Orders of the Day — Sierra Leone Independence Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 March 1961.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lieut-Colonel John Cordeaux Lieut-Colonel John Cordeaux , Nottingham Central 12:00, 22 March 1961

It would be a pity if all the hon. Members who have spoken from both sides of the House in this debate were to have avoided, as it has perhaps so far seemed almost ostentatiously, following up the main part of the speech of the hon. Member for Bilston (Mr. R. Edwards). Therefore, although I do not want to go into the matter deeply, because I have no doubt that it will be dealt with by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State when he replies to the debate, having met Mr. Stevens on two occasions when I was recently out in Sierra Leone and on one occasion recently in this country, I should like to say that it certainly is tragic that the events described by the hon. Member for Bilston should have come to our notice on the very day that we are taking the Second Reading of this Bill, which in the ordinary way should be an entirely happy occasion unmarked by any tragedy of this nature.

I shall be brief, not because I feel that this debate on such an important subject should be cut down to make way for a full five hours on the troubles in South Africa but because, as I am the last speaker to be called before my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary sums up the debate, most of the points that could be made have already been made by others.

I certainly do not want to repeat them, but out of gratitude alone I should like to say something because I was, as has been mentioned, a member of the delegation to Sierra Leone three months ago which was led, if I may say so, with such charm of manner and with such ability by the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough, East (Mr. Marquand). The tremendous kindness that we received from everybody there, from Sir Milton Margai, the Prime Minister, down to the ordinary villagers in the most distant villages of the Protectorate, is a memory I shall treasure for a long time.

Hon. Members have very differing views about the value of that type of visit. Many hon. Members think that all such Parliamentary delegations are a complete waste of time and money, and have some extremely acid comments to make about people who come back after visiting for about ten days some part of the world that they have never seen before, and then set themselves up as experts on the country concerned. There are others, of whom I am one, who think that there is inestimable value to be obtained from such visits, and that the more of them that can be paid by hon. Members the better.

The principal impression that I obtained from my visit to Sierra Leone was of the remarkable harmony and sense of partnership with which two different races, our own people and those of Sierra Leone, were working together for the good of the country and its advancement towards independence.

Only one controversial point came up during the Constitutional Conference last April, and it has not so far been referred to in this debate. I speak of the defence agreement that it was decided should be negotiated between ourselves and Sierra Leone after independence had been granted. That part of the agreement was challenged by the newly-forming Opposition under Mr. Stevens and Mr. Wallace Johnson, and it has also been commented on adversely to me by some people from Sierra Leone whom I have recently met in this country.

A lot of them see in the defence agreement a sort of hangover of colonialism on our part. It is true that such an agreement with Sierra Leone would be of use to us. Anyone who can remember the vast conveys assembling during the last war in that magnificent harbour at Freetown will hardly challenge that. But whereas such an agreement may be useful to us, I think that it is of far greater potential value to the people of Sierra Leone.

Some of them have asked me, "What do we get out of that, except a certain amount of embarrassment? Who on earth would we want to be defended against? Who will attack us?" Well, if one looks around Africa as it is today, and as it has been in the last few years, I think it would be agreed that it would be a very complacent citizen of Sierra Leone who would say that never in the future did he think that the people there might be glad to have someone close at hand and able to help them, someone such as ourselves, who, I am certain they all believe, will ever remain one of their best friends.

Another matter referred to by a number of speakers is the definite feeling of what might be called unease that members of the delegation sensed amongst many people in Sierra Leone about the advent of independence. I believe that when my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Kirkdale (Mr. N. Pannell) led a delegation to Sierra Leone some two years ago, he said that there was widespread enthusiasm there for independence. I can well believe that, but it always happens that when these events become imminent people begin to have their doubts. Some of the people living far out in the Protectorate in Sierra Leone certainly cast their eyes across the border to other countries in Africa where independence—that word that many of them so vaguely understand—has become a fact, were not entirely pleased with everything they saw.

However, my belief is that the people of Sierra Leone need not be too nervous about the coming of independence, quick as it is. The constitutional steps taken towards it in the last year or two have admittedly been rapid, but I feel that they have been very well timed and that, as a result, the transition will be smooth. It only remains for me, therefore, to join with previous speakers, and, I am sure, with every other hon. Member, in wishing the very best of luck and the greatest prosperity in the future to our new partner in the Commonwealth.