Abdou,
 
Thanks for the forward. If this guy follows through with his plans, it  looks 
like Sierra Leonians have chosen well and have the opportunity  to set a 
bright example for the rest of the continent.
Jabou
 
In a message dated 10/3/2007 3:42:09 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

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After years of war, bad governance, and  institutionalised corruption, will 
the newly elected Sierra Leonian President  be able to keep his promises and 
deliver the country from poverty and social  meltdown?  Ishmahil Blagrove, Jr. 
interviews President Ernest Koroma just  prior to his electoral victory.

What would you identify as the main  problems for Sierra Leone?

Poor leadership, poor leadership that has  resulted in bad governance, bad 
governance that has affected the  economy.

I have often heard it described as a winner-takes-all system  of politics 
here in Sierra Leone. Don’t you have some sense of power and  influence with 
which to influence change within the country?

The ruling  party has an overwhelming majority. They have a majority such 
that we cannot  stop any legislation from going  through; we cannot stop any 
activity  from going through.

If the ruling party has such a powerful majority,  how confident are you that 
you will make any gains or even seize power in  2007?

They have this majority because of the outcome of the 2002  elections; 
thankfully we accepted the outcome of the election even though the  election was 
rigged. We wanted peace; peace was declared in this country in  February 2002 and 
we had the elections in May 2002, just a couple of months  later. If we had 
rejected the outcome of the elections based on the  irregularities, then the 
APC would have taken responsibility for the outcome.  But we accepted and now we 
have been vindicated because the international  community and the national 
electoral commission, in their recent review of the  elections, concluded that 
both the 2002 elections and the 2004 elections were  rigged. So that is why 
they have this majority but things are now changing. We  now have the full 
support of the international community and the electoral  commission is going 
through certain changes and so far we are happy with the  changes they have 
affected. To the extent that we believe if free and fair  elections are
conducted in this country the APC will clearly win.

Do  you believe the conditions for war are still here?

We still see a  situation of political marginalisation, social 
marginalisation, these were the  issues that precipitated the war; and if you have read the 
Truth and  Reconciliation Commission report, the TRC concluded that whilst we 
are now  aware of the issues that led to the war, the government has still not 
taken  serious action to ensure that we avoid the mistakes of the past. The 
mistakes  of the past are still around, much has not changed and it is a sad 
story.  Something has to be done quickly and the only thing that should be done  
quickly is to ensure that the 2007 elections become free and fair. I think  
that will be the turning point for this country.

You mention the TRC;  in terms of the situation not being addressed, are you 
concerned as to what  may happen if the elections are not free and fair? If 
the conditions are not  met in terms of improving the standard of living and the 
social  infrastructure?

The question of infrastructure and other things, it is  already too late in 
the day; you cannot fatten the pig on the market day. The  government doesn’t 
have anything to show for their ten years of governance, we  have not moved on. 
Unemployment is on the increase, especially among the  youth, the 
infrastructure is collapsing, parliament was not able to meet last  week because of a 
lack of energy, water supply is reducing, not only in  Freetown, but everywhere. 
These are issues to be addressed by the electorate.  What we believe should 
happen now is give the electorate an opportunity to  make a judgement and to 
really demonstrate that judgement in the ballot  box.

How do you propose to address the electorate’s concerns about  corruption, 
bad governance, unemployment, and poverty?

We have a  programme that we will launch shortly; we have referred to it as 
the APC  development agenda. An agenda that will take us to the new level of 
Sierra  Leone. An agenda in which every Sierra Leonenian will have equal 
opportunity  irrespective of your background, the region you come from, your 
religious  background, even your political belief. We are not going to accept lock 
stock  and barrel directives from the international community or the World Bank. 
We  believe Sierra Leone should be developed by Sierra Leonians and we believe 
if  we address the issue of bad governance, if we reduce the politics of 
politics.  I call it the politics of politics because in this country now if you 
don’t  belong to the SLPP (Ruling Party) you don’t qualify for anything. You 
don’t  qualify for any job, you don’t qualify for any contracts, you don’t 
qualify  for anything. I have demonstrated clearly I am all in for zero tolerance 
and  in my regime I will not compromise on that. I believe when the
signals are  sent from the leadership, clear signals sent from the 
leadership, then the  days of old are over.

You’ve mentioned what your party stands for and  what your party hopes to 
achieve, but many people I have spoken to across the  country are disgruntled 
with the entire political establishment and that  includes the APC. People are 
disgruntled and perhaps disillusioned with  politics and politicians. How do you 
propose to address these  concerns?

One of the reasons I came into politics was because I  believed there was a 
need for us to affect a change in the politics of this  country. And I believe 
if we don’t affect changes in the manner in which we  govern this country, we 
will continue to have problems. Politicians will  continue to go without being 
accountable to the people, the APC (All People’s  Congress) included. I 
believe the APC have contributed substantially to the  infrastructure and 
development of this country. I am very proud of that  record. And I am also the first 
to say mistakes were made during the  leadership of the APC, mistakes were made 
in the political management of the  country, mistakes were made in the 
economic management of the country to the  extent that the people got disgruntled. 
And that is why I believe we have to  change, we have to affect changes within 
the APC. And that is one of the  reasons I opted for the leadership. I came 
into the APC on a platform of  change and thankfully, I have
succeeded in being elected leader and  presidential candidate on that 
platform. And it is on that platform of change  that we are going to go into the 
elections. I believe we have to change the  governance in this country, we have to 
run the country in a business-like  manner, we have to be more accountable to 
the people. We have to ensure that  the decision-making process gets closer 
to the people, a decentralisation  process.

Do you intend to put an end to the divisive elements of Sierra  Leonian 
politics, to be more inclusive and to heal some of those old political  wounds? In 
other words, do you intend to have a government of  inclusion?

Certainly, I am of the view that there has to be a politics  of 
inclusiveness, at least for now. We are coming from a war, we have to build  the peace, and 
peace-building itself is a process and it should be reflected  all across the 
board. I have made the point in parliament and out of  parliament that after 
July 2007 when I am in State House, if it is Solomon  Berewa or Charles Margai 
that will be the official opposition, either of them  will be given official 
status. That is where we will start, the opposition  will be given official 
status. And I have also made the point that when a  announcement is made that I 
am President, from that moment I am President of  the Republic of Sierra Leone 
and not President of the APC and in terms of  jobs, cabinet positions, 
ambassadorial positions and any job that has to be  given to any Sierra Leonian, I 
can assure everybody that it will be done on  merit, because we need people who 
can deliver. We need people who can run the  machinery of state
to ensure that the overall situation of the country is  improved. I am not 
going to just limit it to party loyalists, I am not going  to limit it to just 
people who come from the same region. But I am going to  ensure that if 
somebody out there, somebody who is a member of the SLPP or any  other political 
party is qualified for a job, you don’t have to resign your  political party, as 
it is the case now. We don’t have to share the same  political views. If I 
believe in your ability to deliver, your ability to  perform by all means you will 
get the job and beyond that I will also ensure  that there will be a kind of 
inclusiveness amongst political parties,  participatory governance. I will 
ensure that members of major political  parties participate in the 
decision-making process. They will be consulted and  their views will be heard and I think 
we will try to develop a democracy  wherein everybody will be part and parcel 
of governance, not just the ruling  party.

How bad is the problem of corruption?

Corruption leads to  a lot of the mismanagement that is going on. Now we know 
that there is still a  need for capacity-building in certain institutions, 
but what is undermining  the entire process is the fact that corruption 
continues unchecked. The fact  that it’s like corruption is supported. If you don’t 
do things that are  corrupt, you will not at the end of the day be given the  
recognition.

How did corruption become so endemic and how did it become  so 
institutionalised?

There are times in the past when efforts were  made by the then-government to 
root out corruption, by removing ministers. But  we have not created 
institutions to sustain this practice and now we have the  Anti-Corruption Commission 
that was put in place in the year 2000, but this  commission has not been 
given enough authority. They still are just limited to  investigating; after their 
investigations, the outcomes of the investigation  are then taken to the 
Attorney General’s office who decides on who should be  prosecuted and who should 
not be prosecuted. And the Attorney General is a  minister; he’s a political 
man and people that are very close to the heart of  the government are normally 
given protection. I believe that we have to ensure  that we come out with a 
robust determination to put an end to corruption. The  government and the 
leadership must be very determined to send the right  signals. You only have to 
send the right signals. When the correct signals are  sent from the
top, I am sure that everything else will fall into place. We  also have to 
ensure that the civil society becomes very active in monitoring  affairs of the 
state.

You talk about being robust in the prosecution of  corruption if you become 
President.  I have spoken with Solomon Berewa  and Charles Margai, the other 
Presidential candidates, and they both said the  same thing. Is this a case of 
politicians saying the right things until you  appropriate office?

For me it is not a question of just saying; I have  demonstrated that in the 
city councils and the town councils in which we have  control. Like the Makeni 
town council, when we had evidence that there had  been some financial 
impropriety, someone who was very close to me, I asked to  resign. I have 
demonstrated that. I will continue to demonstrate it. I am  determined to root out 
corruption in this country.

1st October  2007

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