A COMMENTARY BY: ALIMAMY LAHAI KAMARA
I continue to follow him, read his speeches, study his diplomatic behaviour, and relate those attitudes to the political governance of the very state he represents in internationalism. President Julius Maada Bio! Sierra Leone was adequately represented at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in the United States of America led by the President.
A conglomeration of personalities – those in sectors such as electricity, gender, justice, information, communication and technology, investment, and climate change participated in sessions bordering on their areas and articulated the Sierra Leone agenda!
Sierra Leone’s diplomatic agenda is non-confrontational, analogous to soft diplomacy, maintaining a position on multilateralism in a bipolar world defined by power politics and geopolitical competition. President Bio has been widely accredited for delivering an instructive address at the General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations’ General Assembly, and is understood for championing the African Agenda for positioning a continent on the UN Security Council and for offering the Sierra Leonean experience on peace mediation and conflict resolution as a non-permanent member on the same Security Council.
At home, Bio has been credited with a brilliant speech. A television commentator described his address as a ‘very good speech’. Dr. Mamoud Tarawally teaching political science at Fourah Bay College, was Brutally Frank on Slik TV in Freetown. The programme examined the merits and demerits of his address, identifying domestic issues the speech ought to have mentioned.
The UNGA in Bio: His address at the General Debate can be examined from three strands – global, sub-regional, and national. I see his nomenclature; I insist he is a diplomat, and I hold he is an ardent peacemaker. In one of my articles entitled: Global Governance: the Political Behaviour of President Bio, I wrote: “of his political behavior, I see soft politics; I see diplomacy; I see liberalism; I see democratiness.”
He took to UNGA a posture of a force that believes in multilateralism to address global bedlams that have devastated the world far beyond human imagination – conflicts that have turned viable states into crippling geographies, flourishing economies into impoverished markets, and radiant peoples into penurious victims of war, whose living indicates the worthlessness of their very existence in the boundaries they find themselves. His call spiraled in a hall occupied by the world’s decision makers, who listened and applauded a state-man that continues to mobilize and lead colleagues for the resurrection of the African content and advocates for the deconfliction of a world attacked by deadly wars in Europe and West Asia or the Middle East.
Ukraine – where livelihoods once buoyed, economy soared, medical health guaranteed, and education excelled – will now have to battle ‘reconstruction and recovery efforts estimated at about USD 349 billion’, (OECD, 2023: 20) in the face of an unending war of an inexpressible obliteration. Estimate suggests it will run up to at least a decade for Ukraine’s economy to recover to pre-war levels, Economist Intelligence Unit cited in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2023: 20). Gaza has known armed unrest for decades. Waves of fresh armed conflict broke out in October, 2023, after Israel launched a military offensive that has killed between October 2023 to July 2025 60,199 Palestinians in Gaza, of whom 18,430 were children and 9,735 were women, (Human Rights Council, 2025: 7-8). Bio describes this anarchy as ‘entrenched conflicts’.
He believes in the international order, rules-based society to curtail geopolitics or constrict power politics the same way proponents of multilateralism like Le Drian and Maas seek to stabilize the world order and uphold its principles of institutionalism. At the General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Bio says: “this assembly of nations is not just ceremonial. It is a call for the world’s conscience to act with unity, determination, and vision.” For Maas, multilateralism is not directed against anyone, but instead strives to reach joint solutions to global problems, Maas quoted in Moreland (2019: 8). In this circumstance, Bio and Maas believe in a cooperative vision to tackle global problems such as the war in Gaza and Ukraine. Hoffmann subscribes to this view and explains that the essence of liberalism is self-restraint, moderation, compromise, and peace (Hoffmann, 1987:396). This universalist notion Bio believes can be championed by a common agency forestalling conflict and harmonizing relations among states. Bio says: “the UN must be more than a meeting place. It must be a working place – for peace, for people, for our planet”. For peace, for the peoples of Israel and Palestine, and as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority, Bio welcomed signing of agreement between Israel and Hamas, marking the release of hostages and prisoners as contained in the settlement. The Bio diplomacy is rooted in multilateralism and liberalism – Biosm!
At the sub-regional level, his tendency is unrestricted to advocacy. It extends to mobilizing colleagues and championing actions that initiate political dialogues with colleague presidents and heads of state in countries beleaguered by political instability and those battling political transitions. He has visited Burkina Fasso twice to formulate solidarity and rebuild trust between the ECOWAS community and the Alliance of Sahelian States. As the Chairman of ECOWAS Authority, he appears muscular in performing tasks he so sets for himself.
According to a State House press release, in August 2025, Bio made high-level visits to Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, and Cape Verde to strengthen regional collaboration and tackle common challenges plaguing the community. Chief Minister, David Sengeh, says Bio has toured seven countries including Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast discussing democratic good governance as a common political philosophy characterizing modern Africanism rotted in the African belief for peaceful cohesion, respectability of political systems, and in the sheer desire for economic prosperity through trade. Bio has reconstructed the image of Sierra Leone – she now leads, she mobilizes, she champions, she stages political dialogues for addressing political misadventures that have engulfed the African continent including her very self. The country witnessed political instability in August 10 and 11, 2022, and in November 26, 2023, respectively, but demonstrated political maturity that led her into political stability through the Unity Agreement and the Tripartite. This political dexterity has got the country a rank as one of the most peaceful nations in Africa. The Global Peace Index 2025 placed Sierra Leone the 2nd most peaceful in West Africa and 5th in Africa.
At the national level, Sierra Leone at UNGA 80 relates to the mission the country took to the UN – the meetings on the sidelines flaunted national development programmes for wooing funding, attracting foreign direct investments, and soliciting buy-in for the country’s democratic disposition. Bio showcases the Feed Salone initiative and stresses on transformation of the agricultural sector to ensure food security.
The food production initiative continues to get local traction through public-private partnership and is reaching commendable stages. In various parts of the country; for example, in Bo, Muloma youth-led agri-business center engages in an impressive large-scale farming of maize, cattle, and poultry; in Pujehun (Gbondapi) the African Development Bank funds construction of rice agro-industrial cluster expected to produce tons of rice per harvest; in Makeni, the township holds a premier rice milling facilities and a premier commercial hatchery – the district produces at least 5000 eggs per day; in Magburaka ( in Mamuntha and Magbass) a private sector farm grows over 500 hectares of rice, producing roughly over 80 bags of rice per hectares; in Bombali district, Med-Tulai agri-business processing center farms 100 hectares of rice in Mayobo village; and weeks ago or so, Bio launched high-yield varieties of rice, cassava and maize at Rokupr in Kambia. Three rice mills constructed: one in Kambia and two in Turma Bum serving 50,000 hectares of boliland.
These records may not be satisfactory, but have contributed to the increase of local rice production by 8%, cutting down imports by 13%, further pushing a cut in the price of rice by 20%, attracting the World Food Programme to buy 30% of its rice for the school feeding programme from local farmers. There is also a positive impact on egg production, which import has dropped by 21%. Local food stuff may not be entirely cheap across the country, but there is all-round accessibility and availability of the commodities even in crisis periods such as the Ebola and COVID 19.
On Brutally Frank on Slik TV, the programme maintained that Bio did not mention Yenga and the fight against drug in his speech at UNGA. On Yenga, it may not be an oversight, but it may be that the two sister countries can address the occupation diplomatically. His address to Parliament on August 7, 2025, points to this and he says: “on the current occupation of Yenga, our position is peaceful but resolute. We are firmly committed to a diplomatic solution, but we will always defend our sovereignty through lawful means”. Chief Minister visited Yenga weeks ago to restore hope and promote nationalism in a people whose resilience transcends the years of occupation of their very territory.
On drug abuse and harmful substances, Sierra Leone requires a national strategy for tackling a growing epidemic or crisis. The National Drug Enforcement Agency appears decrepit, and the national task force on drug seems entangled in that rot. The media is confronting the scourge and the public is mounting pressure on social media. Editor of Concord Times Newspaper, Alusine Sesay, on his Kalangba Echo published in October 22, 2025, writes: “together we can deal with the current Kush crisis and save our youth from losing their potentials.” Yeama Sarah Thompson, Head of SLENA, on her Facebook page says: “the Kush epidemic is a national emergency. Government, media, and communities must move from awareness to action.” A journalist Mohamed Wusha Conteh, on his Facebook page, calls on the Inter-Religious Council to declare 7 days prayers and fasting, and Communications Manager, in the Office of the President, Peter Beckly, calls for collaboration in fighting the malaise and not confrontation. Chief Minister, David Sengeh, shares this thought, and on his Facebook page, he writes: “government’s priority every day is to eradicate Kush and other harmful drugs in Sierra Leone. We need everybody onboard in the fight against drugs in this country, just as it was in the fight against MPOX, COVID 19, and Ebola.”