The Ernest Koroma led APC regime has satisfied a lot of its 2007 Campaign promises in the area of Information & Communication achievements and no small thanks go to Hon. Alhaji I.B. Kargbo for these feats. APC has been phenomenal in many areas though Kargbo is clearly wanting in a few others. One area in which APC has been phenomenal is in ensuring Government lets go of control of SLBS and turn it into a Public Broadcaster owned and controlled by the people through their Board of Trustees. Now, even Omolanke drivers should have a say in how SLBC is run. SLBC is owned by me, you and us all. Also, SLBC TV programmes are now being viewed all around the world by satellite.

According to last night’s SLBC news item, former President of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has not only endorsed candidacy of his SLPP party’s presidential candidate but the SLBC news reader went on to say Kabbah is claiming Julius Maada Bio is “the fittest candidate for the 2012 elections”. Most unprofessionally, SLBC did not show us actual video clip of the former President saying the words.

Pa Kabbah is a die-hard SLPP man and I expect him to support Maada Bio but in the interest of professionalism, the SLBC should have shown us the video clip where Pa Kabbah was saying those words to the effect that Bio is “the fittest candidate for the 2012 elections”.

Our former President is a highly respected International Statesman. His words have weight. At home, he is loved, revered and respected by many of us including my humble self. If the former President tells us Bio is much fitter for the presidency than President Koroma then we will start to re-evaluate the high respect we have for President Koroma. This is because Bio is a liar, a thief and a cowardly killer (collective killer if you like) so if Kabbah says such a man is fitter than President Koroma for the presidency, it means Koroma must be a terrible person.

Amidst this controversy, the SLBC Board of Trustees, who are representing us the owners of SLBC, as a matter of urgency, should investigate and get SLBC’s Director-General to show them a video recording where the former President is making such specific utterances in Karina.

In the event that former President Kabbah never made such utterances about “fittest candidate”, the Board of Trustees should then get SLBC Management to issue an immediate apology to us, the owners of SLBC & the viewers, for such clumsy handling of that news item.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations, the SLBC should now ensure that when such an important endorsement is being covered, they show the video and sound of the dignitary as he speaks such pivotal words which have the power to influence a huge chunk of citizenry.

Over to the Board of Trustees. I am sure they will also agree that this is a matter of extreme URGENCY and high national IMPORTANCE.