Thursday March 28, 2013 - US President Obama meets with four African leaders including Sierra Leone's very own Ernest Bai Koroma and he is full of praise for all of them. However President Obama's remarks indicating that Ernest Bai Koroma is a paragon of democracy and good governance ring hollow, dangerously hollow. Who prepared President Obama's briefing notes?

US President Barack Obama has been playing host to four African leaders from Sierra Leone, Malawi, Cape Verde and Senegal and in an address to the press after that meeting was full of praise for each of the leaders in what he sees as the good points that should be strengthened and consolidated by these leaders. 

"The reason that I'm meeting with these four is they exemplify the progress that we're seeing in Africa. All of them have had to deal with some extraordinary challenges. Sierra Leone just 10 years ago was in the midst of a brutal civil war as we've ever seen. And yet, now we've seen consecutive fair and free elections. And under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth."

Oh yes, it was President Barack Obama singing praises from the hymn sheet of good governance in honour of Ernest Bai Koroma - a clear indication that whoever prepared the briefing notes for President Barack Obama must have just landed from another planet, in time to give a false picture to President Obama.

Let us repeat President Obama's statement - "...under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth."

Are we to interpret President Obama's statement as meaning that despite the massive display of intolerance to those viewed as being in opposition to the government, the murderous suppression of protests, the vicious and murderous attacks on women and other citizens, the massive looting of state coffers and the lack of accountability and transparency in the affairs of governance just what President Obama would like to see continued in Sierra Leone?

We hope not and we think not but for the President of the United States of America to make such public remarks in the face of what goes on in Sierra Leone shows only too clearly that this time round, our man at the White House, the one and only President Barack Obama has really not done his homework - and we expected much from someone we believe should be smart enough to know what message his remarks is sending to the people of Sierra Leone.

This is again a part President Barack Obama's speech -

"So what our discussion has focused on is, number one, how do we continue to build on strong democracies; how do we continue to build on transparency and accountability. Because what we've learned over the last several decades is that when you've got good governance -- when you have democracies that work, sound management of public funds, transparency and accountability to the citizens that put leaders in place -- it turns out that that is not only good for the state and the functioning of government, it's also good for economic development because it gives people confidence, it attracts business, it facilitates trade and commerce."

If President Barack Obama can go back and take a look at the images and words as have been spread all over the world, we are sure he would find himself in quite a difficult position explaining just what he meant by -

"...what we've learned over the last several decades is that when you've got good governance -- when you have democracies that work, sound management of public funds, transparency and accountability to the citizens that put leaders in place -- it turns out that that is not only good for the state and the functioning of government, it's also good for economic development because it gives people confidence, it attracts business, it facilitates trade and commerce."

It is no secret that when it comes to the good practices and positive points needed for worthy democratic principles, Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma does not fit in that category. He is far removed from a list that should contain leaders who know what good governance is all about. We are sure that Ernest Bai Koroma himself must have felt uneasy at being adorned with democratic laurels he knows he is far removed from and does not deserve in every sense of the phrase.

What makes President Obama's statement so devious, if not insulting to the people of Sierra Leone who look up to the United States as a beacon of democracy is that Sierra Leone hosts a US embassy in Freetown and if that briefing was not the handiwork of the staff in Freetown, then a couple of phone calls to ordinary citizens would have alerted President Obama that "sound management of public funds, transparency and accountability to the citizens" are principles President Koroma, his government and party operatives shy away from.

Where was President Barack Obama, when the man he is praising to high heavens imported war weapons to arm the ruling party's armed wing, the OSD of the police as Sierra Leone got ready for the November 17, 2012 polls?

Where was President Barack Obama when at the last hour, the Electoral Commission hiked the fees for those wishing to take part in those polls and was forced to backtrack after protests by the people?

Where was President Obama when a Sierra Leonean woman, Musu Conteh protesting against working conditions at one of the exploitative mines where Ernest Bai Koroma is believed to have more than a passing interest, was gunned down, murdered by security forces and even after a report by the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone identifying those responsible did nothing about it?

President Obama should have known by then that he was wasting all those praises on a man who views accountability to the people as an anathema and who despite so many reports of how the peoples resources are wasted, stolen and diverted by public officials, has never taken the right steps to punish state looters.

Where did President Barack Obama get the notion that when it came to issues relating to, in his words, "sound management of public funds" Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone is one leader who does that?

We would urge President Obama to take a look at the 2011 and 2010 audit reports so he can get an idea of how Ernest Bai Koroma and his government engage in "sound management" of the country's finances and resources.

"The reason that I'm meeting with these four is they exemplify the progress that we're seeing in Africa. All of them have had to deal with some extraordinary challenges. Sierra Leone just 10 years ago was in the midst of a brutal civil war as we've ever seen. And yet, now we've seen consecutive fair and free elections. And under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth."

The above paragraph would seem to indicate that it was Ernest Bai Koroma who must have seen Sierra Leone through all those troubled times and conducted all those elections when it is on public record and known to all in Sierra Leone and all over the world that it took quite some courage and statesmanship on the part of former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and other Sierra Leoneans dedicated to see the end of our conflict and to see justice done that got Sierra Leone's former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declaring in 2002 that the war was now officially over.

Even as Sierra Leoneans and friends of the country were praying for the recovery of the nation, came the 1997 violent overthrow of the democratically-elected government - a move that forced the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to go into exile until the AFRC/RUF coalition of evil was removed by the regional ECOWAS peace keeping force, ECOMOG led by Nigeria.

Many of those who carried out that violent overthrow, those that supported the sacking of the democratically-elected government in 1997 are now close associates of President Koroma - a move that has caused long-suffering Sierra Leoneans to label his government as nothing but the murderous and human rights-abusing AFRC/RUF in civilian attire.

We would want to remind President Obama that the only general election Ernest Bai Koroma has conducted in Sierra Leone in the period he glibly refers to is the recent 2012 elections, the declared outcome of which is still a matter for the courts as the main opposition party, the SLPP candidate Julius Maada Bio was of the opinion that the whole exercise was tilted in favour of incumbent President Koroma.

Here's a President who sets up investigation panels after complaints by citizens about the high handedness of the security forces as well as the rape of women of the opposition and who after the reports were submitted to him did nothing - and this is the man that President Obama actually praises as a democrat.

What a farce - what a fiasco - oh what a tragedy.

Mr United States President - all we ask is that you take a second or even third look at your briefing notes and compare those with what obtains on the ground in Sierra Leone in the areas you have outlined above.

We would also like to remind President Barack Obama of his strategy towards sub-Saharan Africa in which among other things he stated that his government would, in his words -

"Promote Accountable, Transparent, and Responsive Governance. The United States will expand efforts to support and empower key reformers and institutions of government at all levels to promote the rule of law, strengthen checks on executive power, and incorporate responsive governance practices. We will also seek to expand African membership in the Open Government Partnership and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which promote sound governance, transparency, and accountability.

Promote and Protect Human Rights, Civil Society, and Independent Media. The United States will amplify and support voices calling for respect for human rights, rule of law, accountability and transitional justice mechanisms, and independent media. Further, we will continue to focus on empowering women and marginalized populations, and opposing discrimination based on disability, gender, or sexual orientation."

Let us again remind President Obama of his commitment to the rule of law, democratic principles and all the good things that make for good governance so that he can see that his praise singing for Ernest Bai Koroma was completely out of tune with what obtains in Sierra Leone. He should have been properly briefed by the US envoy in Sierra Leone to know that opposition candidates get arrested, detained and are not given bail as they await trial while in detention while his supporters aided by the armed forces are encouraged to perpetuate violations against perceived enemies and are let free to continue their violent attacks on the opposition.

"While the continent has made important gains on democracy and institution building, those gains are fragile. There are still too many countries where the transition to democracy is uneven and slow, and leaders who resist relinquishing power. In many countries, corruption is endemic, and state institutions remain weak. In addition to eroding the legitimacy of governments, these factors impede local business activity and foreign investment. Despite having much of the world’s arable land and many of its richest fisheries, the agricultural sectors of many sub-Saharan African states are underperforming, and poverty still cripples the lives of too many. Transnational security challenges pose threats to regional stability, economic growth, and U.S. interests."

President Barack Obama Sierra Leoneans do expect much from you and your latest outburst in praise of a man who does nothing about violence against women and political opponents and would do anything to remain in power as the rape of state resources continue at even more alarming levels is viewed by the suffering masses in Sierra Leone as a disservice and an insult.

President Barack Obama - you have let down many of your admirers with links to Sierra Leone both within and outside the country who look up to you as a worthy example of leadership and a champion for the rights of the oppressed and downtrodden.