with a student. Please tell us the situation, the actions you took and result? 

Mr. Lasite 

Our pupils are human beings and they are dealing with teachers who are also human beings, so at times there can be friction. So you will have a situation where a pupil comes and reports a teacher and one has to give a listening ear. A student came to the office in tears, it was something relating to his marks, he felt he had not been fairly treated in terms of his marks in which he could have had more. One has to look at the issue, look at the test, look at the answers marked by the teacher. I even invited the teacher in for discussions, but the teacher clearly pointed out how the marks were awarded and so on. So we pass the information to the pupil that even though at first glance it will seem as if he merited more than he finally received, that when goes to the bottom of it one will see that he had been fairly treated. One also tried to encourage the pupil to corporate with the teacher, and I must say it seems as if both of them were willing to work together because by the time the pupil left the school eventually I think he was on very good terms with the teacher. 

Switsalone 

Tell us how the Teachers in your school work together and collaborate? 

Mr. Lasite 

In the first place it is not easy because the complexion of the staff changes almost on an annual basis. Right now we have an advert out for new teachers, we will be recruiting in January 2016. What we try to impress on our teachers when they join the staff is that however qualified you may be or experienced you may be when you come into the Sierra Leone Grammar School, you have to relate with others particularly the subject heads and the heads of department because they give direction as to how topics are to be taught and how we relate with each other. So that is the first step. We have what we call an orientation program for our teachers when they are recruited to give them the idea that they should corporate with others and even in non-academic areas we try to encourage that kind of corporation in our houses, clubs and societies, in every activity we are engaged in. We emphasize the point that team work is what can guarantee us success in the end and when we are successful everyone becomes happy. 

Switsalone 

If you were given another job, will you leave your school for that job? 

Mr. Lasite 

Having spent forty-five (45) years in the school I am very much doubtful whether another job will be so attractive as to move me away from the Sierra Leone Grammar School. Particularly so in my late 60s I think my years of active involvement in employment may be coming to an end it will be really difficult I must say. There have been one or two offers but things in the Grammar School have kept me away in the sense that one always has another project, another lesson to accomplish and will try to move on to that. So I don’t see myself really moving into another job, probably after I retire I may look at opportunities that may come my way probably as a consultant or in an advisory capacity that kind of thing. 

Switsalone 

What would be your advice to fellow principals on how to run a school? 

Mr. Lasite 

Right. I think there is a lot one has to learn because as a principal you don’t know everything but you are expected to lead from the front. In the first place you should know the basic principles of education. You should know the situation of your school in terms of the environment, the community itself, the resources it has; humans as well as materials. You should have a vision for taking your school forward, you should be able to work with others in moving your school. At times some individuals say Sierra Leone Grammar School is a class A school and I tell them I have never seen such a list of class A schools, or class B schools, or class M schools in Sierra Leone. Even where you may be if you set your mind on a project focus on it, work with others to make some impact in the school in that area you will see things opening for you in the sense that you will gain confidence from that initial success and that will enable you to go further and higher in your vision and accomplishment for your school. You must be involved in the school. You cannot be a part time principal having so many other external activities. I am in this school every day as best as I can. I attend assembly every day and almost every day I speak to the pupils to the extent that if immediately after our devotion we announce the national anthem its a surprise to them because they will say Mr. Lasite has nothing to say today, because there is always something to say either locally or internationally. One listens to current affairs or one gets involved in current affairs and one hears about the latest developments which some of the pupils will not have heard, one can mention those things in order to encourage them that if they continue to work they can have success in the future.

 Switsalone 

If you were to be moved from Sierra Leone Grammar School to another School which School would you have in mind? 

Mr. Lasite 

Oh that one is very strange because I don’t see myself moving from the Sierra Leone Grammar School to another school that’s the first thing, but you have put me in a very difficult situation. I suppose one is looking locally and thinking which of the schools in Sierra Leone one wants to be associated with. I don’t know probably one of the schools with similar ideals like the ones we have here. So I will probably be looking for another school with a missionary link like Bishop Johnson because it also has the Anglican diocese of Freetown as its proprietor or probably the Annie Walsh, but probably more towards the Bishop Johnson since I started my secondary school career at the site now occupied by Bishop Johnson. I have been involved in a single sex school since my teaching life, Bishop Johnson is a co-head, Annie Walsh is a single sex female school. I may not probably be able to fit in as easily there as I might be with Bishop Johnson but I think those are the things that may determine that kind of decision if it has to be taken. 

  Switsalone 

At the end of your career, what do you think your students would say about you as a leader? 

Mr. Lasite 

They are the ones who will decide but I think one of the things the pupils seem to admire from one generation to another is the fact that I can recognize them physically and by name, a good number of them. There was a time in this school I will proudly say I could identify 95% of all pupils; by name, class, probably even place of residence. I’m not quite sure I’m still capable of that, probably the percentage has dropped considerably but I think that is the thing they might recall about Mr. Lasite. 

End of interview 

Please feel free to leave your most memable Lasite moments and encounters below and feel free to recommend other Sierra Leonean persons of interest we should profile on our People section.

[Thanks to SwitSalone for this profile & interview of one of the longest serving Head of a Secondary School in the history of Sierra Leone]

Read more at: http://www.switsalone.com/23412_mr-lasite-30-years-at-the-helm-of-the-school-in-sierra-leone/ | Sierra Leone News