By Alpha Amadu Jalloh
Author of Monopoly of Happiness: Unveiling Sierra Leone’s Social Imbalance
Recipient of the Africa Renaissance Leadership Award 2025
Mr. President, I come not with applause but with questions. I come not with bitterness but with urgency. I come not to attack but to demand that truth find its way back into public life. Mr. President, Sierra Leone is in distress, and your silence is no longer strategic. It is harmful.
Mr. President, we no longer live in a country where justice is blind. Today, justice sees everything but acts on nothing if it involves those close to you. There are sacred cows grazing at the highest levels of your administration while ordinary citizens are subjected to humiliating trials for speaking the truth or daring to express their frustration.
Mr. President, there is a growing belief that you no longer see the people. That you no longer hear them. That you no longer feel the weight of your oath. This is not just dangerous. It is heartbreaking.
Let us start with the most visible stain on your administration. The unchecked impunity granted to foreign mining corporations like Octea and Koidu Holdings. These companies continue to extract diamonds from the soil of Kono while leaving the local communities buried in poverty. Mr. President, when last did you visit those areas and speak to the families who have lost both land and livelihood? When last did you ask the Ministry of Mines for a transparent breakdown of tax payments and community obligations? The people are asking questions, but your government is answering with silence.
The workers at these companies continue to suffer under exploitative conditions. Salaries are manipulated. Agreements are violated. Medical care is absent. And yet no minister, no commission, and certainly not the presidency has taken real action. Why? Is it because these companies finance political campaigns? Is it because speaking out might cut off the stream of quiet donations to party structures? Mr. President, if that is the case, then it is not governance. It is betrayal.
Mr. President, we are watching an entire generation of young people slip into despair. Every promise of opportunity has turned into a lecture. Every youth program you announced has been swallowed by corruption and mismanagement. The ones who dared to believe are now applying for visas or buying canoes to leave this country. You may still have your motorcade, but the nation is being carried on tired backs and empty stomachs.
We are not just facing a governance crisis. We are facing a spiritual collapse. The soul of Sierra Leone is tired. And what makes it worse is the sense that you are no longer even trying. Mr. President, there is a numbness that has settled over this country. And numbness is often the final stage before people give up completely.
Let us talk about foreign policy. Mr. President. Your foreign affairs minister recently travelled to Azerbaijan to strengthen diplomatic ties. A commendable objective but one that raises a serious question. What does Sierra Leone bring to the table? What reputation are we building abroad when at home we can’t guarantee free speech, fair justice, or basic service delivery?
Foreign investors may listen to your speeches, but they also read the independent reports. They see our unresolved scandals. They see the unrest. They hear the fear in the voices of returning Sierra Leoneans who speak cautiously in airport queues. We can’t build credibility abroad while silencing truth at home.
Mr. President, we need to ask about the money. Where is the MCC Compact? What happened to the transparency portal you promised? Where are the audits? Where are the procurement records? The people are being asked to sacrifice every day, yet they do not see the same restraint from those at the top.
You told us that you would fight corruption. But your government has become a sanctuary for it. You reshuffle ministers not for accountability but for preservation. Those who fail upwards continue to enjoy salaries, vehicles, per diems, and power. Meanwhile, civil servants with no political cover wait six months for salaries. This is not justice. This is theft by government.
Mr. President, the judiciary is no longer feared by the wicked. It is feared by the weak. Court rulings are no longer respected as pillars of law but as extensions of political preference. The police have become a tool for intimidation, not protection. Even peaceful gatherings are now seen as security threats if they are not singing your praises.
This is not democracy. It is drama. And we are tired of being your unwilling audience.
Mr. President, we do not ask for perfection. We ask for progress. We ask for honesty. We ask that leadership reflect the aspirations of the governed. But instead, we are given spectacle without substance. Empty programs. Committees that don’t work. Policies without action. Mr. President, Sierra Leone has become a press release republic.
What happened to the aspirations you shared during your first inauguration? What happened to New Direction? Today, that slogan feels like a cruel irony. Because the only direction many Sierra Leoneans are headed now is out of the country.
You have a choice. You can continue to surround yourself with yes men and women, nodding while the nation weeps. Or you can step forward and confront the hard truths. You can reclaim the dignity of your office. Or you can continue to use it as a shield for silence.
But know this. The people are watching. And history is recording. Every unspoken word, every uninvestigated scandal, and every unpunished crime by those in power is being written into a record that cannot be erased by legacy projects or foreign summits.
Mr. President, can we talk not just for the sake of talking but for the sake of change? Can we talk before anger becomes unrest and frustration becomes irreversible? Can we talk before leadership becomes remembered not for what it did but for what it refused to do?
