Is President Koroma oversensitive in the face of criticisms? The arrest and detention of Dr. David Tam-Bayoh the owner of Monologue Radio stems from his critical views about the APC government for its failure to investigate the unlawful arrest of innocent men and women; and the unlawful killing of two innocent youths by police officers during a protest in Koidu City, Eastern part of Sierra Leone. Dr. Tam-Bayoh was also critical of the government handling of the Ebola crisis and the president’s attempt to tamper with the constitution which is currently under review. The president, under his special powers ordered the arrest and detention of Dr. Tam-Bayoh but it seems as if the tide has turn against the president who is facing barrage of condemnation from the public for his actions. In the books of Nelson Mandela the first black president of South Africa said “It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism” What Mandela is saying leaders should focus on bigger things to improve the lives of their people than be oversensitive in the face of criticism particularly to apprehend and imprisoned their critics does not make things any better. Indeed Mandela was right. The arrest and detention of Dr. Tam-Bayoh is a classic example that president Koroma is oversensitive in the face of criticism. Those of us who read the late president Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk To Freedom’ will tell you that a leader who is oversensitive in the face of criticism is a failed leader in every aspect ranging from the economy, health, education, housing and infrastructure. For such leaders the only remedy is to suppress their critics, which according to Mandela will fall flat. Dr. Tam- Bayoh is a high profile journalist who is closer to the people; he knows exactly what the people think of the government. President Koroma’s attempt to silent him is twofold and could be either; there is a plot the president is hiding from the public or he wants to deny the public the opportunity to firmly but fairly criticise the government to prevent the abuse of power. Classical signs of dictatorship. In the last decade the world has seen tremendous improvement in human lives, therefore with disease like Ebola any government that treats it in part without consolidated effort is doomed. This is the position Sierra Leone finds itself in. How interesting the president took up the position as chairman for Ebola crisis; he collected thousands of US dollars to combat the disease yet what he gave to the nation was a 72% cube soap to certain households during the three day lock down which saw unreported death from starvation and Ebola related cases. As Ebola continues to kill countless number of Sierra Leoneans, president Koroma wants the nation to be silent over his government handling of the virus. The virus broke out in Guinea, down to Liberia and later Sierra Leone; in these countries people are dying a fact no one can dispute. In Guinea and Liberia there is a massive reduction of death rate while in Sierra Leone the death rate continues to rise. Schools are close down until next year, the radio programmes set up to deliver lessons are not effective and monies raised to control the virus are not accounted for. There is a total breakdown of the Health Service System. Health workers helped spread the disease through assumptions and lack of proper diagnosis of sick people who come to health centres complaining of head ache and fever are forcefully quarantine alongside Ebola infected people, end up on death beds. Such actions have the potential to scare people away from health care centres for fear they would be wrongly quarantine as Ebola victims. And the irony is president Koroma doesn’t want anyone to ask questions about these difficult matters affecting the nation. It is rather unfortunate that Dr. Tam-Bayoh was arrested for raising significant issues particularly the government tampering with the work of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC); is nothing new. You could recall Dr. Jones resigned from the CRC for the same reasons that the powers that be were interfering with their work. Dr. Jones is a credible man he cannot stand the propensities of the powers that be to manipulate the constitution to suit them and their cronies. But again president Koroma don’t want you or anyone else to speak about it. Whether Mr. Tam-Bayoh made the aforementioned claims or not it is clear that the constitution is tampered with to lengthen president Koroma’s term of office against the will of the people. If the constitution is to be amended to extend the term of the presidency, or replace the presidency with a Prime Minister while the incumbent president becomes a ceremonial president a referendum must be held were the citizenry should vote for or against any such amendment. Undoubtedly there are signs that without public consultation on these matters it will meet with stiff resistance from the people. Though president Koroma is a good leader, this however does not put him above criticism. The president should know that leadership is a big responsibility that comes along with fair amount of disrespect which should not be viewed with the thought that it is an incitement when people ask salient questions about his administration. As a leader and the first gentleman of the nation people expect him to cope with criticism from any member of the public and not react defensively to justify his actions by arresting his critics. Dr. Tam-Bayoh’s arrest has made him a national hero for the second time and opens the door for a new wave of criticism of president Koroma and his policies. Criticising the president would not go away until the president leaves office. It is not easy as a human to take criticism, but what is clear a leader is expected to be criticised; this brings the best outcomes for both the short and long terms. Based on the aforementioned construct; president Koroma made a grave error to be oversensitive in the face of criticism.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 22:08:04 +0000