Fatima Maada Bio – The Sierra Leonean Enigma
Titus Boye-Thompson, Accra Ghana
Say what you will, the persona of Fatima Bio will for a very long time remain in the hearts and minds of Sierra Leoneans. For a woman many ordinarily dismissed as unqualified or unpolished for the role of first lady, she has brought to that role and position an augmented reality, she had approached her entry into Sierra Leone political life as a brazen hussy, with no inhibitions or qualms about making her presence felt. She set a clear store of how she wanted people to interpret her relationship with her husband, and made it plain from the outset and to the amazement of many, who wore the trousers in that household. It is without any doubt that both husband and wife have their roles, which are easily recognizable, and the responsibility for managing the family unit is shared, even if not equally – Fatima also has her own trousers!
One aspect of Fatima’s approach to Sierra Leonean high society is encapsulated in the general perception of Gambian women about their counterparts in Sierra Leone. Unless you are a legend like some of us, rare breed, you have to have dated a Gambian lady to understand their psyche and their tolerance levels for jealousy and protective nature. Gambian women love different from other women. They are very homely and domesticated, very good cooks and have an almost ceremonial approach to feeding their partner. To have a meal with them is nearly impossible, because for them, eating together as a family unit is ceremonial. They eat better as women together, so the partner or man in the house is served separately and even given the best portion, but you would never forgive them for missing out on their group gathering when they are having their own meals. They feed with their bare hands easily and especially when they prepare “domada,” “super” or “benechin.” So to be in a relationship with a Gambian woman as a Sierra Leonean man is a completely different experience and having been there, one cannot blame President Julius Maada Bio for being submissive to his wife. These Gambian woman love you with such abandon that you do feel their own total handover of all they have and losses to you. This is the reason why Fatima Bio is so protective, possessive and jealously guarded of her husband. It is really the way a Gambian who falls in love is wired.
Coming into Sierra Leone with that wave of attitude was not a flaw, but a deliberate and calculated gambit to set herself above everybody she comes across. Fatima Bio does not have enough experience of being a Sierra Leonean wife, even though she may have been born and bred here in her formative years as a girl from Kono. Worse still, she had left this country a while back and had been involved in such a high profile career as a film actress, living in London. She is not what you might call an ordinary Gambian woman. So when politics catapulted her husband to the Presidency, she had to set clear markers about her role as first lady- interestingly a role and responsibility that thus has no taught classes or standard of comportment for incumbents. It is for this reason that she entered the role with such brazen arrogance and entitlement euphoria surrounding her family; first to isolate them from external influence, but with the unfavourable outcome of them being seen as out of touch with the common reality in Sierra Leone.
Fatima may have meant no harm in this, but it is clear that she may have had the benefit of other counsel not to allow anyone to come between her and her husband -a common mistake that many a time end up splitting the Sierra Leonean family at all levels. So, in a way, Fatima’s aloofness was to protect her husband, family and marriage!
Her dabbling in national politics is legendary, and before her time, no first lady had ever been more visual and commandeering of political results as she has demonstrated a capacity for. In the SLPP, she has taken over the role of proxy Women’s leader, consigning the incumbent, Hawa Sawaneh, to the dustbins of SLPP political history. She has fought a relentless battle against Madam Sawaneh all these years because of rumours that she may have had a tryst with Fatima’s husband. True or false, Fatima has shown in this case that once she has made her decision against an enemy, she is wont rocket go or relent.
Her more interesting foray in politics has been her silent appreciation of APC women. She has always been a fan of the APC’s Freetown Mayor, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, to the extent that she is known to have backed Aki Sawyerr over Gento Kamara, because she values brain over brawn. She admired Aki Sawyerr for her resilience and to some extent, she recognizes the battle that Aki Sawyerr faced at the beginning of the SLPP tenure in 2018 was similar to her own battle to raise a head above a sea of misogynistic men, who would rather see a woman in a kitchen or bedroom rather than a boardroom! It was Fatima’s strong liking for Mayor Aki Sawyerr that caused her to bring Sylvia Blyden to heel, and managed to get her to drop her campaign of calumny against the APC Mayor. It is also evident that Fatima has to use her influence over Sylvia Blyden to call an uneasy truce between the two and control the vitriol that Sylvia Blyden was sure to have unleashed. Her stance is a gentle calm against the Mayor, and for that matter, other strong women in the country have been curtailed because of Fatima’s avowed dislike for women fighting each other instead of supporting each other, even though this rule would not apply to Hawa Sawaneh.
Fatima Bio’s recent stage hugging, hand holding and general jollity with Mayor Aki Sawyerr was not unintentional, but a clear manifestation of a woman who has found her place in Sierra Leonean society and is now reassured that she has made for herself a name that none can deter. She was comfortable cajoling the crowd by showing a sincere appreciation of a woman as strong as her, because she is sure that no one dares doubt her strength or courage anymore. Fatima Bio has become an enigma in Sierra Leone, she is an empowered woman empowering other women.
