|
Ex-Lieutenant Christopher Stevens who was former Deputy Chief Security Officer to former junta leader and head of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), Captain Valentine Strasser, over the weekend told The Exclusive that the present state of the former Head of State is so pathetic and serious that the present government needs to come to his rescue.
“As a former Head of State, he deserves extraordinary treatment because during his short stay in power, he succeeded in taking Sierra Leone to higher heights and put this once war ravaged nation on the world map,” ex-Lt Stevens emphasized, adding that if not for anything but for the fact that he was once Head of State and hence deserves some amount of attention. Former- Lieutenant Christopher Stevens, who described himself as a “Strasserist”, noted that, “when he assumed power, he brought electricity to Freetown in a record time after donkey years in darkness. After ages of total silence, the Strasser administration brought back the SLBS radio and TV alive. It was under Strasser that the cleanliness of Sierra Leone was taken seriously when his government made it a law that every last Saturday of every month, Sierra Leoneans should clean their vicinities. This was when Sierra Leoneans started to regain their lost pride as a civilized people once more-- a time when untouctables like Lebanese joined openly in the cleaning exercise. Also, it was during his reign that Leone Stars qualified for the African Nations Cup twice”. The “Strasserist” told this press further that President Ernest Bai Koroma’s “Attitudinal and Behavioural Change Campaign” is not something new as it was Captain Valentine Strasser’s administration which started the sensitization process to make Sierra Leoneans be more patriotic and nationalistic and change their negative attitudes towards their country. He maintained that even President Koroma’s Youth Commission has its roots in Strasser ’s NASMOS, which was an organization taking care of youth empowerment and unemployment. “Strasser might be sick, broke and at the point of death. This is all the reason why the government should come to his rescue because his status should reflect a former Head of State. When Strasser went to congratulate President Ernest Bai Koroma when he took over power, the latter promised to do something about the former’s financial status but he is still waiting for the President to fulfill his promise to him”, explained Strasser’s former Deputy Chief Security Officer. Former- Lieutenant Christopher Stevens said Strasser is not hopeless but a victim of injustice. “As a soldier who was wounded in action with a bank account; all other victims were paid except him. Even Defense Minister, Pallo Conteh, reassured him after the verification exercise, but it has still remained an ordinary reassurance. Even when IMATT raised concerns, nothing has been done. Even though he went to court during the SLPP, his military pension is not above thirty thousand Leones”, Ex-Lieutenant Christopher Stevens said. He disclosed that Strasser was never power drunk. “He always wanted to hand over power. He was always telling those at his Security Council meetings that he did not want anyone to diviate his attention from that set goal”, he noted. |
