=EDITORIAL= Sylvia Blyden Growing Bigger Than Her Shoes! We are not government functionaries; neither are we civil servants, yet we know for sure that the way governments all over the world operate involves some amount of decorum, decency, behavior and secrecy! This is why; we at THE TRUMPET newspaper were a bit taken aback when we first saw sensitive government information, decisions and other information posted on an Internet social site operated by Dr. Sylvia Blyden who is President Ernest Bai Korma’s Special Executive Assistant (SEA) at State House. The first time was a few weeks after Dr. Blyden was appointed to the position of SEA. But without going into that sordid history, we suffice to say that she made very loud noises about her appointment, which we deemed at the time as very unbecoming of her because we had expected that the very loud noises should have been made by a second or third party – not by her! Be that as it may, we were again shocked not long after when the Saudi Prince’ donation issue came up. Again, it was the SEA who let the cat out of the bag when she announced that the Saudi prince had donated the sum of $2million; a figure which was later debunked by those who were well informed and very conscious about the fact that they are employed and paid well to think properly and get the facts rights before opening their mouths! Be that as it may again, we were genuinely surprised that the SEA did not stop at that, but also posted on her Facebook social media site, information and utterances about her colleagues in the Ernest Bai Koroma-led APC government which leaves much to be desired! Our issue here with Dr. Blyden is that of late, she seems to have grown bigger than her shoes. We say this because there is nowhere in the world where an individual appointed by the Chief Executive of State would be making statements and insinuations about colleagues in the government she is serving, unless she has an ulterior motive. By ulterior motive, we mean that the SEA cannot afford to be making statements over Facebook and in her newspaper (which we all know she still has ultimate command over what is published and what is not) which do not do our revered President Ernest Bai Koroma a genuine favor but rather a twisted disfavor! She might want to argue that what she posts on her Facebook page is her personal opinion and not that of the government she was appointed by President Ernest Bai Koroma to serve. However, we beg to disagree with Dr. Blyden because we know for sure that once a person becomes part of the inner circle of the government administration, your life, utterances, interactions and other life patterns dramatically change. The individual appointed to serve in a sensitive position in any government would then be expected to live by certain norms and dictates. This however does not mean becoming a slave to your conscious. Yet it means that you cannot just paste on Facebook issues and information which are of a sensitive nature and call such issues and information your personal opinion. Of course, Dr. Blyden of all people should know that there is a very thin line between a public official’s private and public life; all the reason for public servants to be wary about what they say, write in newspapers and paste on Facebook! It is unarguably a fact that ever since Dr. Blyden entered the corridors of power at State House, not much has been hidden from the public by way of sensitive information finding its way out of State House and falling in the laps of especially members of the main opposition SLPP who were once her ‘bosom’ friends. Friends like the erstwhile National Chairman and Leader of the SLPP, John O. Benjamin and a number of others who Dr. Blyden went to extremes to support and gain recognition for in her Awareness Times newspaper then! Another latent issue which came out in a recent article authored by journalist Tam Baryoh titled STATE DOCUMENTS: Beware of Sylvia Blyden; we cannot but quote an excerpt which states: “In a thriving democracy like ours, no one knows it all, not even the President, let alone you.” He writes on: “On the specific issue of rape, my few hours lessons in female psychology have taught me to understand that people are likely to defend a side of event with a vivid historical reality of their own lives which permeates their childhood reality. They would rather look at issues from the vantage point of what they may have been (victims). “This is understandable. In fact, there is this story of a young girl who had been raped by her uncle. The rape incident resulted in a boy-child. This lady, claiming closer relationship with State House in Freetown, throughout her life refuses to accept that child and therefore relegated the upbringing of the boy to her own mother in Europe. She has vowed never to accept this offspring of rape as her child. She lives in Sierra Leone as a government functionary and her mother lives with the child in Europe as a retired civil servant. To such a person Madam, and understandably so, anything called rape, true or false, will enrage her.” The above was part of David Tam Baryoh’s article which he addressed to Dr, Sylvia Blyden the SEA to President Koroma. We at THE TRUMPET are not in any way ascribing the above statements to you because even the writer did not. We however can recall a similar piece in the Awareness Times Newspaper in the form of questions which cast aspersions on an owner of a radio station, stating that the owner of the radio station had raped and impregnated an underage girl; though the Awareness Times too did not name names. This is why we are saying that once you become a public servant; especially one serving in Presidential circles, you must be very mindful about what you say about others orally, via internet or on print! They sat what is good for the goose is also good for the gander and what goes around comes around. Be that as it may, all we can add is to advise our revered President Ernest Bai Koroma to be wary and to be careful about the sensitive things he says in the presence of certain people within his inner circle, lest one day he be sorry. They say it is the bright day that brings forth the Adder! And there is the local song which lyrics’ has it: You dae watch me, you dae witch me!
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 22:30:39 +0000
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