ECOWAS Gave President Maada Bio Feathers  

Julius Maada Bio delivering his acceptance as new Chairman of ECOWAS

By Alpha Amadu Jalloh

When the announcement came that President Julius Maada Bio had been appointed as the new Chairman of ECOWAS, many Sierra Leoneans, including myself, could hardly contain our disbelief. They gave him feathers. Feathers to fly higher, further, and away from the reality that is Sierra Leone’s collapsing state. Feathers that will no doubt fuel his already insatiable appetite for foreign travel and meaningless summits while his own backyard lies in ruin. Feathers that will make it even harder for a battered and weary population to pin him down and force him to do the job he was elected to do.

ECOWAS claims it seeks to foster regional integration, economic development, and democratic principles in West Africa. Yet, in handing this symbolic feather to Maada Bio, it has done quite the opposite. It has rewarded failure, emboldened incompetence, and insulted the suffering masses of Sierra Leone. Instead of focusing on lifting Sierra Leone out of economic hardship, addressing rampant corruption, stabilising the currency, creating jobs, and building functioning institutions, we now have a President whose head will grow even larger with delusions of grandeur.

Sierra Leoneans have been desperately trying to tether this President to the ground. To make him stay at home and face the music of his own governance failures. Instead, ECOWAS has given him yet another platform to evade accountability. We are struggling with a man who, even without such a grand title, has already mastered the art of escapism through endless overseas engagements. And now, now he has an official excuse to spend more time gallivanting across the sub-region while his ministers run amok at home.

Let us be frank. This is not just about prestige. Maada Bio’s chairmanship of ECOWAS is a new dilemma for us as a people. Here is why.

First, we should brace ourselves for even more reckless and unnecessary travels at the expense of the taxpayer. If Maada Bio could not resist the temptation of globe-trotting before, what will stop him now that he holds the ECOWAS title? Expect more convoys, more private jets, more hotel bills, and more photo opportunities while Sierra Leoneans grapple with rising food prices, blackouts, water shortages, and youth unemployment.

Second, this new feather on his cap will only inflate his ego and further isolate him from the plight of ordinary citizens. A man who already listens only to sycophants will now see himself as a continental statesman beyond reproach. His detachment from domestic realities will deepen. And do not be surprised if we soon hear of him creating a new ministry. Perhaps a Ministry of ECOWAS Affairs. Complete with new ministers, deputy ministers, advisers, and all the associated wastage that comes with it. I hope he does not do it. But when it is Maada Bio at the helm, who can say?

Third, this chairmanship risks being used as a shield against growing calls for accountability at home. Every critique of his administration’s failures will now be met with the tired defence that the ECOWAS Chair has no time for petty politics. He is busy uniting the region. Petty politics in this case being our genuine concerns about corruption, human rights abuses, and mismanagement. Watch how dissent will be painted as unpatriotic. How opposition voices will be told to keep quiet so that the great regional unifier can focus on his noble duties.

Fourth, ECOWAS itself has not helped its own credibility. By elevating Maada Bio, it reinforces what many have long suspected. That the organisation is nothing more than a toothless bulldog. An entity that presides over crises rather than resolving them. An entity that has failed to stop coups, failed to enforce term limits, failed to protect the rule of law, and failed to inspire hope among the peoples of West Africa. Instead of supporting leaders who genuinely promote democracy and economic stability, ECOWAS continues to prop up those who are part of the problem. And now Sierra Leone pays the price for this absurd theatre.

Let us look at what this means in practical terms. The President of Sierra Leone will now spend more time representing ECOWAS at international forums. Issuing statements on democracy and good governance while his own record at home is littered with electoral irregularities, suppression of dissent, and allegations of corruption at the highest levels. The irony could not be starker.

Furthermore, this appointment risks distracting attention from the critical reforms that Sierra Leone desperately needs. Our economy is in tatters. Our judiciary is compromised. Our youths are disillusioned. The Kush drug epidemic is destroying a generation. Our farmers are struggling. And yet, with Maada Bio now strutting the regional stage, the focus will shift from solving these problems to self-congratulation on the international circuit.

What ECOWAS has done is to throw Sierra Leone under the bus. Instead of helping us stabilise a leader who has presided over growing inequality, broken promises, and rising hardship, they have given him feathers to fly away from us even further. It is an insult to the intelligence and resilience of Sierra Leoneans who continue to work hard every day in spite of the odds stacked against them.

Sierra Leone does not need a President who is preoccupied with continental ambitions. We need a President who stays at home, rolls up his sleeves, and fixes what is broken. We need a leader who understands that charity begins at home. No number of ECOWAS titles will erase the realities of hunger, joblessness, and despair on our streets.

To ECOWAS I say your gesture may have been well-intentioned. But you have handed us a poisoned chalice. To my fellow Sierra Leoneans let us not be distracted by the pomp of this appointment. Let us continue to demand that our President focuses on the work that matters. The work of nation-building, of economic recovery, and of restoring the dignity of our people.

They gave him feathers, yes. But we, the people, must ensure that he does not simply fly away while our nation sinks deeper into crisis.

Alpha Amadu Jalloh, currently in Prague, Czech Republic