OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE VOLUME XX FROM THE UINITED STATES
Dear Mr. President:
It has been a year since I started communicating with you through this medium and ironically Volume XX, the first year anniversary production, is being sent to you from the United States of America, at a time when our beloved Nation is in all aspects submerged and immersed in Ebola.
I intend to objectively provide hope to the hopeless, in the current desperate system in which the Nation entrusted its health and safety to a government which has proved to be unworthy of the Nation’s trust. Just as when during the bloody senseless civil war, I was stationed in the United States and together with Sulaiman Tarawalie contributed with a political commentary, to the fight against the rebels, in giving hope to the hopeless, through a programmme,” Africa My Africa”, broadcast on Radio Democracy. At the end of the programme I signed off as the Voice of the Voiceless, a name of which I am very proud and more so since it has now been adopted by many others. I will bring the latest information on how it is being done in the United States and the American effort being made to help us in West Africa. For instance 3,000 American troops have been ordered into the fight in West Africa by President Obama, most of them medical professionals, not to provide security, but to be more involved in the medical intricacies of the fight. They are fully embedded in Liberia and are making a significant difference in containing and eradicating Ebola; their effort would certainly benefit us in Sierra Leone as our situation is going south, in spite of the presence of the British. It is since to benefit rely hoped that you would swiftly use your connection th in in at we have always heard of with “your friend” President Obama’s in order for us to benefit from these troops in Liberia.
Producing the vaccine and medicines to fight Ebola is being fast tracked and trials on humans are going on in MaIi, United States and United Kingdom. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., the National Institutes Of Health (NIH) in the United States and private laboratories are all working around the clock to fast track the production of the vaccine to combat the deadly disease. A Canadian company has shipped samples of vaccines to WHO in Geneva for testing and approval. All of these scientific methods are what would deliver us from the disease and not the platitudes about how we are going to defeat the disease while not applying strategies that make sense. The three Presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone should coordinate their efforts and apply subtle sensible pressure on the relevant agencies to accelerate the production of the vaccine. There is the hue and cry, especially among Republicans, that there should be a travel ban on passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone into the United States. It would take strong lobbying effort to stem the tide to make ide of such a parochial, shortsighted and perhaps xenophobic discriminatory demand. So far, President Obama is not giving in to the pressure and so Mr. President as your friend you need to make the call to him.
Mr. President, as I am writing this letter to you the television programme, I am watching is discussing Ebola; the shortcomings and lapses present in the way which the Texas Presbyterian Health Hospital and the United States Government is handling the protocols surrounding Ebola is being openly criticized 24/7 and I have not heard anyone in or out of government say that this is not the time for the blame game. Constructive criticism is the lifeblood of any democratic society. Should we sit idly by and wait to point out failures after a million deaths? How could we then justify our citizenship? Just as Radio Democracy, Citizen Radio, Culture Radio, Star Radio, Sky Radio, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service Radio and Television, community radios and the print media are doing in Sierra Leone, the press in the United States have been very vigilant in informing the public about all the intricacies of Ebola. .in the press in the United States. I say this to mean that, as I have always maintained, the press has a pivotal role to play and no one, in order to protect their greed over public funds, should be allowed to threaten any journalist during this devastating war, with the existence of a public health emergency. The public emergency is invoked for the health and safety of the Nation and not to abridge the rights and free speech of the citizens. Failure to protect the citizenry and the reckless spending of the people’s Ebola fund is not immune from criticism. In my Iast Open Letter I dealt with some Parliamentarians’ insensitivity in threatening journalists who are performing a yeoman’s job

compared to any Parliamentarian, even a majority or minority Parliamentary Leader. The name of our beloved Nation, Sierra Leone is synonymous with Ebola It boggles the mind that banking institutions are closing at 1:30 p.m., Monday to Friday and completely shut down on Saturday. How that decision was reached at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that this would help in te fight against Ebola, no none has been able to explain. In fact it enhances chances of the spread of Ebola as more people are flocking into the banks during the compressed operating hours to beat the 1:30p.m. closing time, especially on Fridays and Mondays. International money transactions through money transfer institutions, such as Western Union Money Transfer are cut off at 1:30p.m, on Monday to Friday and non-existent on Saturdays. It is quite evident, the serious consequences this bird brain decision is having on commerce, consequently the economy and ordinary persons’ lives.
There is no consideration that we are in a different time zone, with Sierra Leone being ahead of most countries in the world, particularly United States, the number one business Nation in the World. When we are awake the major business capitals of the world are sleeping and even during normal times when we have closed down for the day that is when businesses are buzzing. New York is either four or five hours behind Sierra Leone, depending on the daylight savings time, so, say for instance, when banks in Sierra Leone close at 1:30P.M., businesses have just opened or are not even opened in the United States. This is detrimental for the recovery of the economy and does not demonstrate that we are a Nation which wants to play in the big league of global economy As indicated in my last Open Letter brains not brawn are what would take us out of this quagmire into which we have dug ourselves. Are the Nigerian and Senegalese governments more cerebral than the Sierra Leonean government? From the data available used to get rid of the scourge in those countries, the answer is a resounding yes. Those governments reacted swiftly and Ebola is a thing of the past. WHO has declared that both countries have been Ebola free for 42 days and they could boast of having defeated Ebola. With us it is so wide spread that we could only hope to contain Ebola, by following the protocols which prevent it from until the vaccine arrives; my firm belief is that only the vaccine would save us. So why are we still groping in the dark for a solution? The disease is spreading, our compatriots are dying and controversies are abound surrounding the money and donations involved in the Ebola fight. How anyone could even think of personally benefitting from monies and equipment meant for Ebola or berating donors of equipment intended for Ebola is unthinkable, unconscionable and ungodly.
Education has been paralyzed with no plans on the horizon to restart all educational institutions, the continuous closing of which is a recipe for serious trouble, especially among teenagers. As the adage says, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. This is when the Ministry of Education could display its ability to run the school system. Chasing ghost teachers, schools and students is all in place but now is the time for the necessary actions to be instituted to demonstrate that we have not allowed Ebola to consume the entire Nation; for starters providing special transportation for students only, including tertiary institutions, and checking their temperature prior to entering the transportation and before entering their classes is certainly one of the ways to protect our students and teachers while providing our students with a very necessary education. By the way what happened to the 100 buses about which the Ministry of Transportation and Aviation made so much noise? Certainly, those buses are needed right now to get schools reopened to transport students who are not within walking distance of their schools, vocational institutions and colleges. Mr. President, you would agree with me that providing buses for our students is more important than using 2 million United States Dollars to purchase brand new Prados for your cabinet ministers under dubious circumstances.
We cannot wave a magic wand and get Ebola to go away, so are we just going to continue to shut down our education system for an indefinite period, a system which under normal circumstances leaves a lot to be desired? This is when innovation has to be a part of the strategy in the fight. Bringing lessons to students over television and perhaps radio is so woefully inadequate. The radio is currently being used, with plans to factor in television. How many students have access to television which needs electricity to be turned on, a utility which we are still struggling to produce even though trillions if not zillions of Leones have been poured into power production? As for radio how many students listen to radio which needs batteries? If they do listen when have you seen students listening to talk radio? Who would supervise these students during the lesson periods in their homes? Factoring continuous assessment as an incentive for students listening to the lessons as 30% of their grades would prove to be more punitive than beneficial, as this would not motivate students who are not accustomed to this new procedure. Students do not even go to school during the regular school year, so why do we expect this new system to be our solution?
Education of the Nation is much too important to be handled in a laissez faire fashion during this fight. Could the Presidential Task Force please put this at the top of its agenda so we could get our schools reopened by employing needed strategies? Education by radio should be supplemental and not the primary means of education. If you think education is costly, try ignorance.
Ironically and coincidentally at about the time I arrived in the United States on September 29, 2014, one case of Ebola had surfaced in Dallas Texas brought in by Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian, visiting the United States. Unfortunately, after fighting for his life at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas Texas, he passed away on October 8,, 2014. The remains of Thomas Eric Duncan have been cremated. Persons with whom Mr. Duncan could have been in contact at his residence have all been traced and are being quarantined. Mercifully, after 21 days of constant monitoring none of them including his fiancé have exhibited symptoms of Ebola. Currently, there is a storm of controversy as to how Duncan who is black was treated, compared to how the whites who were flown to America from Sierra Leone and Liberia, were and are being treated for Ebola leading to their survival. Knowing the American society as I do as being a litigious society, the likelihood that the matter would end up in the courts is a great possibility.
Mr. President we could learn a lot from the handling of the Duncan tragedy, especially the information dissemination. As I have always espoused, the electronic press is a centerpiece in this fight against the deadly disease and this has been validated by the way the information dissemination has been handled in the Duncan case in the United States. I am waking up to the report from Cable News Network (CNN) of a second case of Ebola, that being a female nurse who participated in the treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan. There is discussion as to how she could have contracted the disease, even with proper protective equipment (PPE) and speculation is that it could have been from taking off the PPE. However, full details are not yet out; she has received blood transfusion with blood from one of the recovered doctors who contracted Ebola in Liberia and it is reported that she is in good condition in the hospital. She has been transferred to NIH facilities and receiving experimental treatment. We also have hundreds of patients in Sierra Leone who have recovered from Ebola, whose blood could be used to treat infected persons. Why we are not hearing of these strategies being employed is unfathomable and boggles the mind. We have a high rate of recovery, yet we are not applying the proven scientific methods, instead all we hear about is that “we would surely win the fight against Ebola” In this boastful feel good reassurance to which Ebola is paying no attention, what is sorely missing is how? Especially after the powers that be missed the golden opportunity to give Ebola a bloody nose, when it was only in a small chiefdom, Kissi Teng in Kailahun District in May 2014.
In addition to Duncan and the nurse, Nina Pham, a second health care worker, a nurse has been identified with Ebola and criticism is abound as to how this could have happened at Texas Presbyterian Hospital, in Dallas Texas, the same hospital where Duncan was being treated and Nina Pham was working as a nurse. As in Sierra Leone it is turning out that the front line workers, the health care workers are the ones most likely to be infected. Unlike in Sierra Leone where it is considered anathema to criticize failures in protocol in the Ebola fight, criticism abound so that whatever lapses caused the infection of the health care workers could be avoided going forward. Immediate thorough disinfecting of the area, including their apartments and automobiles where these health workers have been in contact have been effected and the contact tracing of wherever and whoever these contaminated patients have been in contact is being effectuated. The tracing has gone as far away as Cleveland Ohio, where the second nurse, Amber Vison, had gone to shop for her wedding with her bridesmaids. All those with whom she travelled in the plane to and fro have been traced and quarantined for 21 days. Amber Vinson, the second nurse has been transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mr. President, indeed it pays to have an option of first class medical facilities. What is being discussed is the proper use of the PPEs and not the inadequacy or availability. Texas Presbyterian Hospital is being put under the medical microscope and the protocol for the treatment of Ebola patients to prevent contamination of health care workers and consequently the spread of the deadly disease to the community is being questioned. Mistakes are being accepted and no attempt at cover up to massage the ego of individuals.
I sincerely hope that we in Sierra Leone are carefully monitoring the situation in the United States and could learn lessons of how it is being handled. What we are seeing is the focus and immediacy with which the problem is being handled in the United States even though relegated to only one city, Dallas, in the vast state of Texas. This is in contrast to how we lackadaisically and without purpose and dexterity handled the disease when it first appeared in Kissi Teng.
In contrast to our situation all those appearing on television or radio are professional medical doctors. Dr. Thomas Frieden, the Director of the Center For Disease Control and Dr. Faucci, the Director of the National Institutes of Health are foremost in informing the public about the ramifications of Ebola and even the experts from the various television stations ae medically qualified. No Minister of Information, Alpha Khan or his surrogates such as Abdulai Bayraytay, Karramow Kabba and others, nor no medically unqualified Sidi Tunis, Director of Communications from the Ministry of Health have dared to appear on the airwaves to misinform the public, while praising the non-performance of your administration. Information and results would be featured as to how Ebola is being handled in the United States, such as the special treatment of passengers when entering the United States from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, Ebola prone areas, through the five busiest airports-Chicago O’Hare, Newark, New Jersey, John F. Kennedy, New York, Dulles, Virginia, Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson. burial teams, instead extoling your virtues, even in the face of massive failures. As one of your jelibas, how could she be objective in her espousal of the failures of the government, which are so glaring, but which she surreptitiously avoids while talking about your desire to promote transparency and accountability, even having the gumption to mention about a citizen’s report that had dared to rate your performance at 77% and her hope that the next “citizens report”, had it not been for Ebola, which would have been initiated would have rated you at 100%. Is this the trade mark of objectivity? My position on the OGI that it is a “white elephant”, meant to provide jobs for your boys and girls, is well documented. Our tax-payers money is being wasted in the running of that office and by the grace of God would one day be abolished, saving the Nation much needed resources. We have enough civil society organizations performing the functions better, than what OGI is purportedly performing, for us to continue to have an unwarranted drain on the government purse. OGI would make itself relevant when it starts espousing strategies, such as the opening of educational institutions and not just going with the flow supporting bad governance policies of the All People’s Congress (APC), without any new initiatives and duplicating activities already being performed by other agencies, while parading that it is bringing government closer to the people.
Mr. President it is really disheartening and frustrating to see and hear the way in which the very laudable philanthropic gesture of Chernor Alpha Bah, is being denigrated publicly without any thought as to the negative effect on future donations by other well-meaning Sierra Leoneans. The chief denigrator Sylvia Blyden, who the Minister of Information Alpha Khan has described as “a misfit” to the Koroma administration is now also becoming a misfit in the fight against Ebola. Going out of her way to make negative comments about the effort of Chernor Bah is very divisive and unpatriotic. What has she contributed in this fight for her to be so aggressive in her desire to bring down the efforts of a patriotic citizen? Before I left Sierra Leone I personally know that Chernor Bah made frantic efforts for the government to clear the container with much needed equipment from the quay. So for this matter to be receiving so much negative press and frantic effort to assassinate the character of Chernor Bah even involving the (OGI) sends a wrong message both domestically and internationally and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of well-meaning Sierra Leoneans. Mr. President is it only cash donations which are appreciated by your administration and ‘useful idiots”? The rate of the infection is rising and spreading exponentially, because of lack of the very medical workers, equipment such as PPEs for health workers contained in the shipment which has been made the subject of very silly nitpicking useless egotistical machinations to achieve a cover-up of the ineptness of the Ministry of Health and the State House, which had been informed of this container even before its arrival at the port since August 2014.
Mr. President in closing, the poignant words in Governor Clarkson’s Concluding Prayer For Sierra Leone which has become very popular with the citizenry during this crisis needs to be once again brought to your attention. These words you would agree with me are very relevant in present day Sierra Leone “Should anyone have a wicked thought in his earth or do anything knowingly to disturb the peace and comfort of this our Colony (Republic), let him O Lord be rooted out from the face of the earth; but have mercy upon him thereafter”.
Sincerely,

Raymond Bamidele Thompson, Sr.