THE OSWALD HANCILES COLUMN Dr. Samura Kamara is Revolutionizing The Foreign Ministry Dr. Samura Kamara, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFaIC), is set to revolutionize Sierra Leone’s foreign policy domain. He aims to raise “Sierra Leone’s voice” in the global gladiator-like arena; taking advantage of what he told me last week in an exclusive interview in his Gloucester Street foreign ministry office are “opportunities which have always been there - but never fully exploited”. Dr. Samura Kamara is being inspired, and spurred, by President Ernest Bai Koroma’s “bolder and transformational national development aspirations” . As another propellant to achieve his audacious developmental ambition within the shortest possible time (to make Sierra Leone into a Middle Income country 25 years), the President seeks to transform the MFaIC into a “first class foreign policy establishment” - with the capacity to, as Dr. Kamara pointed out, demonstrate Sierra Leone’s “legitimacy”...contributing towards “ delivering global peace, security, and development, while advancing national interests...”. Sierra Leone’s contribution to world peace in tandem with seeking its peculiar “national interests”, Dr. Kamaru opined, are“concepts (which) are inseparable and mutually reinforcing”. Global international relations now complex; and fluid The global diplomatic arena has radically changed over the past twenty years. Today, it is more complex. With opportunistic fluidity! The rise of China as a resource-rapacious power on the global stage; the emergence of the ‘BRICS’ group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as formidable players challenging the status quo of largely European/American/Australian/Canadian/Japanese nations; the dizzying pace of communication accelerated by internet technology.... mandates radically novel dynamics of international relations and diplomacy. “How prepared is Sierra Leone’s foreign policy establishment to take advantage of these emerging realities to rebrand the country and seek the country’s interests”, Dr. Samura Kamara asked rhetorically, hunkered behind his paper-laden desk, his shirt characteristically without a tie, his dour-coloured coat with his permanent half-bemused visage giving him a professorial aura. President Koroma’s wisdom: from finance minister to foreign minister In response to his own rhetorical flourish, the normally soft-spoken Dr. Samura Kamara gave a hint on “the wisdom” of President Koroma (Our President was a Managing Director of Sierra Leone-originated Reliance Insurance Corporation – in which he was a major shareholder - for about two decades) in shuffling Dr. Samura as finance minister to being foreign minister. (The recent examples of finance ministers becoming foreign ministers are Liberia’s Augustine Gaffie; and Ivory Coast’s Charles Koffou. Their presidents have impressive business or finance/economics backgrounds: Eileen Johnson-Sirleaf was finance minister in the government of Rev. William R. Tolbert in the late 1970s, and, was a Vice President of one of the leading banks in the world, CitiBank, for over a decade; the Ivorian President, Alhassan Outtara, was a senior Director in the IMF for decades). A seasoned professional, Dr. Samura Kamara had been a ‘finance man’ for about forty years. (He has worked at senior levels in the IMF , World Bank, and Commonwealth finance offices; he was the Financial Secretary in the SLPP government of President Tejan Kabbah; Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone and finance minister in the APC government of President Koroma). Dr. Samura Kamara is reputed to be one of the brains that was instrumental in the “reform” of the revenue sectors of government, leading to the merger of the income tax and customs revenue agencies that engendered the National Revenue Authority... It does appear as if it is this ‘reform’ background that could have gotten the President to position Dr. Samura Kamara in the foreign ministry - to reform what is slowly emerging from half a century of professional stagnation. Dr. Samura Kamara aims to “reposition” MFaIC, and make it developmentally relevant, and productive in diplomatic and, even, financial terms. Foreign ministry’s SWOT to swat away the incompetents? Dr. Samura told me that he has stimulated the MFaIC to do “diagnostic studies” of itself, leading to a “SWOT analysis”. Strengths and opportunities of the MFaIC have been identified. The strengths include a lot of well-educated professionals in the MFaIC with considerable foreign experience. However, Dr. Samura Kamara bemoaned “major weaknesses” in his ministry. This includes “poor staff management ...; weak communications; a chronic lack of resources; ....staff deeply de-motivated...” Sierra Leone’s foreign ministry establishment is a “national disgrace”!! Some veterans of the foreign ministry of Sierra Leone who I spoke with were not as pedantic or diplomatic as Dr. Samura Kamara in describing the MFaIC’s weaknesses. “It is in shambles”, said one. Another scoffed at MFaIC’s foreign mission thus: “Anarchic!!”. A former ambassador told me bitterly: “Our foreign ministry is a national disgrace...!” Over the past five years there has been a major Sierra Leone foreign mission in Europe where the ambassador and his deputy have been in a state of ‘permanent cold war’. The ambassador would complain that his deputy would block out invitations to important occasions meant only for the ambassador, and, he would only learn about them when his ambassadorial peers would ask him after an event - embarrassingly - why he had not attended this or that function. There is another foreign mission where the press attaché defiantly told the ambassador that he would never write anything that would promote the ambassador – because the ambassador had dared to control his excesses. How productive are Sierra Leone’s press attaches No other government in history has posted as many press attaches to foreign countries as the APC government of President Koroma: nearly every foreign mission of Sierra Leone has a press attaché. These press attaches are supposed to do marketing of Sierra Leone in the print and electronic media within the country, and/or region, where they are posted; they are also to inform us back home about what they are doing in their missions, and, relay back home information which would be relevant. Out of the prolific John Baimba Sesay in Beijing, and Alhaji Jalloh in Riyadh, Pasco Temple in Washington, most of these press attaches are almost invisible. I may have missed it: but, I am not aware of any of these press attaches having had articles published in foreign media, and having them re-published in local newspapers, with the words, for example, ‘culled from The Times of London’ of ‘culled from The Guardian of Nigeria’. Our ambassadors “don’t sign performance contracts” Dr. Samura Kamara who raised his voice indignantly as he told me last week that our ambassadors “don’t sign performance contracts” would have to institute some performance evaluation and appraisal for them in his “reform” process. Given the relatively huge sums of desperately–needed foreign currency that is expended to upkeep our foreign missions, the public and legislators who Dr. Samura Kamara aims to lobby to dramatically increase funding to radically upgrade our foreign missions are likely to demand to know about the productivity level of those who are there presently. How many investors do they attract? How well do they project the image of our country? Do they engage in espionage to detect threats to our national sovereignty from their foreign postings? “The President has often told them that they are not just posted in embassies to attend cocktail parties and drink champagne”, Dr. Samura Kamara said derisively. But what this President said our foreign mission staff should not be doing only..... is what they have been doing largely since independence. And still largely do.!! Most Sierra Leoneans have the attitude, and adopt the stance, that they are posted to overseas missions to enjoy themselves; to enrich themselves. Because of their mindset, most of them know that the developed countries concentrate a lot of time and resources in their foreign missions to acts of espionage – to gain some competitive advantage for their countries - but, they would not even hazard dreaming of emulating them. Espionage is the norm by developed country foreign missions These are some of the published reactions to the recent expose of the US’ spying on its European allies: President François Hollande of France issued some of the harshest language yet from a European leader on the issue, telling reporters that “we cannot accept this kind of behavior between partners and allies” ....Elmar Brok, an outspoken German who is chairman of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that “the spying has reached dimensions that I did not think were possible for a democratic country.” He said the United States had been acting like ‘Big Brother’, like what iconic writer George Orwell published in his book, “1984”. The Chinese government stands accused by some global media of espionage through its Ministry of State Security. (Big deal, really!: every reader of Western novels know that U.S, UK, Israel and Russian embassies are always reeking with CIA, KGB, MI-1, MOSSAD spies!!). China is the new kid on the block as regards intense spying by its foreign missions. In recent years, China has become more aggressive in industrial espionage and cyber spying. Lessons? I lived in Liberia for twelve years.... right up to 1989 when the Charles Taylor-ignited civil war flared in that country. In the 1980s, the Sierra Leone embassy in Liberia largely would treat Sierra Leoneans in Liberia with sheer contempt, even hostility. Speculatively, I could state that about 30% of teachers, doctors, administrators, etc. in Liberia are of Sierra Leonean heritage. If the Sierra Leone Embassy in Liberia had been doing their job well enough, they would have easily harnessed the ubiquity of Sierra Leoneans in Liberia, and garnered relevant information to adequately inform General Joseph Saidu Momoh’s government about the volatile situation brewing in Liberia under President Samuel Kanyan Doe’s government – and, if Momoh’s government had taken its foreign mission in Liberia seriously, militarily preventative action could have been taken to stymie the Liberian war filtering into Sierra Leone. The quarter million lives lost could have been saved; the billions of dollars lost during the war used for development; the enormous damaged done to the image of Sierra Leone globally as a result of the nauseous Foday Sankoh-led rebel war could have been prevented. To be effective, the President has to work closely with his foreign minister Dr. Samura Kamara “reform” could change all that. He aims at a MFaIC with “a strong thematic and regional nexus”; with a “more visible and realistic deployment of staff and a career path for better preparation of potential career diplomats”. There would be “room for diversity in terms of core competencies for a relatively more complete foreign service staff – law, economics and finance, political science including international relations and diplomacy, public service and administration and management, project analysis, protocol and consular services, negotiating and analytical skills... “ All that could be just ‘theory’ if a foreign minister is not powerful enough; does not have access to the President; or, if a president does not understand the potentialities in a dynamic foreign affairs thrust. Fortunately, President Koroma, with growing recognition and respect in international quarters, is eager to soar in foreign skies – so, he has given virility to his foreign minister, Dr. Samura Kamara.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 06:30:51 +0000
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