The role of women in sustainable development is an equalizer for the world we envision for ourselves and for the world we hope to leave behind for future generations. In other words, a world with complete equality between the genders.

My fellow Sierra Leoneans, it is within our rights to be both suspect and optimistic, to be both critical and approving. In the end, however, it is within our rights and civic responsibility to choose a track that advances the nation’s long-term developmental agenda. Cautiously optimistic we must be, but remember, accountability and transparency are the two-way street upon which we all must walk to achieve the changes we want in Sierra Leone.

The fact that our nation stands at a crossroad doesn’t give us the right to think and act defensively. Statements like it is my tribe against theirs, or it is my political party against theirs saps the nation’s energy for growth and progress. Here at the crossroads, we should apply the grit needed for civility, the willpower to fight for the change, and the purposeful citizenship that promotes inclusive development to serve the collective good of the nation.

To realize Africa’s potential to feed itself, we need not look any further from its arable lands that are now becoming wastelands due to human-made activities, or its promising human capital and a youthful population that is left to languish with little or no education to promote self and community development. This wind must change its cause, and I believe the people of Africa and their leaders have the will-power and the technical know-how to make this work for their countries.

Detangling Africa’s regulatory mess in internal and external affairs requires a clear-cut institutional reform agenda. Undoubtedly so, such a change can only come from African leaders truly wanting this change for their people and for their nation.

Far too long, the people of Sierra Leone have suffered from a crisis of complacency, not of competency. While the latter is emerging and abundant, however, the former has been enshrined, tolerated, and in no small extent celebrated in our developing yet fragile democratic institutions. It is a curse that needs a purge, and a debacle that needs our fair, objective and nonpartisan attention if we are to have a chance at sustainable national development for our beloved nation.

If Africa is to rise, its youth are destined to play an integral role in the formation and sustainability of this rise. For this to happen, they must be given the platform to harness their native and acquired skills for this process to materialize. Undoubtedly so, the values of culture, education, human rights, entrepreneurship, and science must be the mainstays of our societies if we are to achieve these objectives.

I hope that the government of Sierra Leone knows that free education as a stand-alone public good is not the only panacea or remedy to reforming our country’s failing education system. For this common good policy to be both sustainable and successful, however, it must entail a campaign for a shift of mindset in the value of education, quality academic instructions, and a platform that offers equal, accessible opportunities to every sierra Leonean.

As Sierra Leoneans, let us envision that day when the good of the nation ultimately encompasses more than the good of the public figures who rule it. I only hope our next step begins laying the foundation for an entrepreneurial, progressive, and prosperous future—for both the nation and its peoples.

In Sierra Leone, the question of reform is not about who will start the process, but rather, who will empower our youth and allow them to take their rightful place in implementing and sustaining the systematic changes needed in our state of affairs.