By Amin Kef Sesay
The Member of Parliament for Constituency 104 in Pujehun District Hon. Shiaka Sama has been criticized for his continuous acts of deceiving President Julius Maada Bio with his utterances on the Social Media and other platforms.
The Independent Legislator has been embroiled in series of controversies in Sahn-Malen Chiefdom for years now as he stands accused of continuing to fan the flames of inciting villagers against the Palm Oil Plantation Company and the Chiefdom Administration.
Shiaka Sama is no stranger to controversy- in the last couple of years he had been accused for that and sometimes occasionally arrested for incitement and other related crimes within his Constituency, a phenomenon the people of Sahn Malen termed as his usual behavior.
Even some his biological brothers have confirmed in Sahn Township that the Legislator has a ‘thick skin’ for creating mischief and turmoil within his chiefdom in particular and Pujehun District in general just to fulfil his egoist political ambition and agenda.
In a complaint against Hon. Shiaka Musa Sama bordering on inciting violence and creating insecurity in Malen Chiefdom by the Paramount Chief of Malen Chiefdom there were several concerns raised ranging from incitement to public disorder, instructing local youths to organize a Poro initiation ceremony without the prior knowledge of the Paramount Chief and other chiefdom authorities.
The attitude and behavior of the Legislator in Sahn-Malen Chiefdom is not helping the New Direction Government in any way and President Julius Maada Bio should stop rubbing shoulders with Shiaka Sama because of his insincerity to champion the interests of his constituents who voted for him only trying to push his own interest at the forefront.
President Julius Maada Bio should know that all what Shiaka is trying to do is to discourage the Socfin Agricultural Company from furthering its investment agenda because all the campaign he and MALOA together with Green Scenery have been preaching are senseless and absurd.
MALOA and Green Scenery should know that there is nothing like land grabbing in Sahn-Malen. The Paramount Chief and other chiefdom authorities have publicly told the world that there is NO land grabbing in their chiefdom.
President Julius Maada Bio in his divine wisdom instructed his Vice President to investigate the issues bordering around the company prior to the litany of fabrications and castigations by Shiaka Sama and his MALOA entity against the agricultural company.
Not too long ago a technical team was set up by Vice President ,Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, comprising various stakeholders and during the process, Hon. Shiaka Sama openly raised the red flag that they have no confidence in the process and do not trust the President in handling the process.
Now, the Member of Parliament is all over the social media acclaiming the President for his good work; but this is the same man who was saying all sorts of negative things about the Presidency during the findings of the Technical Committee Team.
Down memory lane :Shiaka Sama posted that his life was under threat and all official security reports are manipulated and sponsored against him and his supporters. “We don’t have to wait until an attempt is made on my life to appreciate the urgency and seriousness the situation demands, the soldiers are harassing our people and are potential threats to my life, my family and other supporters,” he once noted.
This is the same Shiaka Sama who has been organizing all sorts of distractive programmes with his constituents, dancing and celebrating across his Constituency unharmed, all in the name of creating unnecessary commotion and giving a bad name to the chiefdom. Does it look like his life is under threat?
The continuous negative portraying of the country’s image by Sama is uncalled for. Sierra Leone is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, but the cheap politics and currying favor by the legislator is something the Government should take prompt decision against.
The resilient patrols mounted by military personnel and tight security apparatus put in place in the chiefdom have lessened the plethora of fruit theft which was hitherto commonplace within the chiefdom, and now some of the villagers are fuming and raising hell against that with the help of the Member of Parliament.
The reading public should know that one of the major challenges the company is faced with is fruit theft, which continues to affect the company financially.
If only Hon. Shiaka Sama is a true patriot and also working in line with the New Direction Government he should give a supporting hand to the agricultural company by helping sensitizing his subjects to work in the interest of the company and not otherwise.
Much is expected from the legislator to see how he can work with the agricultural company for the good of Sierra Leoneans and the Government so that the people of Sahn-Malen will continue to dwell in peace and unity.
The recalcitrant and headstrong attitude by Mr. Sheka Sama should be put under control and from his utterances it seems the latter is not ready for peace and reconciliation despite the confidence he has given to the Government and the President.
The Government of Sierra Leone has the utmost and greatest responsibility to protect and defend investors in the country and not allow power-thirsty politicians like Sama to create any mayhem.
It is public knowledge that most of the overseas trips by President Julius Maada Bio is geared towards luring investors to come and create jobs for our jobless youths. We already have Socfin which the Government must protect and not allow so-called politicians to discourage credible investors and drive them out of the country.
The Government should come out strong and try to educate Mr. Sama that some of his social media postings will continue to put Sierra Leone in the bad light in the eyes of potential investors.
The Legislator should know that the establishment of Socfin Agricultural Company in Sierra Leone has given much hope to the Government and People of Sierra Leone that the country’s economy can be diversified as opposed to dependency on the mining sector.
Before now, little was said about the potential of the agricultural sector vis-a-vis revenue mobilization as currently our export base is low. But the involvement of foreign direct investors like Socfin Agricultural Company (SAC) has helped the Government to realize huge revenue from the sector through export duties.
The impact of Socfin’s activities on the economy , when cognizance is taken of effectively rolling out of its Corporate Social Responsibility, was recently captured by the Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa as factored in the Budget Statement and Economic and Financial policies for the Financial year 2019 in the Well of Sierra Leone Parliament on paragraph 19 which states, “…the performance of the external sector improved during the first half of 2018. Total value of exports for the period January to June 2018 is estimated at US$518.8 million. The sharp increase in exports is accounted for primarily by the export of palm oil by SOCFIN Agricultural Company…”
The Member of Parliament should know that Socfin is never a fly-by-night company that was established through the back-door, but rather a legitimate one that went through the laws of Sierra Leone. Any attack on Socfin is a direct attack on the Government and by extension that could have the tendency to undermine the clarion call for investors to come.
Only fools will fail to embrace Socfin Agricultural Company in Sahn Malen Chiefdom.
