By Sahr Musa Yamba, Winnipeg.
Sierra Leone’s blind musician and former Voice of the
Handicap FM radio guru in Freetown, MB Atilla(photo), was
Wednesday August 15th advised not to leave the United
States or risk being denied re-entry.
Atilla was scheduled for a three-week tour of Canada
spanning 18th August to early September.
Speaking on the phone to this reporter Thursday,
Atilla lamented “I lost a lot, more than them (the
organizers).”
The blind guru who was scheduled to perform in Toronto
on August 18th, Winnipeg on August 25th and Edmonton
on September 1st had his trip cancelled at the
eleventh hour when he was reportedly advised by US
immigration that he did not possess the proper
documentation to travel out of the country.
“I did not know that I can’t travel out of the US to Canada by virtue of my refugee status,” Atilla told this press,
adding “I only found out later.”
Some organizers say Atilla was stopped from traveling at the airport in US when he went to board the flight, but the latter refutes this claim.
Quizzed on whether he was not aware that he should not travel out of the US initially thus allowing the organizers of the shows in different cities to go ahead with advertising and renting halls, he maintained:
“I am not an illegal immigrant in the US but certain papers are on the way without which I can’t travel out.”
When pushed further that he should have known better
by not allowing publicity on his behalf to go ahead in
Canada because he was not qualified to travel, Atilla
responded, “I lost a great deal. I cancelled my
classes, lost my allowance in the Church where I played
during services and above all, was not able to release
my album for the elections in Sierra Leone.”
Atilla says he plans to sort out his traveling
documentation by end of September.
Lans Omar, proprietor of 40 Acres productions, who was
one of the promoters of the flopped Attila tour,
expressed dismay at the unfortunate development. Omar
says they lost thousands of dollars incurred in
publicity and other expenses.
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