Monday August 4, 2014 - As first White House meeting between the US administration and African Heads of State, a very reluctant rat of a President is forced to stay at home to attend to pressing issues of national importance - the Ebola outbreak that is killing Sierra Leoneans in an atmosphere of panic, distrust and exhibitions of incompetence in the health delivery system.

In a rare moment of exhibition of care for the people of Sierra Leone, the smoke and mirrors occupant of State House in Freetown (read the rat) has with a heavy heart we suspect, decided to forego a planned jamboree to the United States, ostensibly to honour the invitation of US President Barack Obama, but in reality to create an opportunity for further draining the coffers of state in what would definitely have been an over-sized delegation.

It took quite a good whipping from the independent press and like-minded true Sierra Leoneans to get the rat to change his mind. We can state a claim that the rat finally decided to succumb to common sense and his constitutional mandate to stay at home and grapple with the Ebola problem after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf announced to the Liberian people, her people that is, that she would not be attending the meeting and would stay in Liberia to oversee the epidemic that is destroying lives and the country's way of life.

In Sierra Leone despite the increasing number of deaths of patients, health workers and those trying to help the afflicted, the rat refused to declare the clarion call for a national emergency that would have harvested all the necessary resources to put up a good fight against the rampaging outbreak.

Article after article could be seen in local newspapers and online outlets all expressing the need for this line of action from the rat - but none was forthcoming. One news outlet had a report that included this bit -

"A local Non-Governmental Organisation in Sierra Leone, Health for All Coalition, has called on President Ernest Bai Koroma “to waste no more time in declaring the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency”. The organisation’s director, Charles Mambu said at a meeting with the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone that within one month, over 10 nurses had died of Ebola and that the transmission rate in Kenema was due in part to the interaction between health workers and unsuspecting Ebola patients.

He said the situating of the Ebola wards at the Kenema Government hospital where non-Ebola patients were also admitted was risking the latter patients. He briefed the commission on the closure of schools and banks in Kailahun district.

Mambu said that when the outbreak was first announced in Sierra Leone in May, the country was ill-prepared because “it was completely strange even to some health workers”.

He backed the request of the health workers for the Ebola treatment centre in Kenema to be relocated outside the hospital."

The same outlet also carried an article from a lawyer that was addressed directly to the rat -

I write as a citizen expressing my concern about the government’s response to the Ebola Virus disease (EVD) epidemic ravaging the population in Kailahun and Kenema, a concern held by many across the social, political and faith communities.

Although I am fully cognizant of the resource deficit in our current economic situation, it is my belief that the government’s response has not been proportionate to the seriousness of the threat, the speed of the contagion, nor the public’s right to be fully informed of the strategy to combat the epidemic.

I call upon the government to use its constitutional power to declare a state of emergency in the affected region, Eastern Province in order to contain the spread, to provide the most effective protective garments for all medical and scientific staff, and to provide accurate information to the public to dispel misinformation, encourage acceptance of medical help and allay panic.

Mr. President, with the first outbreak reported in Kailahun, many people have come to question the decision to transfer the very first victims from Kailahun, a highly infected area, to Kenema, a previously low-risk area because the viral laboratory was there. This decision has exposed health workers and the general population to the disease and fuelled panic amongst the people.

External agencies like the World Health Organisation have their own strategies but our health ministry must forcefully represent the dangers on the ground to these external agencies and not defer entirely to them in determining the best strategy for the country.

Mr. President, our country has overtaken the other Mano River nations in terms of new infections and the death toll, even though we were the last to experience an outbreak thus begging the question, is the government’s response to the emergency adequate to halt the epidemic?

With the death toll increasing exponentially, and the infection of key medical staff, health workers in the laboratory and treatment centre in Kenema, downed their tools, venting their frustration at the government’s inadequate response and demanding relocation of the treatment centre and provision of adequate protective gear as well as food for patients.

The shock of the announcement of the infection of the key viral doctor leading the fight against the outbreak, Dr Khan, has re- echoed these questions and has cast a net of doubt on the Ministry’s overall strategy to address a health issue as serious as this."

Still - as reports of many succumbing to the disease spread, the rat did not budge as he contemplated his personal gain and plans for today's meeting in the United States.

He only made the July 30 announcement of a state of emergency to deal with the Ebola outbreak after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf declared such an emergency in Liberia a couple of days in the lead. This was not the first time that the Liberian President was showing the rat the responsibility of a person who represents the affairs of the country. Indeed the rat kept a loud silence as Ebola spread in the east of the country - not a squeak from him until President Johnson's announcement that it would be a crime to harbour people suspected of being hit by the disease.

In his address to the nation on this on July 30, 2014, the rat stated, among others the new moves that would be adopted. This after the death of the lead doctor Dr Umar Khan in the fight against the onslaught of the disease -

Since the outbreak, my government, in collaboration with development partners has continued to mobilize and deploy resources and expertise nationally and internationally to fight the disease.

I have been in contact with world leaders and global partners to meet the challenges; we have set up coordinating mechanisms with the World Health Organization and other international bodies; we set up an inter-ministerial committee to mobilize MDA support activities; trained and deployed hundreds of health workers, contact tracers and burial teams; and facilitated awareness raising on the disease by paramount chiefs, religious leaders, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, musicians, okada riders, market women, the media and ordinary citizens.

The disease is beyond the scope of any one country, or community to defeat. (We beg to differ on this)

Its social, economic, psychological and security implications require scaling up measures at international, national, inter-agency and community levels. Extra-ordinary challenges require extra-ordinary measures. The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) poses an extra-ordinary challenge to our nation.

Consequently, and in line with the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act Number 6 of 1991, I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak.

I also hereby declare Monday August 4, 2014 a National Stay at Home Day for Family Reflection, Education and Prayers on the Ebola outbreak. Fellow citizens, this is a national fight, and it behoves all of us to stand together to promote the truth about this deadly disease. Ebola is real, and we must stop its transmission. There have been over 130 survivors of the disease. There is hope that early detection of the virus in persons can boost their chances of survival. This is why it is very necessary to get those with the virus to treatment centers not only to prevent others from contracting the virus, but also increasing their own chances of survival.

That line about harnessing international and national support mechanisms and systems rings hollow is only in the dream of the rat as nothing visible on his part was done. He knew the acid comments thrown in his way after the helicopter fiasco when on a planned visit to the epicentre of the outbreak in Kailahun, he stopped short in Kenema blaming shortage of fuel in the helicopter he was using.

His spokespeople (read shameless liars and bootlickers to the core) fell over each other sprouting one excuse after another for the rat's failure to get to Kailahun. He eventually did the next day only to be greeted with the news that the one and only Dr Omar Khan had passed to the great beyond, a victim of the disease he was so committed to stop spreading as well as saving the lives of those ensnared in the Ebola disease's web of death.

He could have been hanging on, wanting to sweat it out so that he would not be deprived of another opportunity to ride on the gravy train to the US and back, accompanied of course by his cohort of state and non-state officials/actors given a free ride not only on his orders, but with a few chucked into the wagons by State House officials who are often seen as using such an opportunity to have the names of persons that would only serve the personal needs of the rat, but would disappear in the US of A with a view to seeking the protection of the United States government in requesting a stay in that country.

Others would be on the list just for the ride and more importantly for the per diem, the daily allowances in foreign currency that would be paid out of State coffers.

The rat has not gone to the United States for the meeting convened by US President Obama, but if we know the corruption that permeates the walls of State House and the Lodge, we would not be surprised to learn that these per diem allowances are already in the pockets and bank accounts of those billed to have travelled with him to the United States. And if the past is anything to go by, as revealed by the Auditor-General, double amounts would have been paid. One set would be paid to the mission in the United States and a duplicate and same amount would have been collected by one Osho Coker, poor fellow, who would defend the expenses of His Excellency the Rat as having "a multifarious role as Supreme Executive Authority of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces."

Today has been declared a holiday by the rat - calling it a National Stay at Home Day for Family Reflection, Education and Prayers on the Ebola outbreak. We are really puzzled about the reason for this given the disruption in economic activity as well as the restriction that would be put on a nation whose majority live by the hour and by the day in a typical "an-to-mot" situation.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, on the other hand, being a more result-oriented, purposeful and serious about her plans put these practical measures into place when she declared -

"Friday, August 1, is declared a non-working day and is to be used for the disinfection and chlorination of all public facilities.

All borders that are to remain opened are to be directly supervised and controlled by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization whose duties it shall be, working with the assigned health authorities, to ensure strict adherence to announced preventive measures including preliminary testing for fever.

Without exceptions, all schools are ordered closed pending further directive from the Ministry of Education.

All markets at border areas including Foya, Bo Waterside, and Ganta are hereby ordered closed until further notice.

As previously directed, video clubs and entertainment centers must have improved sanitation including facilities for the washing of hands prior to entering and exiting as well as to restrict opening hours, and the number of individuals permitted to enter those facilities.

All citizens are seriously advised to avoid public amusement and entertainment centers.

Increase in prices of sanitation commodities used in this fight will be treated as an offense against the people of Liberia. The Ministry of Commerce is directed to enforce this order. All such commodities including chlorine, soap, sanitizers, fliers and buckets are to be imported duty free."

Do we have such in Sierra Leone especially what's mentioned in the last paragraph - "All such commodities including chlorine, soap, sanitizers, fliers and buckets are to be imported duty free."