September 20, 2021
By: Dadson A. Musa
Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio is our current president in Sierra Leone and he cannot be detached from history especially when our democracy is mentioned. He was a military head of state when the first multi-party democratic elections were held in this country. As a young military officer he handed power to the winner of that election and proceeded to do his studies abroad. He got his first degree and master’s degree plus some other diplomas and is still a doctorate candidate. President Bio attended the prestigious Bo Government secondary school. That school has the most admirable alumni association in Sierra Leone. That first singular stance of handing over power willingly had long endeared him to civilized countries in the west.
For that, he had since been counted among civilized citizens of the world. After his studies he came back to be part of development and also to build on the democratic gains of his country.
He has that virtue which is patience. That is why after losing first to be flag bearer and then again to be president he did not lose heart nor give up or do things unbecoming of him. He did not resort to any activity that was going to cause problem or dent his own image, he waited. In 2018 he was voted as president of the republic of Sierra Leone defeating an incumbent government in a free, fair and credible election. His reputation as a true democrat is cemented and burnished. Before the elections in 2018, the west had seized having affair with and funding of our development programmes for reasons best known to them. Just after Maada Bio was elected president, Sierra Leone was seriously reengaged after implementation of pro-people and pro-development projects.
As president, he set out to improve on the human capital of his nation by introducing the free quality education. This has taken off the burden on parents for him school fees was a serious burden. Books are supplied and vulnerable communities get meals in their various schools just so that children are retained in schools. Enrolment in our schools has gone up exponentially and this has the potential for our country to come up with not only educated children but disciplined ones also as the school is an agent of change. There is also a handsome package awaiting teachers and heads of schools which was put on hold due to covi-d19. Now learning starts immediately after school reopening which was not the case in the past.
The repeal of part five of the obnoxious criminal libel law which has given journalists the latitude to practice their trade. This has given press freedom a big boost in the country as it is a necessary ingredient for the growth of our democracy. Libel is no longer criminalized and the country was hailed around the world for such venture. In addition to that there is an annual subvention to the journalist body, SLAJ to help ease the work of the press which is financially constrained.
Corruption fight under president Bio has been hailed as step in the right direction as so many funds have been recovered. Officials in most MDAs are now careful about the way they spend government money. This is the reason IMF, World Bank, AfDB, IDB, ECOWAS; AU etc. are giving government the needed support in the form of budgetary support and other necessary project support in the country. This government under president Bio has also won $400,000,000 MCC compact which is unprecedented in the history of our democracy. And in the fight against corona, Sierra Leone was a shining light which got other countries from the world to learn from how we did it.
So just three years of his rule has seen bold new moves which attracted the attention of the west to this once war-ravaged country in West Africa. There is a promise of more and Sierra Leone is slowly becoming an investment destination in Africa as the infrastructure is beginning to look good.