OPINION > Something To Think About President Ernest Koroma Disappoints Sylvia Olayinka Blyden Posted by Joe Sawan on Aug 29, 2008, 11:40

While the President of any country can proactively engage in activities that will please the citizens, there is, also, the very real possibility of the same President to either do or say things that would have the unintended effect of making people angry.  With the flurry of activities that Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has been engaged in, His Excellency the President is perceived to have accomplished both of the possibilities indicated above.

To most Sierra Leoneans, President Koroma who appears to lack the “mean and killer instinct” suddenly seems to have really angered and disappointed Dr. SYLVIA OLAYINKA BLYDEN, publisher of the awareness Times newspaper, because of the remarks he is reported to have made to a delegation of APC supporters from KAILAHUN regarding the ill treatment of the APC in KAILAHUM.  It doesn’t take much to provoke the Awareness Times’ publisher into unleashing her opinion on issues that she has a very personal interest.  The publisher has an awesome motivation in such instances.

In a front page commentary entitled, “The Kailahun I visited”, which was published in the Friday, August 22, 2008 edition of “Awareness Times” stated that, “I was dismayed to say the least, when I read the lead story in yesterday’s edition of the ruling party mouthpiece, We Yone.  The story which reported on a visit of a delegation of APC supporters from Kailahun to the President at State House is the kind of report that should ALERT citizens to be very wary of the intentions of this government.

The front page report especially the comments attributed to the Head of State, sent a shiver down my spine.  I have been increasingly questioning my mind, some aspects of the current style of leadership over the past few weeks but those niggling doubts have not been able to erode some of the confidence I have in our current leadership until yesterday’s article.  That article, which in my opinion, was packed to overflowing with dangerous and malicious lies, sound sinister like a well staged prelude to an even more sinister game plan.

The thinly veiled threats the Head of State was reportedly making in reaction to what I strongly believe to be nothing other than a pack of lies from his APC Kailahun delegation left me feeling dismayed and for the first time yesterday, I feared for Sierra Leone under the leadership of Ernest Bai Koroma.  No joke!”

This opinion/ piece would have been an amazing piece except that it lacked objectivity.  The “veiled threats” Dr. Blyden referred to probably pertains to the “sinister game plan” that may involve her very close personal friend.  No President that is worth his salt will sit around and allow citizens with a completely different agenda to destabilize his country.  No joke!

In the 2007 Parliamentary and Presidential election, various newspapers reported about the skirmishes between the SLPP and PMDC in the Kailahun district in general and Kailahun town in particular.  The police report pertaining to the ill treatment of the PMDC supporters by the SLPP members should be with either the Kailahun police or the central police.  Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was the President at that time and John Benjamin, John Karimu, Dr. Sama Banya and Ambassador Patrick Foyah are alleged to have played key roles in all of the disturbances.

Dr. Blyden, were you dismayed when former President Kabbah was reported to have instructed the police to thoroughly investigate and charge to court the perpetrators of the alleged crimes?  Did you express any fears for yourself and Sierra Leone at that time?

Dr. Blyden, do you honestly believe that your alleged three-day honeymoon in Kailahun district can compare to that of the in-depth knowledge and cultural/political familiarity of the APC delegation?  Why didn’t you rely on your “four reporters” to continue to file in their reports about Kailahun?  Have you forgotten about the skirmish and ambush at Segbewema when Charles Francis Margai and Ernest Bai Koroma merely attempted to campaign in the Kailahun district?  Were you satisfied with the security, safety and human rights conditions that prevailed in the country at that time?  Did you write an opinion piece about it in the Awareness Times?

Dr Blyden, the best that could possibly be said about your opinion piece is that, it is an emotional appeal to people for the sole purpose of either inciting them or causing disaffection for President Koroma among the people.  Using your newspaper to engage in a mischievous propaganda and to peddle misinformation and half truths is a dangerous practice that somebody who was given a national award should not do.  That award was given with certain implicit, responsibilities which, for now, you are not measuring up to.

Having an opinion is one thing but expressing that opinion in an atmosphere of uncertainty, mistrust and some political uneasiness and intolerance is unprofessional and unpatriotic.

Finally, Dr. Blyden should make every effort to promote the peace and stability of Sierra Leone.  She has every right to defend her Kailahun and her Kailahun friends.  She should not allow comments that were reportedly made by His Excellency to disappoint and scare her.