(1)     Opinion

10 Good Reasons Why President Koroma Is ‘Best’ Leader...Not

Written by  Austin Thomas

I want to agree with President Koroma’s supporters that we need to give him second chance because he is the ‘best’ leader ever Sierra Leone has ever produced because in this short time of his rule he has made majority of Sierra Leoneans rich and we can now afford more than three square meals a day as we can afford to eat and drink meat, pork, eggs, milk, juice etc on a daily basis. Indeed he has turned Sierra Leone from a donor driven country to a donating country.

Today Sierra Leone is ranked first in Africa for its viable economy, education and maternal health care as every Sierra Leonean can be treated in hospitals for free as well as free education from primary to college. Indeed Ernest Koroma has achieved the impossible. There is no need for him to campaign or better still we do not need an election because Ernest is going to win by landslide come November. Sierra Leone is now a paradise on planet earth, thanks to the vibrant, charismatic, energetic and handsome Ernest Koroma.

I am in agreement with some political pundits in Sierra Leone and other opinion leaders in the world like Tony Blair that President Koroma indeed is the Best Leader in Africa and I give ten reasons why this is so.

1. In his first three months in power he took about $30 million dollars to rent machines to provide electricity at all cost just for the city of Freetown. Although the machines were incapacitated, they still produce electricity 24 hours a day until now making Freetown the brightest capital in West Africa. President Koroma was happy to defend his Energy minster during the press battle that ensued and he won because Freetown is now having electricity 24-7. Anti Corruption failed in that battle and the then boss Abdul Tejan Cole called it quits.

2. President Koroma on assumption of office gave power to his APC youths to beat and destroy the opposition head quarters as well as beating and locking up opposition members because they were opposed to him. It took thousands of dollars from the UN to rebuild the SLPP head quarters. Ah, one of the victims that were badly beaten during that fiasco was Lansana Fadika. Today he is now a very strong member of Ernest Koroma’s government; maybe it was the beating he received that made him have a change of mind. Infact the beating and vandalization happened three times in Ernest Koroma’s first two years in office. He was praised by the international community especially Tony Blair for silencing the opposition.

4 President Koroma was also praised for protecting his former transport minister Kemoh Sesay who was allegedly at the centre of the cocaine plane saga. He was never arrested and the police had strict orders from the president not to touch ‘my blue eyed boy’. Even though his brother was very instrumental in the deal and there were evidence pointing at the minister, he was safe and his brother spent all his jail term at the Connaught hospital until he was freed.

5. President Koroma has done very well by supervising acts of lawlessness by APC members and his special bodyguard Leatherboot who have set offices ablaze around the country, locked up offices, beating up workers of Bo-Kenema electricity, raping of women chased away journalists at State House the burning down of opposition Party’s office that did not even provoke a response from him. Oh sorry, he set up some commissions of inquiries to look into the matter and when the report was handed over to him, he threw it away in the dustbin.

6. President Koroma who said he came to save us from poverty has been in charge now for four years and has been in charge of a government who inherited a debt free country, but has plunged the country into further abyss by damaging the economic foundations that has seen a bag of rice that was sold for Le70,000 in 2007 is now closing in at Le300,000. A gallon of petrol in 2007 that was Le11,500 is now Le20,500 and the exchange rate of a dollar that was Le2,600 is now Le4,500 to a dollar. This indeed has raised the death rate in the country by about 30% because majority of Sierra Leoneans are now suffering from heart attacks and high blood pressure.

7. This is the very first time in a peaceful atmosphere that the Fourah Bay College did not have convocation since independence due to the antics of Ernest Koroma’s government. It is not known whether the education officials will have to revisit the education calendar because the 2010/11 FBC year is still on and don’t know when the 2011/2012 year will start. Thanks to our able and versatile president Koroma and his foot soldiers for making education so important to the country. I can authoritatively say that the once Athens of West Africa has once again been reinvigorated to its position as the ‘best’ university in the sub region even though they did not have paper to conduct exams last year. Congratulations to Ernest Koroma for his effort in making Sierra Leone an educational paradise.

8. President Koroma seems to be doing wonderfully well as the prices of goods in Sierra Leone are getting worse for the ordinary Sierra Leoneans by the day. One only has to go to the market to find prices of goods changing like chameleons. The price of cement, rice, foodstuffs have increased by more than 30%, transport fares by about 20%, taxes and import tariffs have increased tremendously due to GST, due to President Koroma’s good policies, over half of the population of his own people are struggling to afford just to buy a single meal a day!
9. President Koroma has also done well since unemployment especially among the youth has increased to 100,000 with our young graduates and students sitting at home with nothing to do. We are now a country sitting on a time bomb of joblessness and youth crime, lack of investment due to cuts in the capitation grant, angry teachers, lack of learning material and lack of initiative to raise funds invest in quality educational facilities. Even the free health care is becoming a farce as drugs and structures are not in place to meet the needs of the patients. Six to eight mothers and their babies will have to share three beds at a time thereby increasing sickness rather than cure.

10. President Koroma has also done very well with the Country’s Electricity Shortages. Today there is more black out than he promised even though he has the Bumbuna and other thermal machines. Load shedding in the city with major parts of the country in darkness is the music of the day. Since he came into office, He has presided over petrol queue in the country, rice shortage and corruption in high places and shortage of foodstuff. He has been concentrating in constructing semi quality roads around the country that will not last for even three years before the potholes start appearing. Also he has had several of his ambassadors bringing upon him disgrace and embarrassment also to the people and the country. Right now we don’t have an ambassador in China as in four years we have seen two ambassadors come and go due to woman palava and corruption. Finally we have been hearing that the container that was impounded at the Quay suspecting to have cocaine in diapers have been tested and it turns out to be medicated powder. The West is watching Ernest Koroma’s government in handling of this situation and also the timber gate concerning his vice president. They are keenly watching him as the elections are round the corner. Let him don’t forget that it was the West in 2007 that called for regime changes across Africa and they are not happy with what is going on in Sierra Leone. Of Course Tony Blair is the only one that knows how successful president Koroma is and why he should be given a second chance to lunch his Agenda for growth.
From the above we can see that President Koroma is doing very well and on this performance, deserves a second term in office to continue with his good works in making Sierra Leone heaven on planet earth.