In a very repulsive response to an interview with the Managing Editor of Nightwatch Newspaper on the 6th this month, the Minister of Public Administration and Political Affairs, Amara Kallon, sarcastically, noted that he is not like those reckless Ministers in a hyperbolic comparism of his character with other colleague Ministers in Government.
During a recorded conversation between the Managing Editor of nightwatch Newspaper and Minister Kallon to ascertain the names of expected presidents slated for the Third Africa High-Level Forum on South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development (HLFSSTrC) from 7 to 9 May, 2025 at the Freetown International Convention Centre, an incensed Minister Amara Kallon rained insults on the publisher he called “stupid” and “reckless”, going as far as asking: “You feel say me na dem reckless Minister dem?”
It must be recalled that at a protest action organised by workers at Koidu Holdings that was addressed by the First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio, she made worldwide news when she blatantly called members of her husband’s cabinet “dog-mortal man dem” literally meaning, dogs in human form.
Commenting on Minister Amara Kallon’s symbolic referral to his colleague ministers in the government of Sierra Leone headed by President Julius Maada Bio, a ranking member of the SLPP’s Sixth Parliament described Kallon’s remark as “childish, immature and unfit for purpose” pointing out that the minister clearly manifested lack of understanding of the role of journalists in the governance of the state.
“Minister Kallon’s comments are just as reckless as he has the way he is trying to distance himself from what appears to be a generalized categorization of his colleague Ministers as not being reckless as them. I don’t think he considered the implication of what he was saying when he referred to his colleague ministers as reckless. This is the same issue that arose when Fatima Bio called ministers “dog-mortal man dem”. What Minister Kallon has said is just an implicit confirmation of Fatima Bio’s generalization of her husband’s Ministers, which by inference also included Minister Amara Kallon himself.
The SLPP MP stated that Minister Kallon should understand that as a public servant he works for members of the public including the Managing Editor of nightwatch.
“The minister is a public servant that is paid by the taxpayers. If he is calling his colleagues reckless when they were all hired by one man; that is, the president, then what is he saying about Mr Bio? This is the same question with regards what Fatima Bio had said. If there are ‘dog-mortal man dem’ in government, what does that make of Minister Kallon himself?” the MP retorted.
Consequently, Minister Kallon is alluding that being that he is not reckless like other Ministers there is a general sentiment within the Ministerial corridors of President Bio’s administration that there is recklessness in his government by some, if not all of his Ministers.
The question therefore begging for an immediate answer is: Why is President Bio maintaining those reckless Ministers in his Government? Perhaps for the President to reach a conclusion on this Amara Kallon riddle, the President should summon him to make clarifications on this very distasteful comparism and to elicit from him the names of those his colleague Ministers that he thinks are reckless.
But, knowing the way some people meander their ways in Sierra Leone’s politics, maybe, he is one of those who bootlick by way of gossip, slander and hypocrisy, telling Mr. President the wrong sides of his colleagues as a way of positioning himself well in the heart and mind of our Sherbro-man President.
Does that mean that all of the President’s Ministers are reckless and it implies that Minister Kallon knows that more than his Boss, President Julius Maada Bio? Let his day of reckoning come as it is said in one popular Krio parable: ‘Kongo na for gee am bench.’ Indeed Minister Kallon knows his colleagues more than the President who appointed them, and this requires him to explain to the people and his boss.
…to continue