Could the news flying around of PERSONA NON GRATA for Michael Schulenburg be true? I do not think so.

The UN Secretary-General has reportedly sent an air ticket for Michael Schulenburg so he is definitely leaving Sierra Leone but it can not be a case of Persona Non Grata because persona non grata usually sees the errant diplomat being kicked out within 24 to 48 hours. So if Schulenburg is going to be around until February 9th as the reported date of his departure, then it simply cannot be PERSONA NON GRATA.

Hon. I.B. Kargbo has set the record straight this morning that the Government did not declare Schulenburg to be persona non grata but it was the United Nations Headquarters in New York which took the decision to withdraw Schulenburg from Sierra Leone.

Whatever the case, Mr. Michael von der Schulenburg would remain on record as possibly one of the worst United Nations diplomats to ever be sent to Sierra Leone. His tenure has been plagued with scandal after scandal. If he is not physically dragging UN staff by the neck (hence the nickname HITLER), he would be mentioned in embarrassing stories of love affairs or he would be going to the U.N. to endorse apologies rendered without speaking to those who had been apologised to.

I do not think it is fair to say President Ernest Koroma alone had problems with him. Many, many other Sierra Leoneans did. Despite all the U.N. cash he used to ensconce himself in Sierra Leone, it was the actions of Schulenburg himself which signed the death warrant for his diplomatic tenure in Sierra Leone.

"The man thought with his free access to splash United Nations Peace Building Funds on civil society and journalists, he was a King in Sierra Leone but he now knows he is just another cheap-shirted failed diplomat," said Michael Smith a university student in Sierra Leone a few moments ago.

He has his supporters in Sierra Leone but if a careful check is done of those who would be lamenting his exit from the country, they would all be seen to be direct or indirect beneficiaries of his largesse of United Nations funds. They will be speaking of his generousity towards them and would claim he is a good diplomat but the evidence says otherwise.

Schulenburg acted in a low-down and insensitive manner many a time. Ask the families of the 29 people executed by NPRC if Mr. Schulenburg ever made overtures to them after they bitterly complained his endorsement of Maada Bio's apology without ever speaking to them first.

“I can tell you on behalf of all the affected families, we are very, very happy with the reports of the immediate withdrawal of Mr. Schulenburg from Sierra Leone. If such a massacre had happened in his home country of Germany, as happened to our family members in 1992, there is no way Mr. Schulenburg would have treated the victims’ families with the scorn and contempt he has treated our families with. The man had taken sides in our country and it is good Mr. Ban Ki Moon has seen fit to remove him from our soil,” Victor Jarrett, one of the sons of the executed victims of the NPRC massacre stated a few moments ago.

Indeed, Victor Jarrett has said it all. My God! WHAT A DIPLOMAT! Bye bye Mr. Schulenburg! Good riddance from Sierra Leone!