by Fatima Babih, EdD
Earlier this month, Phelecia Nembhard, the Mayor of New Carrollton, a city in Maryland, conferred a City Proclamation award on Fatima Jabbie Bio, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, who is in the U.S on one of her regular personal fundraising and PR campaigns.
At first glance, this gesture appears to be a benign act of diplomacy. But for those of us familiar with Fatima Bio’s portfolio of scandals, especially Sierra Leoneans and members of the African diaspora in the DMV, the mayor’s decision raises serious concerns about judgment, transparency, and the values our elected leaders choose to elevate.
Fatima Bio is not simply a foreign dignitary visiting the United States. She is a deeply controversial figure in the West African country’s politics; she is widely regarded as the most corrupt First Lady in the region. Her tenure has been marked not by charitable service or civic leadership but by political and financial corruption, as well as public misconduct, both at home and abroad.
Before her trip to the U.S., in June 2025, she made headlines again in Sierra Leone for marginalizing women in her husband’s political party, the SLPP. She once again disrupted and interfered in the party’s Women’s Council election. With no official election role, she stormed into the voting hall, surrounded by intimidating armed bodyguards, grabbed the microphone from the election officer, and reversed rules that had been agreed upon by all candidates and officers; rules put in place to prevent vote-buying, a practice with which Fatima Bio is notoriously associated.
Reports allege that Fatima Bio pays delegates up to $2,000 per vote for her preferred candidate, contingent upon a photograph of their ballots as proof. This is how far Fatima Bio goes to destroy the political careers of women she dislikes in the party.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have uncovered Fatima Bio’s misuse of government housing in the United Kingdom, as well as her unexplained wealth, including multimillion-dollar real estate in The Gambia.
Back home in Sierra Leone, she is notorious for insulting Sierra Leoneans, including her husband’s cabinet ministers, publicly calling them “dogs” in a speech in Kono District; further degrading her husband’s office and the office she holds.
However, the most devastating consequence of her recent interference was when she illegally interfered in a labor dispute between Koidu Holdings, a mining company in eastern Sierra Leone, and its workers. Instead of helping resolve the dispute, Fatima Bio escalated tensions, made threats against the company, and promised legal action on behalf of workers, an action that never materialized. As a result, the company folded, and more than 1,000 people lost their livelihoods, plunging an already vulnerable district into deeper economic hardship.
Given her well-documented record of corruption, what has Fatima Bio done to deserve recognition from New Carrollton, Maryland? What message does it send to residents, taxpayers, and especially the youth of this city when the mayor honors a public figure whose name is more often associated with corruption than with contribution?
We must understand that Fatima Bio’s U.S. visit is part of a broader public relations and personal fundraising campaign orchestrated by her highly paid U.S. lobbyists. These lobbyists work to clean up her international image and solicit funds from various sources in the U.S. Unfortunately, New Carrollton has been drawn into that PR machine and now finds itself entangled in the web of one of Africa’s most scandal-ridden political families.
A City Proclamation is a public endorsement. It reflects on the character of the community that issues it. In this case, the honor does not reflect the values of service, integrity, or transparency that the residents of New Carrollton uphold. Instead, it risks tarnishing the city’s name by associating it with a figure whose actions have hurt thousands of women and girls, eroded democratic institutions, and destabilized entire regions in Sierra Leone. This could potentially affect the city’s relationships with other communities and its standing in the international community.
Residents of Prince George’s County, particularly those in New Carrollton, must urge Mayor Phelicia Nembhard and other elected officials to be more discerning in their choices for City Proclamations. Civic honors should be earned through public service, not purchased through lobbyists or staged photo opportunities.
Recognizing the wrong people sends the wrong message, not only to the local community but to the international audience watching. It’s our responsibility to ensure that principled decision-making guides our civic honors.
New Carrollton is a city with a proud, diverse population, including many African immigrants who fled political instability and corruption in search of a better life. It is disheartening to see their new home city uplift the very types of corrupt politicians they sought to escape.
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 