Ex-Liberian president Sirleaf in talks with former President of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 15 June 2019:

Liberia’s former president – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone today, where she is holding talks with the former president of Sierra Leone – Ernest Bai Koroma.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in Sierra Leone this weekend to attend tomorrow Sunday’s launching of the Tejan Kabba Foundation for Peace and Democracy in Freetown.

It is not clear why the former Liberian president is visiting Ernest Bai Koroma, but there are speculations her visit may not be unconnected with the rising political tension and recent violence in Sierra Leone, following the defeat of the Ernest Bai Koroma’s APC party at the polls last March.

Relations between the Bio-led SLPP government and the APC turned sour, after the election of the country’s speaker of parliament, which the APC says was unconstitutional, given the APC’s majority in parliament at the time.

Then came election petitions and disqualification of a whole swathe of elected APC members of parliament, accused by the ruling SLPP of electoral malpractice. The decision to exclude them from parliament has recently been endorsed by the judiciary.

The opposition APC have made their complaints known to the West African regional body – ECOWAS, including the sacking of hundreds of public servants by the SLPP government believed to be appointees of the former APC government, as well as violence against their supporters which they say have been carried out by the SLPP.

APC have also expressed deep concern over the removal of the security detail of former president Koroma, without consultation with the former president.

President Bio has recently been invited for talks in Senegal and Guinea with the aim of finding a peaceful resolution to the political impasse that has engulfed Sierra Leone.

It is understood that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will be hoping to help ease tension between the Bio-led SLPP government and the APC, by holding talks with the APC chain of command in Makeni.

Arriving in Makeni, the former Liberian President said: “I cannot come to Sierra Leone and leave without seeing my brother”.

According to report from the Office of former president Koroma, Ernest Bai Koroma has been invited to attend tomorrow’s launch of the Ahmed Tejan Kabba Foundation, but said he will attend subject to the government restoring his personal security.

The government had said it had withdrawn the state security attached to former president Koroma on the grounds of ‘routine security rotation’.

But the former president objected to what he regarded as the unceremonious manner in which “such so-called routine security rotation” was done, saying it was “suspect, discourteous and unacceptable”.

The office of former president Koroma says that despite Koroma’s protests and his expressed concern for his safety, the government has failed to restore the former president’s state security, which will make it impossible for Koroma to attend tomorrow’s launch of the Tejan Kabbah Foundation in Freetown.

It is expected that both the former Liberian president and Ernest Bai Koroma, may travel together in the former Liberian president’s convoy to Freetown to attend the launch.

But supporters and senior executives of the ruling SLPP are calling for former president Koroma to step down from active national politics.

“Until he does, he will not receive the respect deserving of a former president,” says one senior government minister.

14 Comments

  1. Strange is it not, that the unsmiling British have still not outgrown their old underhanded, criminal, deceitful ways? A century ago, they were Merchants trading in slaves, stealing men women and children from their peaceful homes to be sold in slave markets, at exorbitant prices across the globe.

    You would think they would have rehabilitated themselves. Nope, it did not end there – their thieving, fidgeting hands, stole gold and diamonds as countless and as high as great pyramids made of sand and carried them unremorsefully away. As if that was not enough, those Pinocchios, could not help themselves, but kept on poking their inquisitive noses in our last Election.

    The truth of the matter is that, had it not been for outright daylight robbery and theft we would not be having this conversation today. It is silly to even compare a withering, temporal, fading Palm tree to the Eternal sun, whose dazzling array of lights fill our universe with magical displays of splendour. Please keep the name of the Almighty out of your crooked ways, thefts and robberies, for that is offensive to me.

    Come next election, we will hew and cut down your old Palm tree for good, and leave it to rot out in the open under the fury of the Everlasting Sun…Ya heard! Rising Sun Will Rise Again.

  2. Sometimes while we are in a mode of parody our lack of circumspection is revealed in all its stark realities – we allow emotions to seize us. The sun does not always rise,it does set,telling most of us that it is time to wrap up the day for much needed rest for purposes of rejuvenation in preparation of a new dawn.

    The palm tree has captured the new dawn as “shrivelled,withering and old”as it is.Over a year ago it overshadowed the all-powerful sun and almost dislodged it from its axis as designed by the Almighty.But for the Merciful Hand of the Almighty the solar system would have disintegrated as all the planets lose their relationship with the sun in their everyday rotation. We would have all died.

    Out of the dawn rose Maada Bio whose activities to eradicate corruption in our dear country has earned him the unspeakable wrath of APC who had transformed the nation to their personal property in keeping with their DNA slant,which first raised its ugly head with intensity during the Siaka Stevens/Joseph Momoh misrule,a period in which all our institutions which were once the envy of the sub-region lost their sparkle.

    What the nation is now witnessing is a bantamweght standing over a heavyweight whom he floored in the second round and sent him into what the late legendary boxer,Mohamad Ali,called the “half-dream room”,a room full of strange things and events.Unless one knows how to act one’s way out of this room the fight is over.

    APC are punch-drunk and in a confused state.They are not even sure what their role in society should be anymore.

  3. I still wonder why the APC Chairman has decided to abandon his dream house that the Chinese rewarded him with after demolishing his house that he built from scratch through honest and hard labor before he became president. I was hoping that common sense should have taught him that the house he demolished should have been his pride and monument.

    I hope that the COI will investigate the terms and conditions under which the Chinese rewarded him this millions of dollars house; and if it was through corruption, then the government should convert that house to a community hospital.

  4. Imaging that – comparing the immortal Rising Sun to a shrivelled, withering, unfruitful old palm tree. Indeed, one has no other choice but to pause for a minute and laugh. In case you are not aware,all the lights in the Universe are created and generated through laser-focused energies emanating from the Eternal Sun. Yep,it is like no other – Incomparable!

    The Everlasting Sun that gives life to all things alive on earth,in celestial realms,and planets only a few men and women called Astronauts have ever seen – that is so gigantic in size, a million Earth’s can fit perfectly inside of it – No kidding at all! The indestructible Sun,is an entity that is responsible for 99 percent of mass in the Solar system; a unique golden star,its also called,that tirelessly creates endless,unique,mesmerizing Sunrises,and Sunsets,we can see only once in our lifetime – and you have the guts and audacity to compare it to an ordinary, fragile, changeable, degradable Palm tree?

    Wake up man, witness and see the light that subdues the unprofitable darkness, and transforms it to the captivating light of day…Rising Sun Will Rise Again.

  5. Even though his positives are turned into negatives, the threshold for comparison is always referenced to Ernest Bai Koroma (EBK). In that sense, it is logical to say that this man must be a GREAT MAN!

    The visit by the highly acclaimed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to this man is a clear manifestation of his greatness – and no amount of twisting and turning will devoid the people of Sierra Leone of the fact that EBK is the father of modern Sierra Leone; his legacy. Period.

  6. The DNA of APC would never allow them to pay any attention to reason. This should be clear to anyone who is familiar with their history. The manifestation of their political trait started within three years of their victory at the pools in 1967 under Siaka Stevens. The centre of this trait is violence and an unmitigated disregard for the rule of law and common decency.There are evidence of this all over the place – too many to narrate here.

    With such characteristic, the good intention of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is futile. The only wish of APC at the moment is for the country to descend into a civil conflict to render the Bio administration helpless and hopeless until the next general elections. The devastating effects this could have on the country is immaterial to them [APC]- it epitomises their selfishness.

    Earnest Koroma is not interested in any dialogue that will bring peace to the country because he was denied a third term a year ago, which would have enabled him and his gang to continue plundering the nation, at the end of which they would have mortgaged the country to the Chinese.

    In modern times, any public figure who is assigned security quite simply accepts what is given to him/her by the secret service or whatever the agency is, which is manned by people who have been trained in the art of security.In some countries the recipient of such security does not even get to know the agents personally, he simply knows that they are there – some of them in uniform and some of them disguised in plain clothes and armed to the teeth.

    To those who keep saying that ‘the sun will rise again’ – I say yes, this may be the case, but for now the sun is being eclipsed by the palm tree. And if its branches keep bringing comfort to the people through the shade they cast, the sun will have trouble reaching its zenith again in the near future.

  7. A good leader is the one who give chance to those in power to work for the country. For example, President Kabba after his tenure moved back and allowed President Koroma to deliver. Why not the same this time around?

  8. Ernest Bai Koroma is a true leader. His aim and objectives are unknown in this country. Peace must prevail and we APC will continue to stand up for that.

  9. I do like the way President Bio is handling the situation, showing to the whole world who he is, indeed he’s a matured leader for the country. E.B.K. is really lucky because, Democracy is in play or else this won’t happen. This man don’t even recognize Capt. Strasser as a former head of state of Sierra Leone, he always thinks that he owns Sierra Leone.

    But we want to assured him that nobody is above the law. This guy sacked the elected VP without notice, and removed all his security without fear. Who is Koroma to tell President Bio what he wants? Even the late Siaka Steven, when he passed on the power to late Momoh, he distanced himself from politics and stayed away from all nonsense. But this man is different from the others, a chairman and leader for APC for life. He is even planning to change the constitution so that, Sierra Leone will become a monarchical state. Koroma has to keep quiet.

  10. Good to hear it – Perhaps Africa’s first democratically elected female President and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, will be able to talk some sense into the heads of Mr President and his lackadaisical, insouciant crew. And who knows, she might just also be able to tighten and fix those numerous loose screws dangling and rattling inside their incompetent heads.

    The legendary, highly esteemed APC is always ready and willing to engage in constructive and meaningful dialogue. This just might be the last chance for the SLPP to salvage what’s left of their dwindling credibility in the eyes of the World. It still remains to be seen if they can seize their lowest political moment, touch and transform it to Gold. – Rising Sun Will Rise Again.

  11. Ernest Koroma is a man who loves to fantasize. Does he decide who his GOVERNMENT-PAID security officials should be? This is a man who withdrew the security detail of late president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah without any explanation. The same was done to vice president Samuel Samsumana. And he (Koroma) wants to be treated like a king, even when he has loads of corruption charges hanging over his head? This guy is indeed a dreamer.

  12. Go and hold whatever peace something you want to make but our president will not attend. GOOD LUCK.

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