And Away President Bio Flies
By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
Some tribes in Sierra Leone might have a name for someone who likes to visit his or her neighbours’ homes, or friends’ offices, despite s/he is repeatedly being shunned by those neighbours or friends. As I see it, visits should be reciprocal. If you pay someone a visit twice and s/he doesn’t return your visits; you should get the subtle unspoken message that s/he either has a low opinion of you or that they do not think that your home or office is worth visiting! The Krios call such a person “Shalat”.
As a proud unadulterated Sierra Leonean (never mind our First Lady, Fatima Bio, is alleged to have said that those “who are not SLPP supporters are not true Sierra Leoneans”); I’m concerned that since President Julius Maada Bio took over the rudder of state, about three years ago, he has visited neighbouring Liberia twice, he has visited Ghana twice or thrice or even more, he has visited neighbouring Guinea twice, he has visited Nigeria, and has also visited the Ivory Coast and other African countries as far as Rwanda; yet none of his colleagues has ever paid him a visit.
But our Commander-in-Chief (aka “Ol Soja never die”) appears to be resilient. He has made countless overseas trips to search for foreign investors but the coronavirus seems to be preventing investors from coming to Sierra Leone. He has made several trips to countries in the sub-region to “strengthen bilateral ties” but those “ties” still appear slackened. But President Bio seems not to be dampened by his seemingly fruitless visits to his colleague Heads of State in the sub-region. He will try, and try, and try, and try again as long as the Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa (one of SLPP’s best, courtesy of the Office of the Chief Minister), will find a way of pinching from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to make our President’s overseas trips velvet-silk-like.
And just after the World Bank announces a US$50 million budgetary support for Sierra Leone, President Bio suddenly felt the urge to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Sierra Leone and Senegal. And off, he went, to Dakar on a “two-day working visit” last Friday. But what I hate to like about most members of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is their knack for evoking laughter where laughter is regarded as a sign of bad taste. And one such situation is the Press Release, from State House, dated 19 March 2021.
Apart from the usual high-sounding nothingness in that Press Release, two issues are laughably laughable. The first is where it is stated that “…During his working visit… President Dr Julius Maada Bio will hold bilateral meeting with his…brother His Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal…” Such a statement could trigger laughter until one’s ribs ache simply because if the Senegalese Head of State is really his “brother”, then he would have attended his inauguration ceremony in Freetown about three years ago. But since he had better things to do at home in Dakar, President Sall skipped one of the most important events of his brother’s political life. Yet, our own President Bio has been to Senegal now twice without his own “brother” reciprocating. That really shows how serious Macky Sall takes the brotherhood between them!
And the other issue in that Press Release, under review, that I have issue with is where it is stated that, “…The bilateral meeting is expected to focus on… exploring investment opportunities between Sierra Leone and Senegal…” This is also laughably laughable for the simple reason that when the Senegalese President wants to explore investment opportunities for his country, he goes to Europe (particularly France) and America not West Africa. That means, President Sall thinks big and doesn’t indulge in petty things like a man who was deprived in his childhood. My question is: what opportunities are in Senegal which President Bio thinks will help improve the economy of Sierra Leone? As far as I am concerned, that “two-day working visit to Senegal” could be likened to the same bilateral-honeymoon (well, this is a One Dropian dropped phrase) of President Bio’s Lebanon visit which has now been made infamous by the Africanist Press.
But the Information Attaché at the Sierra Leone Embassy in Senegal, Ishmael Bayoh, gleefully quoted President Bio to have told a thin audience at a Town Hall meeting in Dakar that, “We have had a very bad image of our country before. There are still that old narratives from people on us and as Sierra Leoneans, it is our collective effort to make the country attractive…” Gotcha! (to borrow the coinage of a British newspaper during The Falklands War, between Britain and Argentina in 1982.) Well, the same “old narratives” that were giving a “…very bad image of our country [as] before…” when a group of citizens were allegedly “running a racketeering enterprise with egregious infractions” (well, I am learning some magniloquence from the Chief Minister, Professor David Francis); are the same “old narratives from [would-be investors about] us…as Sierra Leoneans…” today. The only thing that has changed is the SLPP’s use of semantics on issues of fighting corruption and good governance.
And true to the “Paopanian” tradition, our Commander-in-Chief dished out some few “Paopaques” (don’t dash for your dictionary because this is another One Dropian dropped phrase) before that thin audience in Senegal as reported by Mr Bayoh: “…He [President Bio] told Sierra Leoneans that most of the reasons for their flight to other countries are now being addressed by his government…” Is that so? Has the SLPP government addressed the chronic hardship and lack of better social amenities which are driving some Sierra Leoneans, in droves, from their birthplace to seek greener pastures overseas? Has the Bio-led government addressed the inequality between the north-west and south-east, in terms of employment opportunities, which is making disadvantaged citizens unsafe in their own country and have to flee to other countries? Probably, just a probability, President Bio might have addressed those reasons in his mind’s eye.
And for the sake of transparency and accountability, could the Financial Secretary tell Sierra Leoneans what this “two-day working visit” to Senegal cost the tax payers? I know he doesn’t need any “opinion” on this from the Solicitor General. But if he thinks he should, then majority of Sierra Leoneans are patiently waiting for the bill.
medsankoh@yahoo.com/+232-76-611-986
