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The Boardroom Presidency
A new leader survives an assassination attempt, a tough election - and now has the task of running diamond rich Sierra Leone after decades of warfare and violence. If he succeeds, he’ll do a lot more than just defy odds.
“Warm congratulations,” writes South African President Thabo Mbeki. “I call upon the United States, and its allies to fully support President-elect Koroma with urgent needed debt relief and economic aid,” said the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. long time civil rights leader and director of the Chicago based Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
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President Ernest Bai Koroma |
Ernest Bai Koroma, 54, has accomplished what is considered rare feet in the entire continent of Africa; winning the office of president as a member of the opposition party. In the United States, Democrats and Republicans may toss the White House back and forth, in Great Britain; 10 Downing Street has housed prime ministers of several parties.
In Africa, the idea of a peaceful exchange of power is something that is |
cherished and possibly taken for granted in Western nations. Few countries on the continent have witnessed the smooth transfer that South Africa enjoyed when President Nelson Mandela’s term ended, giving way for Mbeki (who was re-elected in 2004.)
But Koroma not only brings a new party to the top of the Sierra Leone leadership, he’s also hitting the air running, literally. Within four days of becoming elected on September 17, 2007, the president was already jet setting on his first diplomatic visits to Guinea and Liberia.
From Koroma’s point of view, a meeting with the highly prolific President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is a great leap forward in the realm of diplomacy. Elected as the first female president of an African nation, Sirleaf has already publicly enhanced Liberia’s global perceptio as well as her own in major parts of the world in her young administration. You can’t help but to think that Koroma has a strategy, and a very good one at that.
“I am here to make a commitment having been sworn in as president of my country that we will continue to strengthen the good relationship that exists between Liberia and Sierra Leone," said Koroma.
Aside from the pleasantries, Sirleaf and Koroma discussed pressing matters such as sovereignty, economic development, and territorial respect. The two leaders are planning to respect the Non-aggression and Security Cooperation Treaty, the Fifteenth Protocol on the Declaration of the Mano River Union, as well as many other treaties.
The two leaders also pledged, through a joint communiqué, to have cooperative trade and commerce, as well as a promise to use democracy as the key for peaceful governing and to upgrade the living standards of the citizens in both countries.
Rubbing elbows with a leader like Sirleaf allows him face time for the cameras with Africa’s biggest political star as well as shows that he’s a strong proponent of democratic free societies. |
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President Koroma speaking to a crowd following his election
(courtesy APC ) |
Koroma’s rise to power was an unlikely one in Sierra Leone. How do you win the presidency against the frontrunner of the incumbent party and convince the people that you can make their lives better? All this after the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) brought peace and a stable democracy
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to an otherwise violent and corrupt government system. Out going President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the SLPP held together a steady government that saw the end of Sierra Leone’s civil war in 2002.
Koroma’s candidacy could’ve had the “If it ain’t broke then don’t try to fix it” effect. Instead, Koroma, a member of the All People’s Congress Party (APC), used personality over political points. Sulaiman Momodu of Freetown wrote in his September 24th column in the Concord Times, “Five years since he last attempted to enter State House, Koroma is undoubtedly one of the most successful politicians in the country's recent history. Apart from Tejan Kabbah who scored a presidential goal at his very first attempt, like the biblical Moses, many people can only see the presidency.”
Momodu adds, “With a commanding height, a warm smile, and let me add, aging gracefully and handsomely, His Excellency is unquestionably a charismatic figure.”
But if Koroma’s ease with grace seems effortless, don’t be fooled. He was forced to a runoff in September after winning 43% of the vote. His opponent, Solomon Berewa wasn’t even a card-carrying member of the SLPP, therefore bringing into question his credibility of the election as a whole.
And rumor mills began to churn when reports were revealed of a possible attempt on Koroma’s life. In July of this year, coup leader, Tom Nyuma apparently led the attempt, but his men were stopped and trounced by Koroma’s guards.
There has been speculation if the attempt actually took place, but nonetheless Koroma survived physical and political danger. Now he’s trying to set a standard not only for his times but also for all time. He plans to do so by bringing his business experience to the presidency. After years of being a secondary school teacher, Koroma worked for the Sierra Leone National Insurance Company. From the late 70’s until the early part of this century, he worked hard to stand out as a business leader within various communities.
Sierra Leone is a nation that needs a “business-like” approach, as it still remains one of the poorest countries in the world. But as they say in the business world, “there’s no time like the present.”
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