A Sierra Leonean celebrity,Haja Mariama Kamara aka China Nicky has said that she was jailed in Bahamas after she was allegedly duped by her Manager Ejatu Barrie.
She made this statement while explaining her ordeal in Bahamas during a live Facebook interview recently.
She explained that on December 20, 2019, Bahamas immigration officers visited her home requesting her passport but was unable to produce it because it was at the immigration office for verification.
Upon failure to produce her passport, she was arrested and taken to the immigration office where she was later informed that she had overstayed in the country. “I was charged to court to explain while I failed to travel on my scheduled date. I was directly taken to prison instead of court. I was imprisoned for 1 year, 1 month and 4 days,” she said.
She recalled even before they travelled to Bahamas, her manager Ejatu requested the sum of over US$ 300,000 which she allegedly provided to her, adding that also requested US$25,000.
“After the reality show, monies that were given to me by sponsors amounted to huge sum of money, so Ejatu advised me to keep some of the money at the Bank and the remaining at home,” she said.
Explaining her order, she said after she won the maiden edition of the reality television show dubbed ‘Big Sister Salone’ in 2018, Ejatu together with her (Ejatu’sboyfriend) suggested to her if she would like to travel to the United State of America (USA), a suggestion which she accepted.
According to China Nicky, herself, Ejatu and her son left the shores of Sierra Leone on May 17, 2018 and arrived at the Bahamas airport a couple of days later.
On arrival, China Nicky said, they were asked by immigration officers to produce their traveling documents, but Ejatu objected that they only went to Bahamas on vacation,so they were later granted access to the country. She said that they then booked a room at a nearby hotel.
She said that after few days of staying together, Ejatu told her that she would no longer be able to stay with her in a single room and instructed China Nicky to tell people who would be calling her that she’s in Miami instead of Bahamas.
“Ejatu only give USD me US$600 before leaving the hotel and also warned me not to share my photo to anyone,” she claimed.
She further said that after staying at the hotel for two weeks, she was unable to pay the bill, but explain her situation to the hotel manager which they reasonably accepted and offered to help her.
She added that the hotel management helped her secure a job to plait hair from that she raised money and was later advised to save.
It is apparent that she used the money to travel to Ghana.
All efforts by this reporter to contact Ejatu to get her own account of event failed.
By George M.O. Williams