Following his reelection in November President Ernest Bai Koroma for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone appointed a blind person as Deputy Minister. Former broadcaster and musician, Mustapha Bai Atilla was appointed Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. In this interview with Politico he started by explaining what it felt like being appointed as minister in his condition.
MB Atilla: It's great a feeling of elation. Over the moon actually. I'm over the moon, on cloud nine because I have been itching to get into active public life. I have already been in the limelight for long as you know. I was a broadcaster and musician as well, but I wanted to be part of the development process in this country – especially where I have been put - it is an area where I’m passionate about, you know. So it is a great feeling and I have just hit the ground running. I'm here, there and everywhere right now.
Politico: When you say you are passionate about this why is that?
MB Atilla: Because one of the areas my ministry covers is the disability area, the physically challenged I like to call them not disabled. And you know I am physically challenged. But it gives me even more zeal to see how I can alleviate the problems of the physically challenged in this country. You know we have quite a lot of them on the streets. We first have to identify why they are on the streets, what it is that keeps on egging them onto the street that they can’t fend for themselves. We are trying to see how we can develop ways of letting them be self-empowered, self-skilled because we know that many of them are capable, very clever, very talented people. So we want to harness that talent so they can become productive citizens.
Politico: Now you are blind and obviously the country is not a very sensitive country in terms of dealing with blind people. Not every document is in Braille format. How are you coping as a Minister when you cannot see?
MB Atilla: Well it is of cause one of the challenges but I am coping very well because in all other spheres of life that I have worked – in broadcasting, in the music field and other places I have always…most of the times I had to deal with things that are not brailed. It’s been ok coz I have a lot of people around me that I rely on but of course I read Braille very well. When I go to make speeches my speeches are in Braille. You know when I prepare them I Braille them and read them out in Braille and all my documents, as I speak to you, are being brailed so I go through everyone of them coz, you know, people who can see can read for you but they might skip a line here and there. And sometimes we don’t know even if they might be patient to read every little letter they find. So you know I’m brailing everything. It is a challenge but I think I have overcome it now. I love the job that's the most important thing.
Politico: How do you feel for the physically challenged, as you refer to them, especially the blind. Do you think society has been fair to them?
MB Atilla: No, not really. The physically challenged generally, not only the blind, are not being treated fairly. But you know it is getting better now with this new dispensation we have with the formation of the Commission for the Disabled you know and of course me being a Cabinet Minister – the first blind person I think in Africa, West Africa so – it’s getting better. But we all know that in our society the physically challenged, the women, have always been treated with that negative stereotypical way of thinking. You should be seen and not heard. If you are physically challenged a lot of hurdles you know. If you are neat and tidy they take it against you. If on the other hand you are not tidy and neat they take it against you. Whatever you do! You know if you are somebody who is an extrovert, like me, they take it against you and say ‘oh he is too assertive, he is too mouthy’. If on the other hand you are a very quiet person, soft spoken, ‘oh he feels sorry for himself or herself that’s why he doesn’t like talking’ or ‘she doesn’t like to talk’. So you know we are in a no win situation. So we have to make ourselves winners. We can’t let the society handicap us and that is the situation we find ourselves in all over the country [even in other countries in] Africa we find blind people and the [other] physically challenged in general are not looked upon with too much respect. Only now it is changing. I tell you, in Sierra Leone we have moved steps ahead of many countries because we have many physically challenged people in prominent places and many of them are playing very important roles in society. Even like the music of Sierra Leone today the reason it has improved is because of the blind producers we have. Almost all the studio engineers and the studio producers are blind people and that is why the quality of the music has come in leaps and bounces right now.
(C) Politico 31/01/13
