KOROMA PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR BIO’S PEACE EFFORTS

Former President Ernest Bai Koroma has pledged to support President Julius Maada Bio’s efforts to strengthen peace and national cohesion, urging Sierra Leoneans to confront their differences openly and reject political victimisation.
Addressing a peace conference, Koroma said the responsibility of leadership extended beyond governing to keeping the country united.
“I want to assure President Bio that I will use that experience to give him support because Sierra Leone is the only country we have,” he said, referring to his experience as an opposition leader, a two-term president and a former head of state.
Koroma thanked President Bio for facilitating the gathering and establishing the Peace Commission. He also commended the commission’s leadership and members for organising the conference.
Departing from his prepared statement, the former president said he wanted to speak “from the heart” about the country’s peace journey and the responsibilities shared by its leaders and citizens.
Koroma traced that journey to the late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s declaration of the end of the civil war in 2002. He said Sierra Leone had demonstrated its capacity to sustain peace, although difficulties remained.
“We are having this meeting because we are not there yet,” he said.
He urged participants to use the conference to address unresolved issues honestly rather than allow political divisions to continue undermining national cohesion.
Drawing a comparison with Rwanda, Koroma argued that confronting painful truths was necessary for a country to move forward. He called for a Sierra Leone in which citizens could freely maintain their political affiliations and express their views.
Reflecting on his election victory in 2007, Koroma said he visited outgoing President Kabbah and former Vice President Solomon Berewa after the results were announced.
He recalled finding that Berewa’s security personnel had left and said he instructed the Inspector-General of Police to restore the protection.
Koroma also said outgoing Sierra Leone People’s Party ministers remained involved in the initial period of his administration, presenting that experience as an example of leadership across political lines.
“It is not just governing but to hold the country together,” he said.
The former president urged Sierra Leoneans to accept democratic changes of government without treating political opponents as enemies. He argued that a change in power should not force citizens to abandon their parties or expose them to punishment because of their political affiliations or backgrounds.
Koroma closed with an appeal for shared responsibility in protecting the country’s peace.
“Let us work together. Let us be peaceful. Let us not allow political division to divide us. We all have responsibility.”