July 30, 2018
By Abu-bakarr Sheriff
SLAES President Yusuf Kabbah (photo credit BBC)
President of Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors (SLAES) has urged the Government of Sierra Leone, through President Julius Maada Bio, to speedily address the health, social and economic wellbeing of survivors of the deadly virus.
In an open letter addressed to President Bio, Yusuf Kabbah urged the new administration “to take appropriate measures to speedily address the health, social and economic (including unemployment) challenges that confront Ebola survivors,” while expressing hope that ample resources would be allocated to survivors’ need and monitoring initiatives aimed at addressing their concerns.
The deadly Ebola virus ravaged Sierra Leone between May 2014 to November 2016, infecting 8,704, killing 3,589, including 221 healthcare workers, among them 11 doctors.
The erstwhile All Peoples Congress led government under President Ernest Bai Koroma was criticised for their initial inertia to responding to the outbreak, which spread from a remote border town in Kailahun district to Kenema and the rest of the country with such rapidity that overwhelmed the country’s moribund healthcare system.
But perhaps more significantly, the fight against the virus was saddled with corruption, which the country’s Audit Service said a whopping US$14 million dollars couldn’t be accounted for.
Kabbah poignantly recalled that, “we are concerned that the government of Sierra Leone grossly mismanaged the Ebola response effort—a concern you and expert reports have also raised to the public. The 2015 Auditor-general’s report on the management of Ebola funds clearly showed the unacceptable level of fiscal mismanagement and blatant corruption that characterised the government’s response.”
The SLAES President said they acknowledge and appreciate government’s efforts to mobilse support to end the Ebola outbreak, although “the government could have done more to effectively allocate and manage our shared resources. During the crisis, vital life-saving drugs and medical supplies for infected persons were inadequate, thereby increasing the infection rate and death toll of infected Sierra Leoneans.”
To date, no action has been taken to bring perpetrators of the alleged corrupt act to book, although there is a glimmer of hope that new Anti-Corruption czar Francis Ben Kaifala will sooner rather than later take action.
However, just before the multitier elections in March, two Ebola survivors and Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL) filed a case against the government of Sierra Leone. The litigants are seeking reliefs against violations of citizens’ right to life and health as a result of mismanagement of funds meant to respond to the epidemic which claimed the lives of thousands and left many more with indelible challenges.
SLAES has publicly lent support to CARL and the litigants in their historic effort to seek justice for blatant state failure, as a result of graft, to protect the rights to life and health.
“As part of efforts to get a judicial recognition of the violations we suffered and to help victims get a sense of closure, we are supporting a suit brought mainly by Ebola survivors in the Community Court of Justice (ECOWAS Court) against the Government of Sierra Leone. It is our hope that this effort would help repair the injury and loss that we and other Sierra Leoneans suffered during and after the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.” He also applauded the public commitment of President Bio “to investigate the mismanagement of Ebola response funds,” said Kabbah.
In addition, he urged the new administration to participate in the litigation in Abuja, “so as to resolve it in a smooth and speedy manner.”
The case had been slated to commence in the Nigerian on July 5, but it remains unclear whether the government is desirous of defending the action or negotiating an amicable out of court settlement.
Even as they wait for a speedy judicial closure to the action in the ECOWAS Court, the 3,000 or more Ebola survivors still feel hard done as according to them, “Government support after the crisis is no better.” Kabbah adds: “As an Ebola survivor myself, I led efforts to set up SLAES to advocate for the welfare and rights of Ebola survivors. SLAES has registered more than 3,000 survivors, who cannot return to their normal lives because they battle with serious physical and psychological health complications. Many Ebola survivors have gone blind; others suffer from gynaecological complications, and most of us need long-term psychosocial counselling services. Sadly, Mr. President, like the Ebola response effort, there has been a lacklustre response by the government of Sierra Leone in addressing our health needs.”
Thus, the Ebola survivors want President Bio, who left his PhD studies in the United Kingdom and returned to Sierra Leone to help fight the pandemic, to again act by alleviating their current plight. “I want to express my Association’s gratitude for your contribution to the fight against Ebola. Interventions like yours ultimately tilted the balance in the battle against Ebola in favour of the people and government of Sierra Leone. We may have won the battle, but the fight is not done yet. It is now time for your government to help address the serious and complex challenges confronting Ebola survivors, including those raised in this letter,” says Kabbah. “We have suffered so much deprivation and injustice, but thankfully, your new government can reverse the trend. We hope you agree that healthcare and social support are basic services that Ebola survivors and citizens of this country deserve from their government.”