A TRAVELOQUE BY ALIMAMY LAHAI KAMARA
It was in one Thursday. I was in the Ministry on some official engagement. I heard about homecoming. Homecoming, what about it? ‘Who is returning home and from where’ I queried? I saw the Ministry of Information in wholesome preparedness: the excitement at the administrative wing and the exhilaration at the political wing communicated a deeper accommodation of a minister that talks with his staff and a seamless appreciation to a minister that values human dignity.
He was returning home, has always been there, but he was visiting there this time to be presented as a full cabinet minister – the spokesman for the government of Sierra Leone – returning home with the full complement of all that is around him which shares the burden or the pleasure of the assignment he carries and which lives with the praise or bears the consequence of the decisions he take. He is Chernor Bah (C Bah), Minister of Information and Civic Education (MICE), resident at 8 Floor, Youyi Building.
He appears to be the youngest even among the very staff he leads, proves to be widely experienced in the administration he administrates, and certifies to be productive in the performance of a job which is arguably the most challenging that battles for people’s attention in order to change perception for social development and societal harmony.
‘I must be part of this trip;’ dashed to the office of the Permanent Secretary – appeared I was late, the bus was already full. Contemplated walking onto him – thought it was already heavy on him, the Minister. Abubakarr Joe Sesay: was leaving a day ahead with his colonnade – a dynamic team that does the uninterrupted live streaming, does the fantastic story-telling, and does the ballooning of a man whose success at MICE is contingent upon the mastery of the varied media genres that have come to impact behavior of society far beyond human imagination utilized by STRATCOM led by this muscular Joe Sesay.
‘The minister must see me; I must go support him.’ I see his vision; I see his drive; I see his passion – an eclectic desire to foster change and transform agencies he supervises, for example, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) into a broadcaster that fully functions as a public service broadcaster – one that provides service beyond boundaries created by regions, districts, and chiefdoms. Universality of service! He was in the civil society sphere, an accomplished lobbyist, and an acclaimed funds mobilizer, whose contacts can get SLBC radiates TV and radio signals beyond Congo market, beyond Circular Road, beyond Kingtom, and beyond Up-Gun. His contacts can get SLBC to cover new communities such as Hill Station, Regent and Grafton; Goderich, Funkia, Kamayama, Tokeh and beyond; Kissy, Wellington, Calabatown and beyond; Waterloo and nearby communities, and even Kingharman Road, Brookfields, and Tembeh Town. We can tap from his experience in financial administration at Purposeful, and together work at initiating and instituting administrative policies intolerant to corruption and applying measures that defend and protect the rights, values, and dignity of the workforce – colleagues whose passion for journalism is inestimable, whose interest in the art is unrivalled, and whose professionalism on the job is admirable. Journalism is all they know, and a new direction is all they ask for. SLBC must be re-established! Mr. Minister, brace up!
I met Peter Beckly, discussed the trip, with a smile he said: ‘perfect, call Imran Sillah’. I rang Imran. A very unpretentious figure, so articulate and welcoming, so diehard and persistent in the Pa-o-Pa course, and so friendly and harmless. He carries his boss, cherishes him, and portrays a vision championed by him. Our trip was to depart on Saturday and return the same day. Marvelous! Less expensive.
We took off at 6:00 AM, arrived in Bo at 10:00 AM, converged on Mahei Boima Road, and drove off at 11:00AM in a long convoy of over seventy vehicles to Jimmi Bagbo, in the Bo district. A galaxy of government officials, business people, friends, family members, members of the Fullah community of Bo and Bagbo constituted the convoy – attended not only to cheer up a brother but to celebrate a friend and a colleague who has become the first sitting minister in sixty-two years hailing from Bagbo. It is a pride and an honour. It is a blessing that today Bagbo sits in cabinet; today Bagbo takes part in decisions to roll out the Feed Salone programme; today Bagbo stands with the First Lady, shares platforms with her, and champions media campaigns for the prevention and healing from sexual exploitation; and today Bagbo takes lead in amplifying government programmes and stimulating perceptions to foster societal congeniality.
On the road leading to the chiefdom, in every village we drove past, we would make a stopover, would be greeted by a colorful formation of pupils, by a battalion of natives with drums and Sheburehs in attires exhibiting the richness of the Mende culture – pitching songs that appease the heart, remind the mind of the glorious past, and foretell the future of what one might become. C Bah’s story is a humble one. A success!
We arrived in Bagbo in a scene of hilarious merriments. A thunderous crowd: those who came from nearby villages and chiefdoms, the youths, the elders – half of their numbers crammed into the community center to listen to their brother, to their son, and to their beacon. Victor Bockarie Foh appeared to be the champion of this event. C Bah is a son to him. For him, President Bio made a wise decision to appoint C Bah as the government spokesman, the Minister of Information and Civic Education. ‘C Bah is talented, President spotted that talent, and we have begun counting achievements arising from that appointment’ he said.
The Minister spoke less at the event for a personality known to be loquacious, known to be engaging, and known to be inspiring. A man that always invites the presence of Allah around him. The homecoming for him was made on the principal notion that ‘motherland carries the soul of a man’. It is the very reason for existence. He was there to assure his people that that soul lives and thrives. He was there to inform them that he is the Minster of Information and Civic Education, inviting them to join him in showing gratitude to the President. He also told them he would, together with other sons and daughters of the chiefdom, support development programmes there.
I am beating my head as I write in search of words to describe what I saw of the Minister in the hall: he appeared to have been lifted to some height where he was at par with his standing members of the audience, filming through their faces as far as his eyes could catch, who overcrowded the hall, consuming the sitting members. His voice echoed beyond the rooftop, his smiles careened by the wind, and his gesticulations driven in the quietness of a hall or a chiefdom that has got a champion, a giant, and a humanist. I have benefited from his rationality. You will succeed, Minister. You will! Remain yours! Alimamy Lahai Kamara.