By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
One of the misfortunes of Sierra Leone’s several misfortunes is the factual fact that most of our national leaders, since Independence in 1961 to date, seem not to have run a well-structured and disciplined home before they became Head of State.
If a man is well self-disciplined, has high self-esteem, knows basic home economies, and has the wherewithal to command respect from his wife and children (and even his step-children); then if such a man is tasked with the honour of running a country, he will be home and dry with the modus operandi of statecraft because charity had already begun at his own home!
But if a man has repeatedly shown his inability to control the activities of his wife outside their home; if that man has over-pampered his children (and step-children) to the point of them becoming public nuisances; if that man allows his siblings and other members of his extended family to be meddling in his official duties, then such a man is not expected to administer a nation effectively if given the chance.
Before now, the meddling in state affairs by either a First Lady or any member of the Head of State’s family was minimal at worst or very hard to notice at best. But the activities, the social media antics, and gaffes of First Lady Fatima Bio seem to be giving sane and right-thinking Sierra Leoneans the frightened impression that President Julius Maada Bio seems to be a sort of a henpecked husband!
Most of the recent national embarrassments and scandalous scandals that have been associated with the Bio-led administration appear to have emanated from the activities, the social media antics, and gaffes of Fatima Bio. If she is not on TikTok doing things that appear very un-First Lady-ian; she will be making insulting divisive statements like saying that, “Only SLPP supporters are the true Sierra Leoneans”. And if she is not meddling in matters that she has no business in like the now infamous “Koidu Holdings Limited” affairs; she will be making the headlines on international news like the recent accusations that she has several prime properties in The Gambia and that she is still holding on to a Council flat in London despite her social and economic status has changed!
And in all of these seemingly “misbehaviors” and accusations of “unexplained wealth”, President Bio, who has always been putting up the persona of being a disciplinarian and hater of corruption, appears to be playing the loving husband by keeping mum on his wife’s activities, social media antics, and gaffes. But I can understand the fact that our Commander-in-Chief loves and respects his adoring wife so much so that he seems constrained to reprimand her even in the privacy of their bedroom let alone in public!
At times, I’m genuinely in sympathy with President Bio who seems to have been blessed with a wife who appears to have Lady Macbeth-like ambitions and the seemingly arrogance and extravagance of Marie Antoinette—the wife of Louis XVI. (For ease of reference, please read the antecedents to the 1789 French Revolution.). Even within the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Fatima Bio seems to be more of a distraction, or disrupter, to the course of the SLPP’s cause than an asset! She is seen, and regarded, by many SLPP faithful as the First Lady that never should have been (Whatever that is in their opinion.)!
Since Independence, no First Family in Sierra Leone has caused national embarrassments or scandalous scandals than the current Bio Family. Before now, it was an open secret that SLPP governments were allegedly known for turning their eyes the other way when it comes to the issue of tackling cocaine trafficking and possibly money laundering activities in the country. But for the very first time, Sierra Leone faces an international embarrassment because Europe’s most wanted convicted drug lord, Jos Leijdekkers or “Bolle Jos” (“Fat Jos” in Dutch), is alleged to be having strong links with one of President Bio’s adorable daughters and is also said to have been given safe haven in Sierra Leone. This embarrassing scandal is so scandalous that the African Confidential online edition of 7 February 2025 (Vol 66 – N°3) gives it lead story a savagely sarcastic headline: “President Bio keeps cocaine lord in the family”.
One of the problems with President Bio’s problems is the fact that he has always been unable to divorce his state functions from his domestic functions. Most of the seemingly bland “public lectures” he normally gives at foreign universities are just for self-gratification than of any benefit to Sierra Leone or to ordinary Sierra Leoneans. Imagine him wasting thousands of United States’ dollars to charter a flight just to attend the funeral of Pope Francis which he could have simply watched on CNN in the comfort of State Lodge!
In my opinionated opinion, most of President Bio’s aimless overseas travels are suggestive of the reckless manner in which his administration is wasting state resources which could have been channeled toward national projects that would have created some employments for our youth. This fact is not lost on the former Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Professor Kelfala Kallon, who is quoted in a recent interview broadcast on social media that he advised President Bio to stop unnecessary overseas travels and to implement austerity measures but that his advice was ignored!
But how could President Bio heed the advice of his former Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone when he has a wife who seems to like wearing similar fashion brands and having the shopping taste of Grace Mugabe—the former wife of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe? How could he resist aimless overseas travels when his wife appears to love the interiors of airplanes like Imelda Marcos—the wife of Ferdinand Marcos the former dictator of the Philippines? And how could President Bio heed the advice of Professor Kelfala Kallon to implement austerity measures when Fatima Bio seems to like showing off, on social media, the extravagant trappings of her First Lady-ship!
And when the Bio Presidency comes to an end; historians might not be chronicling the things he supposedly achieved at State House as promised in his two manifestoes. They might be interested in writing about the national embarrassments, the scandals, and gaffes of the Bio Family when they were occupants of State Lodge! Or will historians be unkind to President Bio by describing him (in my Soja Tong “savisman” colloquialism of old) as a man who left his wife and children “on free engine” whilst he was Head of State?
medsankoh@yahoo.com/+232-76-611-986