Letter to the President

His Excellency sir,

I salute you sir. I have added the respect I have for you. You are the kind of leader we are looking for in this country. When I was made to understand that you called Dr. Sylvia Blyden to tell her that you were not involved in her arrest, I was like making my final journey to heaven to meet Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad. I felt I was on top of the world. This is the first time I have heard that a President of Sierra Leone calls a journalist to tell him/her sorry for embarrassment inflicted on the person in the name of that president. I wonder if you are coming from the same country as we do? I am flattered by that action of yours.

I went to Sylvanus Drive, the drive that is named after your father, and I interviewed people from where you were born in Sierra Leone, and the people responded in the positive. I was not convinced, I went to your aunt's house in the same area and I proved that it was true you were born in Sierra Leone. The reason for me to do this investigation originates from the way you handled the Sylvia Blyden issue. It is too civilized a Sierra Leonean President to respond the way you responded. That is really what people like us has been clamoring for in our country.

Your response to anything in this country makes it either violent or peaceful. I know some people that are around you that haven't got the caliber to think that trivial matters can be damaging in the long term. Some will be saying that Dr. Sylvia Blyden is not a journalist but please sir, those statements are manufactured to divert your attention to their evil actions. I want you to please ask them, the criterion that is being used to become a journalist in Sierra Leone. Also ask them sir, the curriculum vitae of those that have been appointed as press attaché in the Embassies abroad. But I will not talk much of that because these people are my colleagues, I will not want to stop them from the fine opportunity given to them.

The only thing I know, in Sierra Leone, people graduate from other disciplines and join the journalism profession and so it is everywhere in the world. Many whom are even lecturers at the Mass Communication Department in the University were not having a journalist degree before maybe their Masters degree in journalism. This is how it is here in Sierra Leone. What will anyone tell me about a person that is a trained and qualified medical doctor? Apart from being a medical doctor, Sylvia Blyden has tremendous knowledge in IT. That alone can make her a journalist here in Sierra Leone and every other place in the world.

I do not admire people that have a him or her down style of life. All said and done, you acted the way I expected you to act. To say the truth sir, there are the people that take it upon themselves to do some evil in the name of their bosses. Most times things happen without the consent or even the knowledge of the ones they claim to be working for. They usually say "it’s order from above.” It is only after the havoc that has been done that they inform their leaders. Anyway, I am happy the way you "shamed" them. That is how it should be. You must not allow obsequiousness to surround your rule. You are far beyond these kinds of things.

I say again, I am confident that you will bring massive changes in the concept of leadership in the country. I want to thank you also for listening to my advice for these customs guys. That is the only place that is left to be a "Free for all" place. That is still crooked and its workers are refusing to change their attitude. It is a cabal out there and they hardly allow new people into the job because of selfishness. I am craving your indulgence sir; customs must be one of the bread baskets of this country. I want you to have a special surveillance on those guys as you have started. Let them start to publicly announce the criteria they are using to tax people. Everything is in the darkness in that department. Handling that place properly will allow you to earn the success you are yearning for in this country. The resources that go astray or in private pockets at the customs can pay half the salary of civil servants in the country. Sir, if you see the mighty private projects workers are undertaking from that department you will get seriously annoyed. Mighty houses, investments and some are buying houses in England and America. These monies are supposed to be government money that you should use for development projects. I am eagerly looking forward to your action.

Sir, are you following developments in Bo. This may be the last time I will write you on this issue. I tell you sir; Bo is sitting on a powder keg. You must stop Musa Tarawally from brewing violence in that region. As I am writing this letter, Musa Tarawally is telling young people to provoke the people of Bo to violence. He has asked some boys to paint the whole of the city red and white. I don't think that is necessary. In fact, can Musa give you correct reason for painting Bo in that color? Is it is not to provoke violence? This is a nonsensical move. What is the reason for erecting your portraits in nine locations of the town? That is to say we are not moving forward. Will you like your portraits to be erected in a certain place where in the end it will be destroyed like the way Saddam Hussein's portraits was destroyed? I want you to tell Musa that his action in Bo has not been done even in Makeni and Port Loko where the APC have its stronghold. I am slightly disappointed as far as that issue is concerned. I thought you would have told Musa to stop or otherwise change him. I want you to tell him to copy his compatriot in Kenema. That guy is showing proper maturity. He does his activities in a proper manner not like the one Musa is doing now. He is cool and moving gradually in winning people over to the APC.

I want to end up Sir, by asking you to kindly try to reduce lawlessness in the country. I am afraid, if things continue this way the next six months, no one will be able to do his/her job properly. People, especially the young ones are completely lawless. There is no regard for anything. Everybody is doing what is correct for him/her. Please act now.

Yours sincerely,

Concerned citizen.

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