Summary: Dr. Saidu Bangura is a professor at the University of Cabo Verde who has founded nonprofit organizations, published works of literature, and moderated podcasts, all with the goal of improving the living conditions of people in his home country of Sierra Leone. Forced to leave Sierra Leone and move to Cabo Verde in 2000 during the rebel war, he has not been able to return. His opinions would have severe consequences were he to move back, but he continues to try to work with Sierra Leonean governments to address issues such as health, education, police-civilian relations, transportation, utilities, and civil rights.

Profile: On the one hand, Dr. Saidu Bangura has led a very successful life: He holds a Ph.D. in Translation, Communication, and Culture with a specialty in English Linguistics. He is an assistant professor of English Studies and the vice president of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts at the University of Cabo Verde. He is the president of the General Assembly of the Platform for African Communities in Cabo Verde. He is a founding member of Grassroots Action for National Development (GRAND), an NGO in Sierra Leone. He has moderated webinars and podcasts, and he has published poems. He also speaks six languages fluently.

On the other hand, Bangura is not as successful as he would like in changing the government of Sierra Leone so it will do better things for its citizens. Bangura is a native of Sierra Leone, but in 2000 the rebel war forced him to move to the Cabo Verde islands off the coast of west Africa. He has been unable to return, even after the end of the war two years later.

The plight of Sierra Leoneans has not improved in the past few decades. Bangura is concerned with road maintenance, health, electricity, education, agriculture, and drug addiction affecting young people, among other issues. He has relentlessly campaigned from Cabo Verde to make changes in Sierra Leonean government policy, but, if anything, the situation seems to worsen. As he wrote in 2022: “ . . . twenty years after the end of the brutal and senseless war in 2002, fueled by ethno-regional divisiveness, bad governance, mismanagement of public funds, a broken health system, a staggering educational system, tribalism, nepotism, ineptitude of state functionaries, police brutality, inflation, collapse of state institutions – are as rife today as in the years prior to the inception of the civil war.” Bangura blames a corrupt government for these issues.

Bangura has appealed to opposition as well as to ruling parties over the years. He feels that he could make more of an impact on issues such as utility supply and health service if he were allowed to express his opinions publicly in Sierra Leone, but that is not possible now. His podcasts have focused on health, decentralization of government, police, and gender conflicts, but he would face severe consequences were he to host those podcasts in his home country.

Nonetheless, Bangura continues with GRAND, his broadcasts, and his publications to bring to light the living conditions of Sierra Leoneans and the excesses of their government.

And as much as he likes Cabo Verde, his dream is one day to return home to Sierra Leone.