By Alpha Amadu Jalloh
Mr. President, like I have been telling you all this while about your bloated government expenditures, your finance minister and other economic and development experts have indicated this to you so many times. They have warned you to adjust your excessive travels and to stop opening embassies and consulates in countries where we do not have any serious economic advantage. But you failed to heed their calls, and now, see what is happening to the country’s economic standing.
Mr. President, our economy is in shambles. Inflation is skyrocketing, basic goods are becoming unaffordable, and even the most optimistic economists are struggling to see a path forward under your administration’s reckless spending. Yet, instead of prioritizing internal development, you continue to jet around the world, attending conferences, giving speeches, and opening embassies that serve no tangible benefit to the struggling masses of Sierra Leone.
Even the baboons at the Tacugama Sanctuary are complaining, Mr. President. Their space is being breached by humans, thanks to unscrupulous government officials who see every piece of land as an opportunity to cash in on their positions. The Guma Valley water catchment area is also not spared; our water supply is under threat as the land rush intensifies. The government officials who should be safeguarding these resources are instead preoccupied with what has now become a national craze, ‘Operation Pay Yourself.’ Everyone is desperate, and corruption has reached an unimaginable scale.
Mr. President, the level of unexplained wealth among your government officials today in Sierra Leone is beyond imagination. Expensive cars, sometimes vehicles that cannot even be used in our country due to a lack of maintenance facilities, are now commonplace among ministers and their close associates. Your Minister of Lands, Mr. Turad Senessie, continues to operate with impunity, turning state land into personal wealth while ordinary citizens struggle to find space to live and work. Mr. President, I warned you about this, but you refused to listen.
After the purported loss by the Lands Minister in the High Court, many saw it as justice served. But I knew better. That loss was nothing but a distraction, a well-orchestrated ploy to deceive the public into believing that some semblance of accountability exists in your government. But the reality is that land grabbing continues unabated, and ordinary Sierra Leoneans continue to suffer while those in power enrich themselves.
Mr. President, I have nothing against you personally. My criticisms are not about enmity towards you or your government but about the interest of the people. Yet, you have chosen to see otherwise. Instead of addressing the issues I and many others raise, you surround yourself with praise singers who only tell you what you want to hear.
And what about your wife, Mr. President? Why does she insist on naming everything after herself? Does she and your government believe that Sierra Leone belongs to you as a personal inheritance? Do you really believe that after you leave office, those buildings and institutions will still bear her name? Mr. President, look around West Africa. How many other First Ladies behave the way yours does? How many presidents in the region are doing what you are doing, traveling incessantly, wasting state resources on self-promotion, and allowing family members to exert undue influence over government affairs?
Mr. President, you want to be in attendance at anything and everything under the sun. If you are not the chairman, you must be the guest speaker; if not the guest speaker, then the coordinator, the moderator, or whatever title fits. Your obsession with being at the center of every event is baffling. I wonder, Mr. President, what kind of genius you must be to assume monopoly over knowledge in all fields. Your newfound friend, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, shares the same delusion. You have given him sweeping powers over the Ministry of Energy, not because of his competence, but because of the influence of your wife.
We know what is going on, Mr. President. We see the manipulations, the power plays, and the favoritism. But let me remind you of something: the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is not your personal inheritance. It belongs to the people. The moment you attempt to impose Dr. Kandeh Yumkella as your successor, you will realize just how unpopular you are within the SLPP, let alone the general public. The people are watching, and they will not be fooled.
Mr. President, wait and see what befalls you when that mistake is made. You will learn, in the harshest way possible, that leadership is not about surrounding yourself with sycophants or accumulating wealth while the masses suffer. Oh, lest I forget any update on Jos Leijdekkers, we have not forgotten about his presence in our country, and we want him handed over to his government; he can still use the new name we gave that is our token. Lonta Karabai.
