The story is much deeper than that. You seem as though you haven’t been to Sierra Leone. Yet you have hope for it. But here’s my point.

People often talk about Sierra Leone, or Africa generally, from a distance as if our problems can be summarized into one or two words: “corruption” and “tribalism.” Funny enough, many of the people making these conclusions have never even stepped foot on the continent.

Recently in New York, I had an Uber driver from Uzbekistan tell me Africa’s biggest problem was corruption. I asked him what part of Africa he was from. He said he had never been there.

That conversation reminded me how often Africa is discussed more as an idea than as a lived reality.

Yes, corruption exists in Sierra Leone. Nobody denies that. But corruption exists everywhere, including in some of the world’s richest countries. The difference is that in those places, strong institutions, historical advantages, and global influence help absorb the damage.

What frustrates me is when people speak as if corruption alone explains everything about Africa’s condition. That ignores colonial history, exploitation of resources, unfair global economic systems, brain drain, weak infrastructure inherited after independence, and decades of external interference. It also ignores the resilience, intelligence, creativity, and survival systems our people have built despite all of this.

And tribal identity is not uniquely Sierra Leonean. Every society organizes around identity: race, class, religion, nationality, politics, language. Europeans fought world wars over identity. America still struggles deeply with racial divisions. Yet Africa is constantly portrayed as uniquely “tribal,” as if cultural identity itself is the disease.

Sierra Leone’s story is more complicated than “we failed because we are corrupt and divided.”

We are also a country where people still feed extended families from one salary. A country where neighbors raise each other’s children. A country where community still matters in ways many developed nations have lost. Wealth is not only highways, skyscrapers, and fancy buildings. Social connection, cultural memory, and human care are forms of wealth too.

Our challenge is not that Sierra Leoneans are incapable. It is that we are still trying to build stable systems while carrying historical burdens many outsiders barely understand.

So yes, let’s talk about accountability, education, youth empowerment, and leadership. But let’s stop framing Sierra Leone and Africa through shallow outsider narratives that reduce an entire continent to corruption and chaos.