At the start of the First Allotted Day for the Presidential Debate on the speech delivered by His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio during the State Opening of the Third Session of the Sixth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone, Rt. Hon. Speaker Segepoh Solomon Thomas, on Monday, 13th October 2025, called on the nation to act responsibly, particularly when engaging with social media.
The Speaker emphasized the importance of adopting a lens of patriotism and nationalism, contrasting Sierra Leone’s behavior with that of other nations.
“We, the politicians, are the ones destroying the image of this country for political reasons. Crimes happen everywhere across the globe. Even in the United States, you have foreigners committing offenses. So why do we portray Sierra Leone as the worst nation on earth? And yet, we want investors to come and create jobs in our country. Who has bewitched this nation?” Speaker Thomas questioned.
He expressed disappointment at the extent to which citizens, particularly politicians, have been tarnishing Sierra Leone’s reputation by propagating false narratives about the country, especially in relation to drug trafficking. He pointed out that such negative portrayals are being led by individuals who are highly respected in society, which he found unfortunate. The Speaker also noted that similar issues are happening in neighboring countries, but their citizens are not going to the extent of publicly discrediting their own nations.
Drawing from his own experience, Speaker Thomas recounted an incident at the Ghana Airport, where police officers confiscated a lady’s phone and smashed it on the ground. Upon investigating further, Speaker Thomas learned that the woman had been trying to post a video on social media of a fight that had occurred at the airport. He was then informed that Ghanaian authorities would not tolerate negative posts on social media that could damage the country’s image.
He also shared that Ghana has systems in place to delete harmful content from citizens’ social media profiles if the government deems it to be reputationally damaging to the country.
“We want people to visit Sierra Leone, we want investors to come and invest in our country, and we want tourists to be attracted here. If we are to achieve these goals, we must be patriotic and nationalistic in our approach. We need to take control over what tarnishes our image. Let us develop the habit of defending our country against actions and narratives that can ridicule our reputation,” Speaker Thomas concluded.