The work of a good leader

Suddenly, the image of a smiling president has been replaced by the stern face of a no nonsense disciplinarian.

Yesterday, the nation received the news with a rather collective sigh of relief that the president has sacked two of his ministers because of their role in some allege corrupt acts, and that the Anti Corruption Commission has started biting.

Suddenly the popularity of the president has again soared after receiving a rather low turn over the past couple of months. This was not helped by the recent release of musician Emmerson Bockarie’s album criticising the government over corruption.

There is no need denying the fact that corruption has a strong hold over the new APC administration. A lot of people, who had campaigned and had been given positions of trust in the government had assumed it is now their day to amass wealth. These are the dangerous elements sabotaging President Ernest Bai Koroma’s drive to see a better country under his leadership.

A robust approach in solving the country’s problem is a matter that should be given top priority. A lethargic and corrupt approach to public office should not be encouraged. It breeds corruption and this equally breeds a nonchalant attitude when it comes to development oriented programs.

The news that the president has decided to kick out his Minister of Health and Sanitation even before a court action finds him guilty shows there is a new Ernest Koroma which was standing behind the smiling face seen by most Sierra Leoneans on billboards.

The truth is that being President of Sierra Leone is no smiling matter, as the ones being ruled have a tendency to revert to the days of corruption and in the process derail programmes meant for a whole nation.

While the Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating and looking into the matter, it is important that anyone having the slightest stain of corruption, or even an indictment, should be taken out of the scene.

The president is trying to ensure that he does not go to political hell because of a corrupt minister or a head of department. The war against corruption has now officially been declared and by starting with his own ministers, this shows there is no laughing matter.

Beneath the aura of efficiency has been a flurry of corrupt activities which started as soon as the victory signal was made. Ernest Bai Koroma came into State House with the  support of the masses. Notwithstanding what was said during the elections, the victory of Ernest Koroma was seen as a respite from any ties to the former days of corruption, of graft and of deals undertaken under dubious circumstances.

That was why even the opposition SLPP, defeated by an opposition, took solace in the fact that the country is in the capable and safe hands of Ernest Bai Koroma. But as the new administration continued in office, it emerged that a cabal of corrupt individuals have being given a free for all looting, or at least that was what they assumed.

In their rush to grab, these corrupt individuals have comfortably failed to realise that the present government came to power, not through the APC’s perseverance or so called intelligence in politics, but rather in the will of the people generally in demanding for a change.

This change came in the form of Ernest Koroma, whose single personality, rather than anything that the APC can offer, was the secret that entailed the present government in power.

That is why the APC as a party is yet to convince the people of Sierra Leone that they are not the organisation that was chased out of power because of their corrupt and shadowy deals under Joseph Saidu Momoh.

And that is why President Koroma must be relentless in pursuing corrupt elements and weeding them out immediately lest they corrupt others.

That is the way to be a leader.                                                          

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