By Kabs Kanu
The Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki- Sawyer , is the head of state of Sierra Leone in the eyes of U.S President Joe Biden . She will be speaking for Salone at the World Leaders Democracy Summit from where the President, Maada Bio , has been denied participation.
For President Bio to be denied an invitation where 110 other world leaders have been invited shows that President Bio’s horrific undemocratic record , human rights abuses and corruption in Sierra Leone have caught up with him and gained the attention of the United States President , never mind the shenanigans of the compromised Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC ), who are working at cross purposes with the U. S President , White House and State Department for reasons only the U. S government can tell .
This spectacular snub of President Bio by U. S President Biden is a powerful message that the White House is fully conscious of all the corrupt leaders also busy destroying democracy and human rights around the world and President Bio is one. Undemocratic leaders in the world were not invited to the Democratic Summit.
If we thought America did not care about what is going on in Sierra Leone, we were wrong . Even though we cannot explain why the MCC gave President Bio fake pass grades that made Sierra Leone Compact eligible , we can state emphatically from this shameful snub of President Bio by President Biden that America, as a nation , thinks differently about Bio and he is one of the world leaders under U.S radar for more possible isolation and sanctions in due course, especially if he rigs the 2023 elections. Some people even believe that Bio will never receive the U.S $400 million Compact money . It is two years now since the MCC deemed Sierra Leone Compact eligible and to this date no money has been disbursed .
Few weeks ago, the U. S Ambassador in Sierra Leone expressed grave concerns to President Bio about the 2023 elections and some controversial decisions on judicious issues that the SLPP government had taken recently .
Our sources tell COCORIOKO that President Bio is under tremendous pressure from the U. S and British envoys as well as the European Union ( EU) representative in Freetown but the State House media and pro -SLPP newspapers have not been providing accurate reports of their meetings with President Bio and they have only been amplifying areas where token complimentary statements were made about the President . This was what gave the impression recently that the British and U.S may be helping to prop up a dictator in Sierra Leone . The SLPP media have not been reporting everything . They have been very deceitful .
But deceit is the stock -in -trade of this SLPP government . President Bio is spending fortunes to bribe boisterous and often rude social media activists with fictitious names and handles and APC sellout members to hound anybody that does not agree with the wrong direction the SLPP government is busy leading the nation . The President has bribed the same breed of unpatriotic people to damage the names of the Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyer and the Auditor General , Mrs . Lara Taylor Pearce .
However, these two women are among the most dedicated, committed and honest public servants in the nation. They have conducted public office with an impressive level of transparency and accountability . They have also been exposing corruption and misrule in the SLPP government . This explains why America invited the Mayor to the prestigious World Democracy Summit but excluded President Bio from there.
The World Democracy Summit will go on without one of the most undemocratic , despotic, dictatorial , totalitarian and corrupt leaders around the globe , Sierra Leone President Maada Bio .
President Biden has sent a very strong message that America will not share platforms with or wine and dine with leaders whose actions do not support their colorful rhetoric and who constitute a danger to democracy, human rights and good governance in the world . Bio is licking his wounds in private but you would think that this will make him change, right ? Wait and see what he does next .
