News Story

FREETOWN: PRINCE MANAH LUSENI: Our impeccable State House sources have revealed that President Ernest Bai Koroma has spent a whooping $1, 02 0,600 (one million, twenty thousand and six hundred dollars) on foreign trips to African countries only since he came to power almost eight months ago.

The usually reliable State House sources who have been monitoring the President’s foreign trips said that since Ernest Bai Koroma came to office in September 2007, he has made a total of nine trips to African countries including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Libya, Senegal, Gambia to name but a few, but returned with very little.

Giving the specifics of the trips, the sources say that the President gets a per diem of $20, 000 (twenty thousand dollars) per trip and that each time he is traveling, State House spends $ 35, 000 (thirty five thousand dollars) at least to hire aircraft to take him to his destination.

The sources also said that on average, the President travels with an entourage of 12 people though there have been times when he has traveled with more than 15 people with each member of the entourage pocketing $1,600 (one thousand six hundred dollars) per diem. In addition the sources said that they spend at least two (2) days on the trips. When all of these are compiled, President Ernest Bai Koroma has spent at least Le $1,020,600 (one million, twenty thousand and six hundred dollars) on African trips alone.

The question wagging On tongues is what are the returns for these foreign trips and why the large entourages. Sometimes the president includes cooks, APC Mammy Queens, Task Force members, etc on these trips at the expense of the state. Some trips like the one to Uganda can be excused because it was a Commonwealth summit but there are some that are just a waste of resources of an impoverished country and an abjectly poor people who are hardest hit by the global food price increases.

On one of the trips to Senegal, it is understood the president only went to solicit assistance for his inauguration. His Senegalese counterpart Abdulai Wade bequeathed some vehicles to him for the ceremony but those vehicles were returned as soon as the inauguration ended.

Below is the breakdown of the presidential waste of state resources:

No. of trips (African) ----- 9

No. in Entourage (average) --- 12

Per diem for President ------ $ 20, 000 @ 2 @ 9 = $360, 000

Per Diem for Entourage ----- $ 1,600 @ 2 @ 12 @9 = $345, 600

Hire of Aircraft --------- $35, 000 @ 9 = $315, 000

Total = $ 1,020, 600

When converted into Leones this gives us a staggering Le 3,061,8000 (three billion, sixty one million, eight hundred thousand Leones). This explains why the government cannot tackle the global food increases and other problems it is grappling with.