It is ‘Foggy’ in Sierra Leone As Sam Bangura Steps in to NASSIT

Nassit Building

The government finally gets it right. The selection process was indeed free and fair. The people were waiting in anticipation filled with speculation. The rumours were wild and fortune tellers got to work with predictions that never materialised. Forums were inundated with calls for the government not to interfere with the selection process. Accusations of tribalism and political juggling  were levied on the ruling party. History was in the making. The son of one of Sierra Leone’s most respected Bank Governors was about to occupy the hottest seat in government – Director-General of NASSIT – The National Social Security Trust of Sierra Leone.

Sam Bangura jr was unanimously selected to head this important breadwinner of most working Sierra Leoneans. NASSIT’s role has been defined – “To administer a social security scheme that provides financial security to all employees in Sierra Leone in the form of old age benefits, Invalidity benefits and Survivors’ benefits based on social Insurance principles”.

As he occupies his new post, memories of him as a little boy witnessing the brutal assassination of his father in the hands of political thugs to silence him from revealing state secrets will flash back in his mind. His Dad, Sam Bangura senior, was a no-nonsense head of the central bank who was strongly against corruption and refused to conspire with state authorities to loot the country’s coffers. At the time, there were rumours that top government officials planned his death as they endeavoured to misappropriate government funds. The shock of his death sent ripples through the country as one newspaper headline vividly pronounced:  “A Cold Blooded Murder”.

Sam Bangura jr popular known to his friends as ‘Foggy’ will bring into this reputable office a sound background of a good education and a strong family upbringing. Some in the media have referred to his recent job in the UK as a necessary hindrance for the appointment. I must say that it is not what job you previously had that qualifies you for any future career opportunity, it is whether you process the skills, education and character to be called upon to serve your country. I know for sure that Sam darkened the walls of a university and his hard working mother prepared him well for public life without the presence of a father who was stolen away from the family by mindless political hoodlums bent on depriving the country’s economy.

This appointment should also be a poignant reminder to Sam jr, that he should follow his father’s footsteps and champion the course to end corruption in our society and use his good office to bring about change to a country that is in desperately in need for a new political and economic direction.

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