Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis, the SLPP Member of Parliament for Pujehun District and former Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, has been told by the US Embassy in Freetown that he does not qualify for a visa to the United States.
This comes even though he has travelled to America many times before as a well-known public figure.
The Embassy linked the problem to a letter (called a Note Verbale) that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation sent in 2023. That letter asked for visas for Hon. Tunis and someone named Chabatan Bah, who was described as his Executive Assistant.
Hon. Tunis spoke to the Global Times and made it clear he has nothing to do with that person.
He said he never met, employed or worked with anyone by that name adding that, not when he was Leader of Government Business and not when he was ECOWAS Speaker.
“I have never employed anyone for that role. In fact, this name is strange to me. I am hearing this name for the first time. I am even wondering whether this so-called Executive Assistant is a male or a female. I don’t know this person,” he said.
Hon. Tunis, who is also seen as a possible SLPP flag bearer, has asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to urgently investigate how his name was used in what he calls a visa fraud.
Sources say Chabatan Bah was given the US visa, travelled to America, and never came back to Sierra Leone.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Freetown refused to talk about the case, saying they do not comment on individual visa applications.
Hon. Tunis was on the official list of people from the Sierra Leone government who were supposed to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly this month.
Investigations are still going on.
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