One of the favourite sayings of Old Man Zubah, the wise, old man of Liberia whose words of wisdom COCORIOKO has been featuring, is that  “When Chicken white, it is white “. The parable can be interpreted in many ways but, generally speaking, what it means in essence is that if something is good, regardless of what detractors say about it, it is good. There are no two ways about it.  A white chicken is a white chicken. Its colour will never be changed by the perceptions and opinions of others. The chicken’s colour will not become black because a person that dislikes the chicken says it is black. The concrete fact visible to every normal eye is that the Chicken is white and it will always remain white. The concrete fact in Sierra Leone today is that President Koroma is doing a fantastic work in Sierra Leone and nobody – not even his most ardent detractor-can change this fact.

Since President Ernest Koroma came to power in 2007, Sierra Leone has been moving forward in a magnificent direction. The development-oriented President launched the Agenda For Change, an ambitious socio-economic and political transformational program designed to turn Sierra Leone into a strong, modern and progressive nation, while also significantly improving the quality of life for its people.

The Agenda For Change is built around the axis of Education, Energy and Water Resources, Agriculture, Health care delivery  and Infrastructure, and after nearly five years in power even some ‘unbelieving Thomases’ living in North America, who visited  Sierra Leone, had come back to confess that they had been impressed by the rapid developments taking place in the country.

During the reign of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), the country was stagnant, with the capital, Freetown, dubbed the darkest city in the world; water supply had broken down completely; morale among students and teachers had dropped so low that teachers spent their time in poyo bars and ataya bases drinking and mourning the lack of payment of their salaries running into months and years; Sierra Leone had the most frightening and the worst post-natal maternal and infant mortality record in the whole world; as for our infrastructure, they were an eyesore and our roads were death traps. There was no food to eat. Agriculture had broken down completely and farmlands had turned into dense jungles. The previous governments had stashed the country’s financial resources in their pockets and foreign banks.

As soon as he won the 2007 Presidential Elections and became the Head of State, President Koroma vowed that the situation he had met was unacceptable and untenable and he would go all out to turn the nation around.  He had ambitious plans for the nation and he put them in action at once. Very soon, serious work as has never been seen before started in the nation.

Electricity and water supply were restored and an extensive infrastructural and road development projects kicked off all over the nation. Agricultural reforms and free health care delivery for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under 5 were launched; the Gbamanja Commission of Inquiry‘s recommendations for improving education started to be implemented. In no time, changes started being seen in the country and soon praises started pouring in from all quarters.  The developments have continued unabated. Today, Sierra Leone is a fast-developing country and has been declared a success story of the United Nations.

Delegations after delegations from the UN, EU, DFID, the IMF, World Bank and bilateral partners have all returned from Sierra Leone with high commendation for the progress being made by the nation under President Koroma. Now, another honour has come for President Koroma as the West Africa-touring UN Security Council delegation that visited Sierra Leone yesterday has reportedly told the Sierra Leone media that they were impressed. Writes the independent AWOKO newspaper: “The 12 man United Nations Security Council team led by the permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations H.E Mark Lyall Grant has told journalists that they are impressed with Sierra Leone.”

According to the paper, the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN Security Council, H.E. Baso Sangqu (Who chaired the Council two months ago) confessed to the press: “Overall our impression is that the country is moving forward in terms of implementing its agenda for change in a number of areas in terms of SSR, DDR, in terms of peace building and in terms of generally economic development and growth within the country.”

And this is the Council that some ill-disposed person had recently tried to turn against the government with lies and wicked propaganda. Today, the same Council is praising the government for the changes in Sierra Leone. “When chicken white, it is white” Old Man Zubah is really right.

Sierra Leoneans need no further proof that President Koroma has acquitted himself marvellously in his responsibilities as Head of State. For all these organizations to join Sierra Leoneans in praising President Koroma, it means that the Head of State is really performing well. The President has positively transformed the socio-economic and political landscape of the country and put Sierra Leone on the map as the country with the most rapid socio-economic and political developments in West Africa.

We have often said that nobody will be able to damage the President’s name to the international community. We have intimated that stakeholders and the international community have their own representatives on the ground in Sierra Leone and if anything, they are compiling their own independent reports and when it matters most, they will reveal their unbiased views about what is going on in Sierra Leone, regardless of what the SLPP is saying. How true!!

The opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) cannot fool the international community and our bilateral and multilateral partners. These organizations know the truth, the inconvenient truth that the SLPP will never want to hear as they continue their self-deceit, that Sierra Leone has made significant progress under President Koroma.

The Peacebuilding Commission went to Freetown and returned with praises for our nation and President Koroma. Now, the UN Security Council has done the same. There is no other way to explain this except that President Koroma is performing excellently in Sierra Leone. The President’s “praise-singers”, “jelibahs” and “vuvuzelas” have been exonerated. DE PA DEY WOKE.

Sierra Leoneans must reward President Koroma for the outstanding leadership and stewardship he has provided the nation by overwhelmingly voting him back to power in November to give him the opportunity to continue his dazzling socio-economic and political developments.

Indeed, come November, President Koroma will beat Maada Bio and win a second term of office because DE PA DEY REALLY WOKE!!!