Concord Times (Freetown)
Abdul Karim Koroma
12 January 2009
column
IB Kargbo was among the likes of Mohamed Samura of the Sierra Leone News Agency, Sam Metzer, the late Frankly Bunting Davies, Roland Martin and other journalists that formed what is today known as the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists in the early 1970s.
The association started as a fraternity and later it was transformed into an organization. It was during the tenure of IB Kargbo as president of SLAJ that the public started perceiving SLAJ as a credible outfit. IB Kargbo made SLAJ to become a key stakeholder in the governance of this country. Those who were in the country during the past presidential and parliamentary elections know where I am coming from. His analysis on radio programmes and his newspaper - The New Citizen - in the run up to the elections were not only objective but educative. They also served as a food for thought.
His presidency also witnessed the introduction of the media code of practice, which is guiding journalists on how to carryout with their work without being bias or subjective. The media code of practice has helped lots of media practitioners to report objectively during the 2007 elections and the post-election period. IB Kargbo's presidency in SLAJ saw a generation of transformation in the organization, which no president has ever achieved since the formation of the organization.
Minister of the year
It came as no surprise to me one morning when I heard that two organizations- the All Peoples Congress and All Works of Life awarded him Minister of the Year. The awards awarded to IB Kargbo show that he has helped brought new innovations in the governance of the country. He deserved accolades for succeeding to market President Ernest Bai Koroma and the APC government.
In 2003 the British government, Sierra Leone's biggest bilateral donor, was the first to classify Sierra Leone as a failed state under the leadership of former President Kabbah and his Vice President, Solomon Ekuma Berewa (defeated SLPP presidential candidate in the 2007 elections). This worrisome development hunted the country onto the elections, which forced the country's multilateral donors to withhold their funding to the country despite majority of the population living in abject poverty and destitution.
After President Koroma was elected President he made sure that IB Kargbo commenced the re-branding of the country after years of war and political instability. Following his appointment as minister of information and communication, IB Kargbo has traversed the length and breadth of the globe selling President Koroma's policies - Open Government Initiative and the Attitudinal and Behavioral Change, thus informing mankind that Sierra Leone is no longer a failed state as it used to be but a nation in a hurry to move forward against all odds. The idea of re-branding the country has brought lots of laurels to the Koroma government. Some countries are still of the opinion that Sierra Leone is still at war- thanks to the moves made by our information minister for changing peoples perception about Sierra Leone.
IB Kargbo is on record as the first minister of information ever to hold weekly press conferences continuously for over a year with the sole aim of explaining government polices to the people. Dr. Julius Spencer and Professor Septimus Kaikai - both SLPP ministers of information - tried to organize weekly briefings but no one knew why they stopped and the project disappeared without any trace.
IB Kargbo's weekly briefs are held every Thursday at his Youyi Building office and they are aired live on all the SLBS radio stations nationwide. Government policies are explained even to those in Kailahun Court Barry. IB Kargbo is transparent and democratic during these briefs to a fault. He gives opportunity to opposition journalists to ask questions (some asked confrontational questions, which he always responds to gently). IB Kargbo had at one point invited an SLPP MP to serve as one of his panelists, a development that had never happened during the SLPP era in governance. One good characteristic about IB Kargbo is he knows how to manage crisis situations when they arise.
International Community
The hidden fact about IB Kargbo is that he is one of President Koroma's cabinet ministers that is represented and admired by the international community. He has a splendid manner of interfacing with members of the international community. A retired civil servant who has worked in many missions abroad once said that "IB Kargbo knows what foreign diplomats want to hear. He understands their language."
A foreign diplomat currently on posting here whom I discussed with during a reception I was invited to told me that he is yet to understand IB Kargbo.
"I have worked in lots of missions in Europe and Africa. I have never met an information minister like IB Kargbo. He is just wonderful I can't believe it. Your President made no mistake to appoint him as his Minister of Information," the diplomat said.
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