How we can shame Elliott?

While Sierra Leoneans were waiting to jubilate ahead of last week’s World Health Organization’s ( WHO) declaration of the country being Ebola-transmission free, a certain British man was on the air (courtesy Umaru Fofana) claiming that the dreaded virus was going to make an about- face -turn  to the country. (Photo:  author, Osman Benk Sankoh)

Fofana is an accomplished media personality within and outside the country with a peerless large following on social media. The minute he posted the UK’s diplomat Dr. Marshall Elliott’s claims, they went viral in an instant.

If Elliott thought he was doing Sierra Leoneans a favour, he must have shot himself in the heels for what I believe was for the right reasons which, to most of my countrymen and women, were unnecessary diarrheas of the mouth.

For the wrong reasons, Elliott became an instant internet sensation with WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages and other social media outlets; Sierra Leoneans have been on the troll and prowl. They could take none of it from the British man, a product of our colonial masters, after all!

To me, the abuses and the invoking of divine insults on Elliott, who was merely speaking his mind based on the facts (I assume), have the echoes of Nigerians who in 2010 called for the head of their midfielder, Sani Haruna Kaita.

If you have forgotten, during Nigeria’s second match in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Kaita was sent off for needlessly kicking Vasilis Torodis after the Greek player motioned as if to throw a ball at him. The Greeks went on to win the match 2-1 and on to this day, Nigerians have not reconciled with Kaita who was lucky not to pay with is life. A certain Colombian soccer star, Pablo Escobar, was killed on his return to Colombia after scoring an own goal in the 1994 World Cup in USA .

The timing may be wrong and without the use of ‘if’ or ‘may,’ Elliott must have gotten on the nerves of many Sierra Leoneans.  But wait a minute:  knowing us for what we are, do we need any other perfect timing for the alarm bell to be rung? In my mind, Elliott, I think, had good intentions. He was trying to predict a catastrophe and came down forcefully on us. Elliott and his categorical statement aside, rather than call for his head to be dried on a ‘banda, ’we must now work together to prove him wrong.

Whether you like Elliott or you want thunder to strike his head, you don’t need a researcher to tell you that Ebola has a way of making its unannounced entrance days, months or even years after a country is declared free of transmission.

I work in a neighboring country that was first  struck by Ebola before it crossed the borders into Sierra Leone, much the same way the Revolutionary United Front ( RUF)  rebels of Foday Sankoh  (obviously  not my relation) crossed from Liberia and attacked Bomaru on March 23 , 1991. Like then, complacency crept in and we were quick to dismiss the Ebola virus as non- existent.

Regarding the war, we were told that some elements of Charles Taylor’s rebels were hungry and had crossed over to Sierra Leone to scavenge for food but that they had been beaten back by our gallant army. For Ebola, again, the same mistake was made and we paid dearly.  First, we said it was ‘Lassa fever,’ others said it was a ploy to get the international community to pour money into government coffers for whatever reasons. Yet, others claimed it was APC- SLPP political theatrics. The denial and counter denial went on and on.

The point is, when Elliott said Ebola would come back, you need not look too far to discount his claims. In Liberia, barely few months after the country was given an Ebola free pass, it struck again but they already had the structures in place to checkmate it.  In 1975, Zaire had its first case of the virus. In 1995, Ebola reappeared. In 2001, 2002 and again in 2003, now Republic of Congo was struck by Ebola. In 2007, 2008 2009 and 2014, Ebola was also an unwanted guest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  In 1976 and 1979, Sudan was caught up in the Ebola mess.  Gabon has had four outbreaks of the dreadful hemorrhagic fever and Ugand,two.

Now, with all these facts, was Elliott wrong to tell us the inevitable?  What is wrong with making a statement that should urge us not to rest on our buttocks?’

Instead of calling for Elliott to rot in hell, we should transfer that energy into having government and ourselves work towards preventing Ebola from knocking on our doors again.

Today, we blame Elliott for putting his mouth in what most of us consider not his business. But I  would say, “ let he who does not have an ‘Elliot’ in him or her cast the first stone.” We spent needless hours on Radio Talk Shows or in street corners or ghettoes in unprovoked attacks either on the government or the opposition, and it’s fine by us but now, when somebody says something that should prick our conscience and spur us to action, we want to lynch him like angry mobs?

I want us to shame Elliott and the only way we can do that as a nation is by not being complacent. Let’s be vigilant; let’s pour resources into preventive measures and ensure that Elliott’s statement does not come to pass.

Elliott has made a statement and it’s our collective duty to prove him wrong. Till then, I stand by his story.

By Osman Benk Sankoh

The author was onetime Editor at Concord Times and his views expressed are personal.

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