by Fatima Babih, EdD
Sierra Leoneans, it’s time to engage in critical thinking, open our eyes, and look beyond Fatima Jabbie Bio’s staged dramas and emotional performances. Let’s not be passive observers, but active participants in our country’s future.
Fatima Bio’s recent public drama with Octea/Koidu Holdings is not the patriotic act she wants you and me to believe.
It’s a meticulously planned political manipulation, a ploy to tighten her grip on power and control, divert our attention from her misdeeds, and present herself as a ‘woman of the people’ just in time to cover the corruption scandals she and her husband are embroiled in and for her next political move.
Ask Yourself, Sierra Leoneans: Is Fatima Bio Fighting for Us?
If you are one of the few who get to sleep in her newly discovered mansions in The Gambia or enjoy luxury shopping trips with her on chartered private jets to Dubai, Europe, or the U.S., perhaps you believe she is fighting for you.
In that case, you might be right. She’s fighting to maintain the lifestyle she shares with those of you in her privileged inner circle.
But for the rest of us, the ordinary suffering citizens, the people of Kono, the Koidu Holdings Workers and their families, the struggling market women, the underpaid teachers, nurses, the millions of unemployed youth searching for work and losing hope, the families losing their mothers and babies in hospitals that have no electricity, equipment or medicine, Fatima Bio is not fighting for us.
She never has.
Her recent dramas are not about justice for the workers or accountability for Koidu Holdings. They are about show, political control, and personal vendetta.
Fatima Bio was born in neighboring Guinea. As a toddler, she was brought to Kono, where she grew up. Of course, this gives her every right to claim Kono as her home.
For over 25 years, the people of Kono have contended with Koidu Holdings. In publicly available reports, the company has been accused of displacing communities, causing environmental destruction, and failing in corporate responsibility.
Yet Fatima Bio, who has been the country’s First Lady for seven years now, has said and done nothing about the Kono people’s plight with Koidu Holdings. Not even when a class action lawsuit was filed in 2019 by marginalized, affected property owners in Kono against Koidu Holdings.
This is the backdrop against which we must view Fatima Bio’s sudden interest in intervening in the workers’ dispute in Kono.
Her Inconsistencies Tell the Truth
As the saying goes, “To catch a liar, look for inconsistencies in their narrative.”
Fatima Bio’s story about the reason for her involvement in the Koidu Holdings dispute is inconsistent and changes from audience to audience.
Abruptly, in late 2024 and early 2025, when a labor dispute breaks out between Koidu Holdings and its workers, Fatima Bio rushes in, grabs the megaphone, seizing the spotlight, and poses as the savior for the workers, none of whom she allows to speak to us at the protest.
But why is there a sudden interest in the issue of Koidu Holdings and the people of Kono?
Two Words: Political Rivalry.
Fatima Bio’s fight is about undermining her political rival, Chief Minister Dr. David Sengeh, and maintaining political control in Kono. Dr. Sengeh and the ministers of mines and labor were already involved in the dispute resolution process between Koidu Holdings and its workers.
Fatima Bio, seeing Dr. Sengeh as a political rival and fearing that, should he succeed in resolving the labor dispute, he might gain popularity in Kono, the district Fatima Bio claims as her political base. She couldn’t let that happen.
So, she inserted herself into the dispute resolution process, took control of it, with the help of the ministers of mines and labor (her sycophantic YES men), and she eventually changed the course of the process into a stage for her to gain fame and attention.
And here’s where the inconsistencies begin to unravel in her narrative.
INCONSISTENCY #1
I intervened because I’m a daughter of the soil
At the protest, Fatima Bio said she joined the workers voluntarily because she is a daughter of the soil. She used this claim to indirectly attack Dr. Sengeh, saying he should “go to his district (Pujehun) to deal with the dispute between his people and the foreign company” (SOCFIN). She also said she controlled Kono.
So, is this a fight for justice or turf politics?
INCONSISTENCY #2:
My husband sent me to intervene
In the same speech at the protest, Fatima Bio completely changed her story. She claimed she joined the workers this time because her husband, Julius Maada Bio, allegedly asked her to resolve the issue between Koidu Holdings and its workers in Kono.
INCONSISTENCY #3:
Koidu Holdings’ Management Requested My Intervention
In her official response letter to Octea, released May 13, 2025, she and her legal team stated that Fatima Bio got involved in the dispute resolution process because Koidu Holdings’ management asked her to help resolve the matter.
How do you go from the key person who can resolve the dispute to the person who escalates it into a chaotic situation that ends in one thousand workers losing their jobs and a company leaving town?
Are we supposed to believe that the company she publicly vilified and blamed for wrongdoing had invited her to get involved in their labor dispute?
Three different versions of the same story.
One person.
One issue.
Truth or Lie? Which is Which?
No consistency.
CAUTION SALONE PEOPLE
Fatima Bio is not fighting for us. She is fighting for herself and her inner circle to,
- Protect her image,
- Control political turf, and
- Maintain access to the privileges of power, control, and resources.
While we, the ordinary citizens of Sierra Leone, suffer from hunger, Fatima Bio, her children, and inner circle have been amassing wealth, including real estate in the Gambia and other countries, frequently flying on chartered private airplanes, and staging political dramas to win Sierra Leoneans’ sympathy and maintain her influence.
Sierra Leoneans, please do not be fooled.
The consequences of Fatima Bio’s actions and behavior could be dire for our country.
Do not join a fight you do not understand or one where the true motive is hidden behind rehearsed, staged outrage.
Sierra Leoneans, we have the power to hold our leaders to a higher standard. Let’s use it.
It’s time to demand transparency and accountability.
Ask questions.
Fatima Bio is not the people’s savior; she is a schemer. Right now, she is playing a dangerous game with Sierra Leoneans’ welfare and future.
And most importantly, don’t allow yourself to be used by a woman who has already shown you that her loyalty is not to you or Sierra Leone, but to her adopted country, The Gambia, her family, friends, and her hidden agenda.
Be ALERT, Sierra Leoneans, and protect yourself from manipulation by a corrupt and wicked politician!
Let’s not become pawns in her continued pursuit of power and wealth.
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 