๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐.
The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, once noted that, leadership is about integrity.
After he retired from office in 2007, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah portrayed himself as an international statesman. Even in retirement, he refused to openly criticize his successor President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma.
When President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died in Freetown in March 2014, President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma described his demise as โan irreparable loss to the nationโ. As President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah carried himself with great dignity. He had a sense of pride in himself.
The story is still being told of how President Kabbah referred a prominent Lebanese businessman to the CID for offering to give him several plots of state land which, it turned out, he had acquired fraudulently. He merely wanted the protection of the President.
President Kabbah was very comfortable in the midst of civil servants and diplomats. He spent his whole adult life working in the Sierra Leone civil service and in the international civil service at the United Nations. As President, it is reported that, Kabbah favored civil servants against political appointees.
A Cabinet Minister in Kabbahโs government wrote a damning complaint against his Permanent Secretary to the President without copying his accused Permanent Secretary in. When Kabbah received the letter of complaint, he ordered the Secretary to the President to send a copy to the Permanent Secretary for his reaction.
The Permanent Secretary wasted no time in responding to the complaint made against him by his boss (the Minister). Few days later, President Kabbah invited both men to his office and asked the Minister to state his case against his Permanent Secretary. The Minister was so embarrassed that, he could not even muster the courage to look the President in the eyes. He later told the President that he was merely playing politics. As far as that Minister was concerned, politics is about telling outright lies. His complaint against the Permanent Secretary was a pack of lies. In a dramatic cabinet reshuffle, the Minister was sacked for attempting to mislead the President.
๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ข๐จ-๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
Some politicians believe that politics is about making fake promises and lying to the electorate in order to win votes. On the contrary, President Julius Maada Bio (a retired military strongman) believes that leadership is about integrity. President Bio has shown that he is a gentleman of complete integrity.
Since his election as President in April 2018, Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio has been focused on or has been paying particular attention to the implementation of his 2018 manifesto pledges. Many Sierra Leoneans believe that the President has fulfilled 85% of his manifesto pledges.
๐๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐
With barely 11 days to elections, President Bio has been able to navigate the state through stormy weather. The fact of the matter is that the global energy, food and financial crises are affecting us greatly. That fact cannot be underestimated.
The President himself has admitted that, as a country, we are going through difficult times. This is not as a result of anyoneโs fault. It is only because we are part of the global supply chain. Major economies are also going through high cost of living crises. Thankfully, with policies introduced by this President, there have been no food shortages in the market.
Pee Cee & Sons, the biggest importers of foodstuff, have been of great help to the economy. It is one of the biggest employers and one of the largest tax payers in the country. They have been very supportive.
The biggest importer of rice is CTC (Commodities Trading Company). They are the biggest importers of rice and sugar in Sierra Leone. With their efforts, there have been no rice and sugar shortages in the country. These are the true friends of Sierra Leone!
Sierra Leoneans have always voted for their Presidents during their second and final term bids since 1996. President Kabbah was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in 2002. President Koroma was declared winner of the 2012 election which marked his re-election for a second and final term. President Bio is poised to win re-election on June 24, 2023 with a convincing majority.
After a decade of failure, the APC should allow President Bio to govern the country and fix the broken economy they left behind in 2018. They should be ashamed of themselves for ruining the economy in spite of an iron ore boom.
President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio deserves a second term because of the way he has managed to govern the country through a global pandemic and through a global food, energy and financial crisis.
President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio is a man of great integrity. He is a man who loves his people. He deserves a second term in office to implement his โFeed Saloneโ manifesto pledge. Period!
