When Satan wanted to disobey God Almighty, he challenged his master stating that he could not bow to Adam, because he was made out of clay and he, Satan was made from fire. Satan was the most likeable messenger of God Almighty, and was known as Lucifer. He enjoyed the privileges of working with God and became one of his trusted servants, but this instilled pride in him and became his own undoing. In the two holy books, (Holy Bible and Holy Quran), since his fall from grace, Satan’s name became synonymous with a mischievous person. He is known to be proud, bogus, and confrontational.
Unfortunately, this description befits one of Sierra Leone’s Ministers, who behaves exactly like the proud Satan. Some schools of thought believe his relationship with President Bio should be a distant kind of relationship. On the contrary, Julius Mattai is the most powerful man today in President Bio’s government. He sees himself as the most influential, closest, and most powerful man to President Bio, and like Satan, this pride has overtaken him, but the only difference is that in the case of Satan, he disobeyed God Almighty. Mattai has not dared to disobey his boss, but has been able to manipulate him and get his way, much to the chagrin of his colleague Ministers.
However, President Bio seemed to pays close attention to this man, probably because of the fact that Mattai was his classmate, and they are known to be best of friends, a reason many believe has made him untouchable. Mattai came to Sierra Leone in 2011, after spending over twenty years in the United Kingdom. His homecoming at the time was to start a new life. Mattai ended up becoming a rich man after he secured employment at the National Minerals Agency. Since he took office as Director General of National Minerals Agency, Julius Mattai has made more enemies in the mining sector than friends. Julius Mattai’s efforts to clear the air on the recent decision of government in terminating a contract between ARISE IIP and the Government of Sierra Leone, and approving another contract between the Government of Sierra Leone and China Kingho, now Leone Rock, speaks more of conflict of and personal interest.
It could be recalled that while head of the NMA, Mattai had been criticized over conflict of interest, as he owned the company that did all environmental impact assessments of aspiring mining companies, and eventually after the assessment by his company, their report guarantees the companies licenses for operations. Kingho’s arrival in Sierra Leone and its eventual reception of the Pepel rail and Port contract was another controversial issue, but was approved by cabinet as a result of Mattai’s intervention. His influenced over the mining sector resulted in disagreement between him and the then Mines Minister, Radao Yokie, a matter that went all the way to the President’s office, after which the Mines Minister was replaced. Even during approval of the new Mines Minister in Parliament, MPs raised concern that similar situation will not arise, where the NMA boss will be recalcitrant and disobey directives of the Minister.
Today, this same Mattia, amidst all these controversies, is now the Mines Minister, and under his watch, he has again arm-twisted the President to approve the Rail and Port Contract to Kingho, even when it is very clear that the company had done no significant work in tandem with the terms of their agreement, which led to the termination of the said contract in the first place. Some concerned citizens are asking as to the reason why a company, whose contract in respect of the same facility had been terminated due to non-performance, should again be granted the same contract.