Commentary
By Sorie Sudan Sesay
There has been so much fuss about President Ernest Bai
Koroma’s visit to Burkina Faso, his first official
international tour which also included Guinea and
Liberia since his coming into office.
Critics say Burkina Faso played a very significant
role in fuelling the eleven year war in Sierra Leone,
and therefore, for President Koroma to make his first
official visit to that country could be compared to
making mockery of those who suffered during the war.This
is insane to say the least.
Regretfully, most of the criticisms are not
constructive, but either out of malice or a deliberate
attempt to discredit the new government and therefore
should be shrugged off.
The so-called critics turned a blind eye to the fact
that Burkina Faso has the current leadership of ECOWAS
and that makes the president’s visit even more timely
and important. I am sure President Koroma did not go
to Burkina Faso to meet with Blaise Campaore in his
capacity of President of Burkina Faso but in that
President’s capacity as Chairman of ECOWAS.
Come to think of it, was it not the same people of
Sierra Leone who spent over 16 hours or more in the
cold waiting to welcome President Ghadaffi who was the
main backer of the RUF? If we compare the roles played
by both countries in the 11 year rebel war, then
surely we’ll see nothing wrong with Koroma visiting
Burkina Faso?
Critics of the APC are in a rush to discredit the
party just coming to power and they can go to whatever
length in order to achieve that goal, but this should
not be at the detriment of the country as a whole.
This is time for national reconciliation and not time
for APC/SLPP affairs - our criticisms must be borne
out of genuine constructive thinking and not along party lines.
Therefore, President Ernest Koroma has not done anything wrong and should be praised for visiting those countries and talking to those leaders.We all need to learn to think about the country first.
sudanese52@yahoo.com
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