By Dr. Fatima Babih

Over the Easter weekend, Julius Bio and members of his cabal visited Bo City, one of his strongholds in the country. Bo is as dark as the rest of the country, with no access to electricity. The majority of people of Bo, like the rest of the suffering masses in the country, are literally caving under hunger, starvation, lack of healthcare, and abject poverty. There are no ambulances, fire trucks, or government-operated public transportation in Bo, the second-largest city in Sierra Leone.

Yet, it pleases Julius Bio, the most corrupt and kleptomaniac president in the country’s history, to subject these same hungry, sick, deprived, and impoverished people of Bo to his insensitive, unempathetic flaunting of his ill-gotten wealth and extravagant lifestyle.

Amidst great fanfare, Julius Bio and his equally corrupt wife, with their little daughter, rolled into Bo Town with his latest toy ride, a Mercedes Benz SUV that costs between $300,000 and $ 400,000; may be more.

Sadly, these young boys, students of the Bo Boys Secondary School that hosted Mr. Bio, were subjected to such irresponsible flashing of Mr. Bio’s ill-gotten opulent lifestyle. No one knows what psychological effects this display may have on these adolescent boys at this crucial juncture of their lives.

These students at Bo School, one of the country’s oldest schools (118 years) do not even have decent beds to sleep on, nor do they get two decent square meals per day.

Naturally, these Bo School boys perceive Julius Bio, an alumnus of the school and president of their nation, as a role model. It begs many questions, among them:

• What lessons did those boys learn from such a display of ill-gotten wealth by their role model?
• Did they feel envy when they saw Julius Bio’s little daughter and her little friend jump out of the front seat of the humongous luxury car?
• Did it occur to them that the money Julius paid for that car could have been used to provide them with several ambulances and other healthcare needs?
• Did they wish to someday ride in such a car by hook, or by crook?

Then again, those boys were probably too hungry and deprived to engage in any deep critical thinking. So, they were too engrossed in marveling at their wealthy, flashy guest and his entourage. Just the way Julius Bio wants them to be.