By Sallieu T. Kamara
I sometimes wonder whether President Ernest Bai Koroma is a passionate reader of Robert Greene’s book: The 48 Laws of Power. I am pondering over this because the president’s response to crisis situations within his government is sometimes compatible with the theory about power which Robert Greene tried to espouse in his book. Let us look at Law Number Four in the book, which says “Always say less than necessary. Saying less will keep you from saying something foolish or even dangerous. Keeping silent makes people reveal more about themselves. This is information you may be able to use against them later on”. Having followed the leadership of President Ernest Bai Koroma since his election in 2007 I believe he is someone who prefers saying little or nothing even when the house is on fire. The seemingly bitter wrangling among his top men and women in governance and his continued deafening silence over the issue is a clear testament to this. The growing dip in relations among the president’s advisers and ministers hasalmost reached boiling point. Not even the president himself can conceal it any longer. We have heard and read the brawling arguments, the accusations and counteraccusations, the trading of invectives and all the rest of it, between the president’s Special Executive Assistant Dr Sylvia Blydenand the Ministry of Information and Communication. Acres of space and hours of airtime have been devoted to this. Either side see themselves as innocent victims who represent the side of truth and fairness. This leaves the whole nation perplexed over this unfortunate situation. But the president is apparently unruffled. If my assumption is correct and Ernest Bai Koroma happens to be an avid reader of Robert Greene’s book and has faith in his philosophy, is he waiting for Sylvia Blyden, Alhaji Alpha Kanu, Theo Nicol, Abdulai Bayraytay, Unisa Sesay and others to “reveal more about themselves” first and then use against them the information they may have churned out, by either relieving them of their responsibilities or changing the guard at State House? Silence is golden, they always say, but it ceases to be golden when it has the tendency of resulting in destruction and devastation. State House is the highest seat of power in the country, the most revered political office, and it is from here that the first gentleman of the land discharges his responsibilities to the nation. But what we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks does not only undermine the integrity and reverence of State House, it also brings shame and disgrace to the nation. Because Ernest Bai Koroma has allowed seething anger, emotions and egoism to flourish under his 2atch and listen, he now stands the risk of being blackmailed, or his weaknesses as a leader exposed. The Awareness Times of Monday 8 June 2013 quoted Sylvia Blyden as threatening to resign her position the day Ernest Bai Koroma would tell her to stop speaking in public or on Facebook or social media about official government matters….The same edition also reported that the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Alpha Kanu, described Sylvia Blyden in front of journalists as “a dangerous demented rumour monger…” Both are very serious statements. And it certainly will not end here. We could be seeing more of these threats and harangues in the coming days and weeks, and probably months because each of them may want to sow doubts and spread rumours about each other. Even if they vehemently deny it, the people will still be wondering why they are so defensive. The people may also hold the rumours to be true if they are not reacted to. This is a very unfortunate situation, Mr. President. It is a disaster in the making. I really do not see any reason for this feud over “who should or who shouldn’t do what”to have escalated to this point. As far as I know, all appointments by the president or any worthwhile institution should be accompanied with Terms of Reference, which clearly spells out the roles and responsibilities, as well as the scope and limitations. Unless the president’s appointments are an exception to the rule. I also know for certain that the president is surrounded by advisers, ministers and civil servants who all assist him in the discharge of his duties. And in doing so, they may be privy to certain state information. However not all of them who have access to such information have the responsibility to disseminate it to the public. Even those who do have the responsibility to do so must do it at the appropriate time and in a very systematic fashion. This is crucial to any country or institution because the improper management of information could result in serious instability. We all saw how the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) lost the 2007 elections, which was due largely to the poor management of information about a consignment of rice, which the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, donated to the people of Sierra Leone through former president, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. We are all aware of the fact that the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Alpha Kanu, is the official spokesperson of Government and all official queries should be channelled through him. He is ably assisted by a crack team of journalists who have got the experience and expertise. To my mind they have been quite an outstanding team. But if, for whatever reason, the president has changed this arrangement and has ceded the responsibility of spin master to his Special Executive Assistant, who also doubles as a newspaper publisher, then he should be clear about it. He should clearly communicate this to his Information Minister and the public. But if, on the other hand, the status quo remains the same, he should also make it clear to Sylvia Blyden that much as she is at liberty to continue speaking publicly or on Facebook or on any other social media, she must respect the structures that the government has put in place for official information dissemination. Ernest Bai Koroma should know that every time conflicting reports on very sensitive issues like the donation from the Prince of Saudi come out of State House, the integrity of the presidency and the president is eroded and thrown into serious doubts. This brings me to Law Number One in THE 48 LAWS OF POWERwhich goes for Sylvia Blyden. It says “Never outshine the master”. Master in this sense is not just limited to the immediate line manager, in this case the president, but all the people that you work with or work around you. What happens most times is that when you outshine your master, whether intentionally or unintentionally, you create a situation in which he or she begins to feel insecure, not necessarily because you could get him or her out of their positions, but your growing influence could someday hurt your boss. If your boss does not care about your behaviour, your colleagues could begin to think that your growing influence could make your boss see you as an indispensable asset. And this could be the root cause of upheavals in government and in institutions. I am not, in any way, ascribing the present turmoil at State House to Law One in Robert Greene’s book. But you may agree with me that since she was appointed by the president to serve as Special Executive Adviser, Sylvia Blyden has been doing everything she could to draw media attention to and the spotlight on herself. People are of the view that within this very short time she has created for herself a space that is bigger, and a voice that is louder than required. She is not Ernest Bai Koroma’s only adviser, but she is arguably the most strident. Whatever she does, whether it is a visit to Bonthe Island or a meeting with local communities, goes along with much fanfare and clamour. There were times when her newspaper gave more coverage to herself than to the president when reporting on state functions or events at which the president was also present. I pity her so much because having been in the media for a long time, and owning a newspaper that gives her unhindered access to publish her opinions, there is the tendency that she will be tempted to do what she is not supposed to do. She may not want to keep information in the burner to mature. But all I will say to Sylvia Blyden is for her to never take her position for granted. There is a popular saying in Themne: “Never tell someone who totes you that their head stinks”. Let me move over to Law Number Two: NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN TO USE YOUR ENEMIES. It goes further to say that an enemy that you have saved from being hanged will be more grateful to you than a friend; and that if you want to destroy your enemy, make a friend of him or her. Let us take a look at the two scenarios that Ernest Bai Koroma is faced with. He has had a long standing friendly and brotherly relationship with Alhaji Alpha Kanu and Co. They stuck with him through thick and thin until they wrestled power from the SLPP in 2007. Alpha Kanu played a pivotal role in all of that. In fact, he was the public voice of the APC throughout the 2007 elections campaign. He was impeccable and deemed flawless. On the other hand, here is Sylvia Blyden who was neither a friend of Ernest Bai Koroma nor a supporter of his party. In fact, she was one of his most vociferous critics throughout those trying periods. Blyden continued her crusade against Koroma long after he had been elected president in 2007. And in the process, she transgressed the law of the land, and had it not been for the magnanimity of the president, she would have been charged to court under criminal libel law provisions. I am not trying to imply here that because she was not supporting Ernest Bai Koroma, Sylvia Blyden should not be appointed to the position she now holds. No, I am not saying that. She is a Sierra Leonean and is entitled to it. I am only trying to create a scenario in which we will want to know whether Ernest Bai Koroma has now placed more trust on a former enemy she had “spared the guillotine” than the friend he has been with for a very long time. In his press conference last week, Ernest Bai Koroma informed journalists that henceforth he would be holding monthly press conferences to inform the people about his work and to get closer to them. This is marvellous. But the question here is whether this is indicative of the president’s loss of faith in his information minister and his team in adequately communicating his work, plans and policies to the public, a duty they have been performing with admiration all this while. Why did the president choose this time when there is an ongoing blazing row between his Information minister and his Special Executive Adviser to assume this responsibility, which was once performed by the ministry of information and communication? This is really baffling, to say the least. For how long will the president sit by and allow this brouhaha to continue? The nation awaits with bated breath an immediate resolution of this conflict because the longer it lasts, the more complicated it gets. (C) Politico 16/07/13
