The Public Affairs Officer of the United States Embassy in Freetown, Madam Sarah Van Horne has clarified to this medium that the United States Government does not give monies to the Sierra Leone Government for deported Sierra Leoneans from the United States of America through the Sierra Leone Chancery office in Washington.
Madam Sarah Van Horne made this clarification due to statement made by one Mr. Alex Kamara, a Sierra Leonean/American that purported that the United States Government gave the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to each deportees through the Sierra Leone Chancery in Washington.
Furthermore, the Sierra Leone Ambassador to the United States of America who is also accredited to Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, H.E Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai has also stated that, they have never received monies from the United States Government for Sierra Leonean Deportees.
Ambassador H.E Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai made this revelation in a telephone interview with this medium. Ambassador Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai further described the claims as a calculated ploy to tarnish the image of the Sierra Leone Chancery in Washington. After the United States Government identified the Sierra Leonean deportees, Ambassador Wai explained to this medium that, the Chancery office will be contacted to issue out Emergency Travel Certificate.
“The Sierra Leone Embassy in Washington is required by law to issue out Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) to the Sierra Leonean deportees,” said H.E Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai, added that, the United States Government only provides air tickets to the deportees. He further debunked that the Sierra Leone Chancery office in Washington has never received monies from the United States Government on behalf of Sierra Leonean deportees.
However, Mr. Alex Kamara, a Sierra Leonean/American has claimed that the United States Government has given the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to each Sierra Leonean deportees through the Sierra Leone Chancery in Washington. Mr. Kamara went on to say that the ten thousand dollars given to each deportee is part of the United States Government support package to the deportees. He stated further that each deportee is expected to use the money judiciously in securing accommodation, food, clothing and other needs.
Mr. Alex Kamara made this disclosure on Monday 15th August 2022, in his address delivered to the Network of Ex-Asylum Seekers situated at 54 Wellington Street in Freetown, in the presence of journalists.
Mr. Alex said that in his twenty three years of engagement with migrants in the United States, he has written over two thousand petitions to the United States Department on behalf of migrants from South and Central America (Hispanics) former Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. He added that he has held talks with the United States Department officials on immigration and has won many cases of migrants on deportation list. He said there are hundreds of aliens in deportation camps in Virginia, Florida, Texas and elsewhere in the USA awaiting their petitions cases to be processed by the appropriate authorities, adding that, Sierra Leoneans are also part them.
“I wonder why NEAS is not aware of that as an organization that has been caring for over 180 deportees,” he told members of the Network of Ex-Asylum Seekers (NEAS). Mr. Kamara also stated that he is ready to challenge the Sierra Leone Chancery office in Washington that the money was handed over to them on behalf of the deportees.
