By KABS KANU :
The survival of our whole nation is at stake presently due to the Ebola outbreak . People are getting sick and dying . It is time to have our minds transfixed on the emergency facing the nation. It is definitely not the time for politics or undermining the security of the state or provoking and inciting the ire of the President and the Commander-In-Chief of the nation.
The whole nation’s burden is on the shoulders of President Ernest Bai Koroma presently . As the Father of the Nation, it should be expected that the Ebola outbreak presently ravaging our country would affect the President more , because , come to think of it, in the minds of the citizens, the buck stops with him where the safety of the nation is concerned , though he is not responsible for people politicizing this health emergency and for the failure of people to follow protocols, precautions and procedures that should stop further transmission of the disease. Everybody expects that as President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma should endure sleepless nights and expend every sinew of his being to make sure that the nation defeats its present challenge. The President has lived up to these expectations. You can sense from his features that he is not only working very hard; his mind is obsessed with solving this Ebola problem.
Knowing that as Father of the nation, he has to be on top of the game to help bring the Ebola outbreak to an end, President Ernest Koroma has been doing a marvelous job . Since Ebola is an international dilemma, he has been canvassing and mobilizing international support and resources and despite an anemic start international help has started coming into the nation to help Sierra Leone defeat Ebola. President Koroma has not stopped it at that. At the risk of his life he has been everywhere putting structures in place to boost the Ebola fight. He has travelled in a defective helicopter to visit the Ebola epicenters of Kailahun and Kenema , just to make sure that everything was going well on the frontline. The other day, he boarded a plane for an international Ebola stakeholders’ Conference but rather fortitously the aircraft was found to have engine trouble on the runway just before it took off. Imagine if that problem had not been discovered on the ground, but after the plane had taken off and was in the air. It would have been a disaster. People should see how much President Koroma is risking his life to save the nation and appreciate his efforts. We used to be an appreciative nation. Let us continue to be so and not allow ourselves to be misled by those who cannot put the welfare of their nation over their partisan interests.
Additionally , against the best advice of his lieutenants and family, President Koroma has been visiting Ebola treatment centres , hospitals and shifting epicentres , just to ensure that his nation comes out tops once again in this battle. He is putting his life at risk , but in the interest of the nation, he is not relenting .
While the President is engrossed with all these efforts and initiatives for national survival , what is expected of truly patriotic citizens are appreciation and support. What should be the primary concern of truly patriotic citizens is helping the President find solutions to the problem. SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS . They should mobilize themselves in popular support to help him find solutions and win the battle for the nation . The President is busy fighting to save the nation , undergoing all the hazards involved. We should expect his mind to be engrossed in his dire concern for his people. Knowing him for his concern for the nation, we should know that he will not rest until his nation is extricated from its present crisis,and it is our responsibility as patriotic citizens to support him in this cause.
This is therefore definitely not the time to wake up sleeping dogs that will end up biting the nation ; it is not the time to undermine national security and provoke the President’s hand to move in the interest of national safety and security. People should know that as Commander-In-Chief, President Koroma will not sit down idly and see anybody undermine the security of the state. He swore an oath to protect and defend the welfare of our nation and he will execute his duty as required to the best of his ability . Those who try to test the resolve of President Koroma will know that he is not a pushover by any means.
Another area we are failing is in our insensitivity to what our nation is presently going through. Sierra Leoneans should be sensitive enough to know that whatever misgivings they have against President Koroma, this is not the time to politicize Ebola or heap insults at the President and try to set him at odds with his lieutenants, especially when the nation is under a State of Emergency. It is gross insensitivity to our national dilemma and the survival of our State.
When we were growing up as kids , we knew that during severe family crises, it was not the time to undermine the stability of the home . We knew that is was time to join hands with our father to help save the home. We knew the consequences if we engaged in acts that would jeopadize our fathers’ relationship with the significant others in his life.
Our people must learn to be sensitive. We must be sensitive to the present emotional state of the nation. We must be sensitive to the suffering of our people. When we put politics over the nation, it means that we are not sensitive to our people’s sufferings.
Before the Ebola struck, President Koroma was very busy developing our nation socio-economically and politically. It is not as if he has been an unproductive leader. On the contrary, he is the best President we have had since Independence. We have to always remember that and give the President his due. Let us appreciate President Ernest Koroma and one way we can demonstrate our appreciation to him is to help him fight Ebola out of Sierra Leone.
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