Tsunami shuffle to hit Koroma’s cabinet?
For months speculation has been circulating in Sierra Leone and amongst Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora that HE President Ernest Bai Koroma is expected to hit his cabinet with a tsunami shuffle which has many under-performing cabinet ministers already in limbo. (Photo: Adeyemi Paul)
While some ministers continue to focus on their good job, a handful focus on greasing the palms of journalists to promote them positively in the press, while others spend their valuable time sniffing around close friends and family of the president hoping for a few good words on their behalf to be spoken in the president’s ears to keep them in their job.
Our people usually say, “gud players nor dae fet for vest.” If they are doing a good job, why are they worried if they are going to be fired, or “reshuffled?”
This procrastination of the cabinet reshuffle has caused huge panic and unrest amongst cabinet ministers as to whether it will come to fruition. Maybe Koroma just wants to keep them on their toes, or maybe he is still pondering over their evaluations. In the meantime, many ministers are suffering mentally and health wise, dropping pounds/kilos, wondering if their neck is in the noose or not.
One of Koroma’s selling points when running in the 2007 election was that he would run the country as a business if he acquired the presidency and his cabinet members would each be evaluated on their performance. I believe each and every cabinet member signed a contract with the president which empowered him to hire, fire, recyle, or promote based on their evaluation.
A handful of the appointed ministers were fired, some were recycled and others maintained their position, based on their weak or good performance.
Following the same 2007 election, the president preached about ministers being accountable, minimizing/eliminating corruption and having no ‘sacred cows’ in tow. Indeed the president did have some token ministers take their exit after investigation by the Anti Corruption Commission.
It could be recalled that in July this year, President Koroma tested the waters and summoned Cabinet Ministers to a meeting at State House to enable them to renew their commitment, enshrined in their performance contract, signed shortly after APC’s take over in 2007.
Only last month, close sources stated President Koroma listed names of Ministers to be sacked just days before his departure to New York to attend the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly (but the names were not make public). Since then, no mention has been made of the proposed reshuffle and tensions are escalating amongst ministers. Even a few days ago there was speculation that the president would be reshuffling his cabinet by the week end. However, the week has gone before us and there was ‘yeng yeng.’
Is the President hiding behind these hard words of caution to his ministers, or is he going to follow through with this awaited tsunami reshuffle anytime soon, later, or if at all? Sierra Leoneans are still waiting to see what is going to happen …
Globally, President Koroma is recognized as being a man of his word, and his reputation is growing, building credibility for not only himself, but for Sierra Leone as a country. However, critics have accused the toughest of being a flip-flopper. But let’s leave it to history to determine which side of the coin the president’s head is on.
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