Sierra Leone Telegraph: 1 February 2020:
China’s ambassador to Sierra Leone, Hu Zhangliang has donated 60 computers to Mrs Fatima Bio, as part of China’s commitment to supporting president Bio’s free quality education programme, aimed at 2 million boys and girls across the country.
Presenting the computers, the ambassador thanked the government and people of Sierra Leone for their solidarity and support for China’s fight against the Corona Virus. He assured Mrs Bio that all foreign nationals including Sierra Leoneans in China are being prioritized in receiving the necessary support throughout this health crisis in China.
Expressing her gratitude, Fatima Bio commended the Chinese ambassador and team for actively supporting her office, as she thanked him for donating the 60 computers. She promised the ambassador that the computers will be fairly distributed.
She extended her heartfelt sympathy to the people of China, saying that she is worried about Sierra Leoneans living in China, but expressed confidence that the crisis will be tackled in due time, just like the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone.
Madam Fatima Maada Bio thanked the press for supporting her vision and for ensuring her campaign goes far and wide. She stated that, in the not too distant future, she will be calling the press again, because it will be time for delivery, as the computers are just at her office on transit, before they are handed to the beneficiaries.
Did they properly screen those computers for the CORONAVIRUS before bringing them into our country and handing them over to our First Lady? If it’s not yet done, they should screen them as soon as possible before handing them to the schools. The safety of school children is paramount in my view. God bless the Chinese for their donation. God help prevent our country and people from coming in contact with the Coronavirus. Scary, dangerous and fatal disease. The memories of the EBOLA outbreak is still in the minds of our people.
It is good to appreciate someone extending a helping hand to you when you’re in need, but whenever I come across stories relating to non-Africans giving out gifts, or something that appears to be charitable to African nations, the question of when are we going to get ourselves together and stop depending on give outs never fails to come up. In my estimation, this cultural inheritance of depending on others to sustain ourselves that we have gotten ourselves in is ineffective, and highly irresponsible for a people to simply look at as a way of life. I say this because, never in history have there been a situation where a society has gotten itself out of a deplorable situation that is parallel to ours by simply depending on other people to do it for them. Never – and I stand to be corrected.
So, what makes these men think that it is okay to keep going on like this? Whatever happened to self determination? Also, don’t these men know that they are setting a bad example for the up and coming generation? Because the ones who are behind us see these things playing out in front of their faces, and sooner or later they will start to think that this kind of behavior is appropriate. Ultimately, they will have no problem carrying the torch of dependency that the generation who are in front of them leave them with.
Speaking of up and coming generation, not too long ago president Bio stood in front of some school kids in the country and asserted that there is no such thing as taking short cuts. The president’s assertion was based on the allegation that students were engaging in illicit exam practices at that time. However, the irony with the president’s assertion is that he himself has just come back from his typical globe trotting begging spree – begging for god knows what – to tell these kids about ill-fitted behavior. I suppose the kids were suppose to take him serious.
That whole situation there spoke volumes, because it implies that the president thinks going around the world serially begging does not entail taking a short cut, but students attempting to pull a fast one on an exam is.
Lol – Is she (Fatima Bio) the new minister of Basic Education? Am sure the minister will not be amused!!