By: Saidu Jalloh (Intern)
The presidential Spokesman, Alhaji Alpha Kanu has on the government weekly press briefing at the Foreign Affairs conference hall on Tuesday 5th September 2023 said that government officials are exempted from the United States Visa restriction.
This clarification comes as many speculations going on about government officials are ban from travelling to US on alleged election rigging.
Alhaji Alpha Kanu stated that the restriction didn’t target any individual or government officials but those who the US had believed and identified to disrupt the elections, using vulgar words and tampered with the democratic process of Sierra Leone.
“What government has to do? The Americans own their country, they admit who they want and they refuse who they want and restrict who they want, and the information release by the America secretary of state stated clearly that the restriction do not target Sierra Leone people including government officials but certain individuals who they believe have hands in undermining democracy in Sierra Leone,” presidential Spokesman said.
“We as a government don’t know of any vote rigging but they know and they know why they say this. The net which the US casts is wide it includes almost everyone that involves in politics or the past election or possible those who made some threatening remarks on inciting statement on others,” Alpha Kanu explained.
Alpha Kanu stated that they didn’t only release that information but also release certain law in article 212 (a) 3 (c) which he said stated clearly that if the United States of America wanted to apply their law on strangers or visitors that the law would not apply on anyone who works for foreign governments and Sierra Leone is a foreign government, and could also not apply on anyone who would contest election in foreign countries in the period before the election. Maybe after the election the law would apply on you but if you were a serving member of the government it would not affect you that was what the law said.
Alpha Kanu also reads the caveat, “Foreign nationals may be inadmissible if granting the foreign nationals a visa would cause a potential serious adverse foreign policy consequence for the US. However, it doesn’t apply to an alien who is an official of a foreign governments or purported government,” presidential Spokesman reads.
He furthered that even if the government was not recognized but by popularly accepting it by the people and you were working for that government the law wouldn’t restrict you because they didn’t want to interfere with or in the democratic process of other countries.
He clarified that if you were not government officials and you were involved in election rigging and throwing threatening remarks and inciting people in disturbing the democratic process in Sierra Leone, the law would apply, but if you were working for government according to their immigration law you were exempted unless they wanted to skew it.
“Sierra Leone democracy is intact but everyone has their own perception about democracy. It all subjects to people assessment, but we here in Sierra Leone and the people of Sierra Leone believe that Sierra Leone democracy is intact,” Alpha Kanu stated.
The presidential Spokesman narrated that, president Maada Bio was once a military leader and was young and energetic to stay long in power but he believed in democracy and promised to hand over power in few months which he did.
Alpha Kanu also said, ” when Sierra Leone was in chaos or in war and everyone was running helter skelter that was the time this young man now president Bio stood firm and said look this war would not take us any forward let us go and look for the perpetrator and bring him to the table and talked peace and president Bio did that.
“He believed that he can offer Sierra Leoneans things they want, so he came and contested for elections in 2012 and lost. He didn’t disrupt any process and 2018, he came and God made him possible for him to win and 2023 again he won. Look at the progress in the educational system he has brought, the fight against corruption, the position Sierra Leone is ranked in the global peace index 39 out of 193 countries and third in west Africa,” Alpha Kanu asserted.
He concluded by noting that if president Bio was a dictator not democratic and despotic, Sierra Leone wouldn’t not have achieved all this.
