Thursday 14 August 2014

Tourism Minister versus Momoh Konte



 By Elias L. Bangura
 Sometimes you wonder why people who ought to know better behave in an unseemly manner – and whether it is for the protection of their people or it is just for their interests. Hmm.

  The current Tourism Minister, Peter B. Conteh, and Momoh Konte both come from Koinadugu District – but I only know one of them, Peter. I have met him twice. The first was in my capacity as President of the Parliamentary Press Gallery when he was approved as minister by the Appointments Committee. Our second meeting was in Kabala when I accompanied the Mines Committee to Koinadugu to settle mining disputes. On both occasions, our meeting was brief and it didn’t go beyond formalities, as he was in a hurry to leave. I had judged him on both occasions as I do now, as a man in a hurry to get things done.

  That’s fine, by me; and looking back at him since his return from Italy with his willingness to serve has got my admiration, including our people at Koinadugu, and that of this present Government, that made him Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council before, and now as Minister of Tourism. I own he has been remarkable albeit sometimes controversial, unnecessarily controversial. That’s not my issue now.

  What is my issue now has to do with what has throttled our nation – something I have nicknamed Public Enemy Number One: Ebola. It has kept the nation from sleeping, including the world too. I need not recount its horrors to you because it is still front page news in all mediums, where others more qualified than myself have already done so.
  Now the good Lord has been merciful to Koinadugu district up to this time, in being the only district in Sierra Leone without a reported Ebola case. Even so, we the indigenes ought to show utmost vigilance, and it’s a happy business when those with the competence come forward with their own resources to augment such vigilance.
  But – it has been reported – that this has galled some people and has made them come up with speed to interrupt the fine flow of affairs. Such a one happens to be Peter B. Conteh, our Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, although he has vehemently denied it.

  This week, the New Vision Newspaper in its 12 August 2014 edition reported that “Chief Executive Officer of Transtech International, Momoh Konte, has resigned from the Koinadugu District Ebola Task Force established in June to prevent the entry of the deadly Ebola virus in the district. Mr. Konte’s decision to resign came in the wake of political interference in the whole process. Reports from Koinadugu say over two hundred people have stormed the border town of Fadugu yesterday to enter the district when news broke out that Mr. Konte has quitted the Task Force.”

  You wonder why he has to resign.  The New Vision continues, “At a time when Momoh Konte was busy assisting our people, investing millions of leones and galvanizing the people to prevent the entry of the disease in the district, our politicians in our district were nowhere to be seen,” a youth, Mohamed Mansaray, said.”

  Even the present District Chairman has joined in accusing the Tourism Minister too, according to New Vision Newspaper: “Meanwhile the Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council Sheku Kamara yesterday accused the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Peter Bayuku Conteh of inciting the people against him and the Council. The Chairman also accused the minister of wanting to hijack the successes made by the Task Force in the district with tremendous support from Momoh Konte.”

  All this makes disturbing reading – doesn’t it – because you would have expected that if the Minister were to come in at all – it will be in the way of complementation instead of hijacking a program put together by stakeholders of the district, of which he invariably forms a part although he doesn’t know it. The motive of that move is clear to me – he is seeking his own glory instead of that of his people. I don’t see it in any other light. 

  Koinadugu District is one vast land that is very remote from the affairs of Sierra Leone – oh forget about it being the largest district, and other things you might want to mention – it is nothing but a tale of misery and destitution. 

The things that make up a modern society are absent, have been absent therein since Lord knows when. The district matters but little to the national psyche, all because it is not blessed with protesters, say, like Kenema or Bo districts, that should bring its concerns to the table, whether in Parliament or at Cabinet. 

  It is the truth that Koinadugu has always been in the bottom rungs of the development blueprint of any Government in this country – we don’t know why, and the evidence is there for all to see when you compare it with other districts. We don’t complain, but we will complain when those who come from there starts the sad business of infighting and being suspicious of anyone who comes forward to do the majority any good.

  I know we need each other in Koinadugu because those with the capacity to help the majority poor are so few in number, as such whoever comes forward to help must be commended instead of being discouraged, as Momoh Konte is and is now threatening resignation from the Ebola Task Force because he is a businessman who can’t afford being at variance with politicians regardless of whether the said politician is from his district or not.

  And let’s not forget, Ebola is still raging, not to mention the porosity of Koinadugu which has the most neighbours that includes Guinea. We can’t afford even a single case of Ebola because of obvious reasons, and the internal vigilance as exhibited by its indigenes is commendable although the back patting should wait until the rascal virus is out of West Africa.

  Interestingly, though, even the Tourism Minister cannot deny the ingenuity and oneness of our people in their willingness to believe the message about Ebola and heeding the Ministry of Health’s abstention messages with their precautionary measures which they are obeying to the letter.

  The basis of my belief is that even the minister himself has donated USD500 to the activities of the Task Force – but then you wonder why he wants to disrupt things, is it because of zeal or just plain dictatorship that things must go by his own directives? I don’t know whether he learnt dictatorship in Italy because the highland terrain and wild weather of Koinadugu teaches only one thing: hard work and standing by the next man.

  In fact, isn’t that what life also teaches, that we all need standing by? The Minister of Tourism, Peter B. Conteh, need to relearn that lesson, and extend a brotherly hand to Momoh Konte – someone with good intentions, just like himself, and help move Koinadugu forward.

  And for Momoh Konte, you ought to know because the United States where you have sojourned teaches that one should seize the day – whether to help the next man or to help yourself. You ought not to chicken out in doing well because of one individual, even if he is Osama Bin Laden or Muammar Gaddafi.
  Oh, sorry, for all this bother; people call me the Schoolboy from Kabala, uhum.

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