Ex-President Koroma Lashes Out At President Bio Over Sustained Attack On His Person

Former President Ernest Koroma has lashed out at the President Julius Maada Bio-led Government of Sierra Leone over what he called a ceaseless attack on his person, which reached the crescendo with the former leader’s recent corruption indictment by the Commission of Inquiry, which also led to travel ban placed on him and a good number of the officials who served under him.

Koroma’s response through a strong-worded release he personally signed, is also coming on the heels of his invitation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to appear before it on Monday, October 5, 2020, in Freetown for an investigation into his involvement in corruption activities while he held sway as the country’s supremo.

According to the ACC, the investigation will probe into allegations of corruption and abuse of office, made by the Commission of Inquiry in their report and the government’s White Paper published last week.

Particularly, the ACC says it was investigating a number of allegations of corruption involving the former president, including his link to a Chinese mining company named –  Xin Lin, the procurement of 100 public service buses, a NASSIT funded market construction project, and several properties believed to be owned by the former president.

According to the report, the president is currently living in Makeni – northern Sierra Leone, and it is still doubtful whether he would honour the invitation timely.

The former president warns the government – “I will muster all available legitimate and democratic means to robustly defend my reputation which is being tarnished so mindlessly.”

According to the former president of Sierra Leone, this is his “preliminary statement on the release of the reports of the Commissions of Inquiry, the White Paper, and other hostile government actions”.

His reply read thus: “I have learned with utter disappointment about some of the defamatory contents of the Reports of the Commissions of Inquiry and the White Paper thereto pertaining to some of the activities I undertook while exercising my official functions as President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. I have also noted with utter dismay the Government’s hostility against me and some officials who served in my administration.

“While it is apparent that the allegations against me are without merit and are a politically motivated charade calculated to impugn my hard-earned reputation, I further believe that the government’s relentless heckling around me has reached undue and unacceptable levels that amount to political harassment.

“For ten years, I served my country diligently, fairly, and with honour and integrity. My government was widely recognised for its robust fight against corruption, for consolidating peace, rebuilding the country’s battered infrastructure, for improving the lives of our people in many ways, and for the peaceful, smooth democratic transition I superintended.

“It is unfortunate that the government has chosen this route to unduly tarnish my reputation because of politics. Such ridiculous political witch hunt does not only scare good and well-meaning citizens from getting involved in governance; it also has the propensity of undermining peaceful democratic transitions on the continent as current leaders following these unfortunate events in Sierra Leone might find it difficult to readily hand over power, especially to opposition political parties.

“On my part, whilst I will always support the fight against corruption and the quest for accountability in public office, I will muster all available legitimate and democratic means to robustly defend my reputation which is being tarnished so mindlessly. In that vein, I will once again defer to my lawyers to look into the Reports, the White Paper, and the series of maligning actions being instituted against me; to advise on my next course of action.”