By Alpha Amadu Jalloh
Mr. President, I return once again to have a candid conversation with you. Today, I want to draw your attention to an issue that I believe has slipped through the cracks of your administration’s priorities. Perhaps you haven’t fully grasped the extent to which the international community has lost confidence in you and your government. But that is not the core of today’s discussion. Mr. President, during a chat with some friends and family last night, an issue was brought up that resonated deeply with me. It is about our public institutions, parastatals such as SALPOST, SALHOC, and SIERRATEL, among others, which were once the people’s property.
These institutions, Mr. President, used to be the backbone of our nation’s infrastructure, serving the common man and offering hope for Sierra Leone’s development. But today, they lie in shambles, neglected and allowed to rot. Instead of trying to revitalize these parastatals, you are burying them alive and giving life to foreign companies like DHL, ARAMEX, ORANGE, QCELL, AFRICELL, and others. Mr. President, can you explain why these once vibrant institutions have been left to die under your watch?
Take SALWACO and Guma Valley Water Company, for example. These companies were established to provide clean and reliable water to our people. But what are they today? As far as I’m concerned, they are dead horses. They exist only as employment opportunities for your political minions, whom you have installed as a form of compensation for their loyalty. These companies serve no one. Households across the country don’t have access to pipe-borne water, and public taps that once existed in neighborhoods are a thing of the past.
Let me guess, Mr. President, you are probably preparing to tell me that this was also the case during the days of your predecessors, whether it was Ernest Koroma, President Momoh, or even Pa Kabbah. But let me stop you right there. The people cannot and will not accept this excuse any longer. It is not enough to point fingers at the past; it is your responsibility to improve the present. Sierra Leoneans have lives to live, and they deserve the basic amenities that allow them to survive and thrive. Don’t you think so, sir?
Mr. President, as you are no doubt aware, the internet is awash with videos and photos of your wife parading around the world, referring to herself as “Her Excellency.” Now, with all due respect, I will never in my life refer to her as “Her Excellency.” What exactly is excellent about her? She is no different from any other Sierra Leonean woman, except that she happens to be married to you.
Mr. President, all the funds you and your wife have wasted on these frivolous international trips, attending pointless talk shops and photo-ops, should have been judiciously invested in revitalizing our parastatals. But as I’ve said before, you behave like a headless chicken, hopping from one airport to another, as if that is the solution to Sierra Leone’s problems.
Mr. President, while other countries are working hard to improve the lives of their citizens, you are busy killing the few institutions we still have hope in. SIERRATEL, our national telecom company, is another example of this. You appointed one of your family members to head it, and since then, it has become a shadow of its former self. You see, this pattern of nepotism is becoming all too clear. You’ve installed your nephew to run the Queen Elizabeth port (Waterkey), and after your sister broke up with her Ghanaian husband, you rewarded her with an ambassadorship to Egypt. It’s clear, Mr. President, you have lost your way.
And the problem with this kind of governance is that it sets a precedent for future leadership. Now, any clown can aspire to be president because, well, we had something like you in office. If Sierra Leone can elect someone who had no professional engagement for 26 years, someone who didn’t even know what a paycheck looked like, why shouldn’t every idle man or woman with political aspirations come forward to vie for the seat of power? You’ve opened the floodgates.
Mr. President, I won’t stop until we get the Sierra Leone we deserve. Take your much-vaunted “Free Quality Education” initiative, for instance. It was meant to be a flagship achievement of your administration. But what has become of it? Just a few days ago, I watched Conrad Sackey on SLBC announce the WASSCE results, and the figures were disheartening. Over 27,000 results were withheld due to examination malpractice. This is a clear sign, Mr. President, that your administration has not only failed in governance but has also poisoned the moral fabric of our society.
What goes around comes around, Mr. President. You and your government have institutionalized deception and cheating. You lie round the clock, thinking that you’re outsmarting everyone, but the reality is you’re fooling no one but yourself. The seeds of dishonesty that you have sown have now sprouted in every aspect of Sierra Leonean life, and the results are as bitter as they come.
And while you gallivant around the globe, jet-setting from one international conference to another, your government has spent over $70 million on travel alone. Add to that the per diem allowances you collect on each of your more than 250 trips abroad. We are watching you, Mr. President. We are counting every penny you waste while our people suffer.
Mr. President, how do you sleep at night, knowing that you have let down an entire nation? How do you face yourself in the mirror, knowing that you have mortgaged our future for personal gain? While you fly first class, our children attend schools without desks, our hospitals run without medicine, and our streets are lined with the unemployed, hopeless, and hungry.
The time for excuses is over, Mr. President. It’s time for action. Revitalize our parastatals, ensure that clean water runs through our taps, and give life back to the institutions that once served the people. It’s not too late to turn things around, but it will require more than just words and foreign trips. It will require real leadership.
Sierra Leone deserves better, Mr. President. And if you won’t provide it, the people will find someone who can.
