By Kabs Kanu
Everybody, newspapers in Sierra Leone carry screaming and banner headlines about the orgy of corruption going on in the country .
What is worrying everybody is how President Bio campaigned and won on the promise to fight corruption but is now the most lazy and unconcerned head of state as his tribesmen and women rob the country blind. What is the president thinking? Did he actually aspire for the presidency just to enrich himself and his tribal acolytes?
Corruption, like cost of living , has gone through the roof in Sierra Leone during the reign of this lazy and inept president and it is corruption of the most brazen and aggressive types that run into millions. It is not the corruption of the past where the thieves pilfered only hundreds or thousands. This time, the corruption reports are more alarming because they run into millions.
When it is not the AFRICANIST PRESS unearthing massive and undeniable corruption and profligacy with national funds by the very President Bio, who has become a Crime Lord , his wife, ambassadors . ministers and other public SLPP functionaries, it is print and internet newspapers providing dramatic and spectacular scoops about corruption everywhere in the country- State House, Parliament, the judiciary , the embassies and diplomatic missions and the ministries, departments and agencies ( MDAs ) .
It is also like there is no Anti-Corruption Commission in the country, with Francis Ben Kelfala , the Chairman, now a mere showboater and witch hunter of past regime officials , with his antediluvian “Burma Boy” high barb that contrasts sharply with his smart designer suits . SLPP public servants are being accused of constructing mansions around the country and buying homes abroad.
The reason COCORIOKO has not published the photos of mansions that have been built or are under construction by SLPP officials is that we want to investigate thoroughly and be sure of our facts before we start coming out with bombshells. Whistle – blowers who sent us the photos are urging us every day to publish them, but we do not want to misinform the public. We will rather get all our facts first.
What is very surprising is that with all their lousy and loquacious spokesmen and women littering social media, none has been able to credibly refute these reports of corruption by the president, his wife and SLPP public officials . They rather come up with the most brainless and asinine excuse that past APC government officials too dipped their hands in the national cookie jar and were found guilty by the SLPP Commissions of Inquiry. Is that a good and patriotic excuse for the astonishing records of rampant and uncontrolled corruption being set by President Bio, his wife and SLPP officials? So, in Sierra Leone now, the guiding philosophy is, YOU CHOP , I CHOP , PALAVER FINISH ?
No wonder that now whistle – blowers are reporting that whenever SLPP officials are confronted with corruption allegations, they allegedly respond by saying : “Bo, de pa sef dey chop. Who dat dey Charp lek Maada Bio? In wef sef dey chop. Even the Anti- Corruption Commissioner sef dey chop. Nar we for lef? Bo, una lef man ya. APC don chop. Now, it is our turn to chop “. With this kind of attitude, how will Sierra Leone ever prosper and flourish?
And you have a shameful U.S Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC ) that keeps giving President Bio’s government passing grades in the CONTROLLING CORRUPTION index. Are these Americans serious or are they collaborators of the ripoffs going on in Sierra Leone? The people of Sierra Leone have no trust or respect for the integrity of the MCC. They have officials on the ground in Sierra Leone. Aren’t these MCC officials seeing all these reports and evidence of corruption in the Maada Bio government? Don’t they know that the APC is just being used as a scapegoat by the SLPP and that corruption has worsened under this Bio government? But we know what the MCC are doing.
The U.S has a legendary reputation for propping up and promoting corrupt and abusive governments around the world. Was the U.S not the godfather of African corruption mafia bosses like the late Samuel K. Doe of Liberia (who got over U.S $800 million of aid from America ) and the late Mobutu Sese Sekou of DR Congo , whom America helped to build a corruption empire ?
Maada Bio, you better start acting like a man and start cracking down on the unchecked and wide spread corruption threatening to destroy your legacy for all times . The truth you must accept is that despite all your promises and showboating, corruption has spun completely out of control during your tenure. The MCC is just fooling you and Sierra Leoneans, President Bio. Your government is the most corrupt in the history of Sierra Leone.
Act now, Mr. Retired Brigadier, and save our nation. Corruption is fast sinking our nation. Posterity will never forgive you, President Bio, for the thieving mafia you have built and are controlling in Sierra Leone.
