Column No. 33 - Dear President Koroma

Dear President Koroma
By David Krueger

Hello Mr. President. You don’t know me (or maybe you do if you ever read this column) but I’m an American college student having the time of my life spending my summer working at Awoko Newspaper.

I’ll just cut right to the chase: I really, really want to talk to you.

I’ve never interviewed a head of state before, but I think that would be the coolest thing a journalist can do. The most famous people I’ve talked to are professional baseball players and Rick Steves, who has a series of books in the United States about travelling abroad.

You would obviously skyrocket to the top of that list.

I have about 1000 questions for you, but would happily scale that back to fit whatever time window you have. Whether it’s 10 minutes, 30 minutes or even (if I’m incredibly lucky) an hour, I feel like a conversation would be mutually beneficial.

I want to be a politician one day. After an illustrious journalism career, I hope to venture into the turbulent world of politics. I want to do a lot of things to make millions of peoples’ lives better because more than anything I just want to help people.

From what it looks like, that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. Your presidency is a much different one than that of U.S. President Barack Obama. However, you both have many of the same goals. Improving the lives of your citizens and insuring that there are proper educational and healthcare facilities are just a few.

I’m not coming at this from completely out of nowhere. While before I came here I mostly covered high school sports, I did spend three months in my state’s capital of Olympia covering the state government. I attended press conferences by the governor (sort of the President of the State of Washington) and worked on numerous stories about government.

While there my desire to be a politician was solidified. I saw how they interacted with each other and how they attempted to get things done (and block those on the other end of the political spectrum from getting their own things done).

I saw how the process works, and I know I can be successful in it.

It’s very similar here. I’ve read the newspapers, I’ve attended meetings of Parliament, and I’ve even traveled to Kambia and Port Loko to see the effects of your Free Healthcare Program. I’ll admit I’m by no means an expert on life in Sierra Leone, but I’m trying my best to get there.

I want to talk to you about everything, but can contain myself. I’d love to get your thoughts on everything from the 2012 Presidential Election to the Sierra Leone national football team. I have questions about the free healthcare as well as your soon to be released biography.

Most of all, I want to know how you got to where you are, why you want to be there and what you hope to keep doing while in power.

I don’t know if this is going to work. It probably won’t. But I think I’d win the Intern of the Year Award (which isn’t a real thing but should be) back home if I did. Interviewing you wouldn’t just be the highlight of my trip, it’d be one of the highlights of my life.

And a great story to tell my grandchildren one day.

I know you’re a very busy man. I understand that. You have an entire country to run. You have people to help, decisions to make and probably many more important things to do that would take precedent over talking to a foreign journalist who is only here for a few months.

However, I think the conversation would be fun for both of us. Any questions you have about American politics I’d be happy to try to answer, even if it’s just “did you vote for Barack Obama for President?” I’m not going to answer that question now, but will happily divulge that information during a chat.

I’m not trying to trick you or make you look bad (or good). I just want to be a journalist. I have questions that I’m just curious about. Many questions aren’t related to politics or presidencies at all. For instance, I’d love to know your favorite food. Mine’s jelof rice. I’ll share that information.

So I implore you to consider this request. If you don’t want anything written in the newspaper about it we can talk about that, although I’d beg you to not make that a condition of the interview.

This is a chance for the people to see the real Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Plus, it would give me the opportunity to be able to call my mother and professors back home and get to use the phrase: “I interviewed the President of Sierra Leone today.” It seems like a win-win situation to me.

Take some time and think it over and then please decide “yes.” Feel free to call or e-mail the Awoko office. I’m sure if they get a message from the President, they’ll get it to me quickly.

No matter what you decide good luck. You have an incredibly difficult job, and taking it on shows how much you care about the country of Sierra Leone. As the future President of the United States, I admire all that you are doing for this great country.

And I’d really love to talk to you about it.

Sincerely,
David