President Maada Bio
With Ralph Sesay
As the Chief National Electoral Commissioner and National Returning Officer of the National Electoral Commission, Nfa-Alie Conteh, pronounced the SLPP flag bearer as the winner of the March, 2018 elections, the attention immediately shifted from elections to development.
The new President was hurriedly sworn in two hours after the pronouncement of the results amidst a thunderous applause from party supporters and a huge presence of International and local observers.
Since then Sierra Leoneans, both at home and abroad, have been whispering into the ears of the new President, bringing out what could be the immediate priorities of the country and the nation coming out of a very divisive elections marred by tribal and regional considerations. These considerations are amidst his flagship campaign priority of “Free Education” and “Free health Care”, amongst others.
Hoping that I would get few minutes to chat with the President, these are a number of very much important issues, among a very exhaustive list, I would bring to him as a matter of extreme urgency at least for the first 100 days.
National Peace and Cohesion
Mr. President, Sierra Leone, you would agree with me that the country has been hugely divided along regional and tribal lines throughout the ten years of APC rule. This division was further demonstrated in the way people casted their votes, hate messages, tribal and regional divisions. They all shaped the elections campaign.
Sierra Leoneans are very much aware that you had campaigned on a platform of uniting the country and promoting nationality and peaceful coexistence.
In achieving this, Sir, we would expect to see a nationally balanced cabinet, appointments to the civil service and other state parastatals should never be determined again along party, tribe or regional lines.
You would surely be confronted by some of your stalwarts who may want to see this continue as a way of revenging what they had suffered in the past few years, but you should have the strong resolve to resist such temptations and move ahead in taking practical actions aiming at uniting Mama Sierra Leone.
History would never forget you, if you are able to achieve this highly complex cankerworm that has nearly torn apart our beloved country.
Lawlessness and Indiscipline
Mr, President, your strong military background speaks volume about your high sense of discipline. People with military backgrounds have always succeeded in moulding nations for the better. The rate at which lawlessness and indiscipline have taken over every fabric of society is overwhelming. The ordinary men and women in the streets are as lawless as the civil servants in the offices. Theirs is complete disregard for time which has largely impacted on our productivity level as a nation.
Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, Deputy Directors and heads of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies hardly turn out on time for work. They have become masters over the taxpayers. Their loyalty has greatly shifted over the last ten years from the people to the Presidency.
Governments have lost and continue to lose millions of Leones as a result of such attitude to work. Investors and the ordinary man would continue to wait and warm up the benches in these establishments just to wait for these Government functionaries to show up for work.
It is time to nip this issue on the bud. Investors and other well meaning Sierra Leoneans with western orientation have continued to brand us Sierra Leoneans as very lazy people who do not have respect for time. You demonstrated this in your short rule and now that you have the expressed mandate of the people the ball is in court sir.
It is the candid view of many that you would score laurels in this area and many have voted for you on this strong assumption that you would bring back or regain the past glory when we had a very professional and time conscious civil service.
Government Contracts and agreements
Mr. President, by now you must have known that the Ernest Koroma Government has negotiated a number of agreements with international companies be it in the minerals, agricultural and other sectors that have not reflected the wishes and aspirations of the ordinary Sierra Leoneans.
Vast arable lands have been illegally acquired with pittance paid in by these companies as surface rents to the landowners. Corporate Social Responsibility issues have been treated with levity with some companies having a field day in terms of brining in every Jack and Jill from all over the world to work in the country with little reference to our own human capacity to fill in those vacancies.
Our labour laws are very obsolete to the point that the ordinary Sierra Leoneans have been reduced to mere slaves and beggars in their own country. They have been largely sidelined to work in the menial/ messengerial level jobs with unreasonable huge tax cut at the end of the month.
The Labour Ministry has been very weak and highly compromised by these companies to a point that the ordinary workers are left with no option but to work under very unsafe and poor conditions.
As we speak, Mr. President, there are a number of court litigations against foreign companies by Sierra Leoneans who have been wrongfully dismissed and their benefits withheld against their own rights.
The Local Content Policy instituted by your predecessors is a sham, as foreign expatriates continue to come into the country to perform jobs that our kiths and kins can do. The minimum wage is nothing to write home about as most foreign companies do not heed to this wage structure and they continue to pay pittance as salaries to workers.
You would succeed, Your Excellency, if you appointee to this ministry is able to take on these major companies and rescue the thousands of Sierra Leoneans who are suffering as a result of the lack of oversight by the Labour Ministry. Their is need to overhaul our labour laws and legislate very vibrant laws that would rescue the ordinary Sierra Leonean.
In as much as you had vowed to stop all the leakages, it is incumbent upon you to review all the numerous contracts and agreements, taking into consideration how the ordinary Sierra Leonean worker should feel comfortable and benefit from working in his own country as a citizen.
For the last ten years the numerous tax waivers and tax holidays have done nothing to salvage the economic realities of the country.
Strengthening and depoliticizing state institutions
Mr. President, you must be aware that our political institutions have been hugely politicized. Former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, once said “Africa needs strong, not strong leaders.”
You must not tow the line this time and appoint politicians to man these state institutions. It is expedient that you look for professionals who may not necessarily be loyal to you but have the country at heart. We have no business in having politicians to mann these very important state institutions. We have seen the last ten years where party District Chairmen head very key parastatals and retired military and police leaders taking up ambassadorial positions outside the country instead of retiring peacefully.
This should immediately come to a stop. Part of the civil service reform should be geared towards totally drawing the lines between politicians and civil servants.
Pending Sensitive Corruption Matters
Mr. President, Sierra Leoneans want to know what happened to the Ebola funds. The country is about to face another legal embarrassment at the ECOWAS Court. This is because two Ebola survivors have sued the Government of Sierra Leone for the poor management of the Ebola funds, meant to upkeep them and their immediate families. The only way we can salvage this is to have a national enquiry into what happened with the funds.
Your Excellency, as we speak, hundreds of our compatriots, who survived the disease, are languishing without proper health care, shelter and education whiles politicians continue to leave in luxury with bounties from the scourge.
We want an enquiry instituted into what happened to these funds. The Auditor General’s report is already there which makes the process simple and straightforward to handle. It was because of the impunity associated with the Ebola era that further gave rise to the mudslide situation in which millions of United States dollars were also hugely unaccounted for.
Mr. President, hundreds of our fallen compatriots are in their graves and their orphan kids are wallowing in the streets of Freetown and other bigger towns in absolute poverty, whiles funds meant for their basic survival have been siphoned into foreign banks.
Another sensitive issue also is the hajj gate issue. It was an embarrassment to our Muslim brothers and sisters to have faced such a humiliation in the hands of their brothers at the expense of foreigners. We also may want to know what happened. This remains a sensitive religious issue and the people have the right to know what happened.
Dr. Sylvia Blyden, the former Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, has once presented a package of evidence of what transpired to the Anti Corruption Commission but nothing happened whiles the culprits were busying criss – crossing the country.
Please let us don’t have these individuals go as sacred cows in your very watchful eyes.
We want answers to the numerous questions people/Sierra Leoneans are asking about this issue. Let us bury the era of impunity in our nation. Let people begin to answer and be held accountable for their actions. No longer should our monies be diverted to personal use by thieves and rogues.
Mr. President, these two enquires are very important to salvage our international reputation and image and hence the need for their creation cannot be overemphasized. You would fail if you compromise these issues and leave them unattended.
People voted for change because they wanted answers to all these issues. People knew continuity could have buried all of these under the carpet. Please act now. We are waiting. Lonta.
We wish to congratulate you as you take on the mantle of leadership.