Our China students, Our Education Ministry

Hardly does journalism get so betrayed. Hardly does public accountability by a government minister get so frayed. It is a shame that the Minister of Education, who has so often gaffed and blamed his frailties and failings on journalists, can refer to as “backdoor” Sierra Leonean students who go to China for studies through the foreign ministry. It is a sham that a hitherto well-respected radio programme on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, Tea Break, can decide to interview that minister to react to an interview the programme’s producers decided to refuse to air. A new meaning has indeed been added to “independent public service broadcasting”. What a shame and a sham!
In Beijing last week I interviewed the President of the Sierra Leone Students’ Union in China, Philip Monyah. Like I have so often done, I decided to syndicate the interview since it borders on such significant national interest, namely our compatriots abroad complaining of suffering from what they see as neglect by their home government. And the fact that the local media cannot afford the luxury of travelling there on their own to speak with the students made a compelling reason to do so, FREE OF COST on any media house that ran it. “This interview is not only good in professional and technical quality, it is precious” one producer said to me. The rest, namely reactions from government to the allegations made by the students’ leader, can be simply done by the local media.
Radio Democracy carried the interview, like all but one of the other radio stations that received it. In their back announcement, they announced that they could not get the Minister of Education to react. That is neither news nor new of a minister whom plenty of journalists have an axe to grind with due to his unwillingness to account for his actions or inactions. He has so often dodged talking to journalists. Some of the reasons can be assumed namely his inadequacy to express himself well and his knee-jerk and phlegmatic reaction to probing questions. Then the ever-so-ready and articulate Minister of Information was handy. He sounded very genuine and was both contrite that our compatriots are going through such tough times in that neck of the wood, and committal that the government would look into their situation. Not so for the Minister of Education.
Dr Minkailu Bah was on the Tea Break of the SLBC on the same day. And in what bore all the hallmarks of a skewed interview, the allegations by the China students – admitted to as true and not new by the Information minister did not get the passion or empathy of the education minister. He instead started blaming his apparent inertia on what he called journalists not cross-checking their facts and jumping into running stories. This is a clay-legged recidivistic punching-bag phenomenon some members of the public, especially those in public offices, are all too often quick to throw at journalists. No journalist has said anything on this issue. I did an interview which was aired or published in the exact words of the president of the China students. And Dr Bah went on to simply admit that the government was paying the paltry sum of $ 60 to people almost all of whom will be coming back home to develop this country. Thanks to the Chinese Government.
The students say while their counterparts from countries such as Liberia, Ghana and Botswana receive between $ 300 and $ 1,000 monthly, all they get is $ 60. Scandalous as that amount is, only 53 of the 107 of the students get it. And here is the ludicrous reason for this as postulated by the students’ union leader and confirmed by the Minister of Education himself. Those who are nominated by the Ministry of Education are those that are on the list. Balderdash! Who does not know how the ministry of education awards and has for ages been awarding scholarships in this country? Like yesterday, like today, they send their cronies. And that is why the United States has a more effective way of awarding theirs. They identify the talent in you, you go through exams before you are chosen or awarded.
The Chinese government has apparently learned from this and have decided on an alternative plan. While not wanting to hurt the Government, they still award a quota through the Ministry of Education and then they identify certain institutions themselves, and send their nominees. But all this is done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Cleverly enough, even a trip to China funded by the Chinese embassy, has to go through and get approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So for the Minister of Education to refer to as “backdoor” those students who are not recruited on a partisan basis as is so often the case with those that go through the education ministry, is not just an insult to the affected students, but against the Chinese embassy and by extension the Chinese Government. It is even an embarrassment to the Government of Sierra Leone and must be condemned in the strongest of terms!
But I blame it as much on the education minister as I blame it on those producers of the Tea Break programme, who for some unprofessional and blurred reasons, decided to solicit the Minister’s reaction to an issue they refused to carry. This, despite SLBC Cabenda staff having chased me for the interview saying they needed it and wanted to use it. It suggests to one as to why the minister chose to turn down all other requests for an interview on the issue but was fine to appear on Tea Break. This certainly had nothing to do with audience-reach. I had to tune off because the questioning was patronising and leading to say the least.
The truth is, and it cannot be shoved aside or papered over by any minister or journalist, that the students in China are getting as much help from their host government as possible. After all they also have their own citizens to care for. And there is a limit to which their hosts can go. It is almost impossible for our compatriots to live on what they receive. They are not allowed to work to augment what they receive. And they need the studies to develop their capacity and their country. We are not the worst country in the world and the brooding over our inability to augment the $60 we give to our people must be thrown away. Someone must stop playing tricks and politics and attend to the plight our compatriots are facing.
I saw one of them whose lips have almost given way. The cruel summer and equally if not more importantly the financial difficulty, took a heavy toll on him. This is money that can be raised by a slight government financial cutback on some public officials whose work is as questionable as their worth is not worth the while.
Rather than the education minister taking his eyes off the ball and blaming one journalist or another, he should act on this. President Koroma is aware of their plight. The embassy in Beijing is aware. I, for example, as President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, wrote to the education minister even before three journalists left last year for studies in China, pleading with him to include them on the list of beneficiary students. He did not even bother to acknowledge the letter, let alone act on the request. What kind of a country is this! Our citizens must be prioritised. All other African countries whose citizens are studying in China that I met, told me that whether they went there through their ministry of education or were nominated directly by the Chinese embassy they got paid hundreds of US dollars a month. Come on someone!
By Umaru Fofana