When a First Lady Becomes a Political Wrecking Ball
By Kamalo
The question is not whether Musa Tarawally “crossed the line.”
The real and far more dangerous question is why Sierra Leone has normalized a First Lady who routinely crosses every political, constitutional, and moral line, without restraint, accountability, or consequence.
It is a documented history that for years now, Fatima Bio has behaved not as a ceremonial First Lady but as a parallel political authority-issuing divisive statements, undermining party structures, provoking internal conflict, and inserting herself into controversies that repeatedly inflame national tension.
This is the same First Lady who publicly declared that only SLPP supporters are “true Sierra Leoneans,” effectively branding millions of citizens as outsiders in their own country. That statement alone was an assault on national unity and constitutional equality. Yet no apology, no sanction, no restraint followed.
Similarly, this is the same First Lady who early last year, branded cabinet ministers appointed by her husband, His Excellency Brig. Julius Maada Bio, as ‘’dogs’’ and as usaul, nothing comes out of it.
This is also the same First Lady who in a recent gathering of party women, openly challenged the authority of the SLPP Party Chairman, publicly asserting that the Secretary General is more powerful-an extraordinary intervention that undermined party hierarchy, discipline, and cohesion. If a mere party member had made such remarks, sanctions would have been swift but, when the First Lady does it, we are told to look away.
So when Hon. Musa Tarawally speaks, he is not inventing a problem-he is reacting to a pattern of excesses that many within the SLPP whisper about but fear confronting publicly.
To suggest that internal party mechanisms are sufficient ignores reality. What internal process exists to discipline a First Lady who acts above the party, above protocol, and often above reason? Who summons her? Who cautions her? Who restrains her political activism when it spills into recklessness?
The argument that Hon. Tarawally should have “gone quietly” to the President is not only naïve-it is dishonest. This is no longer a private issue. When the First Lady uses public platforms to pick fights, sponsor online attacks, insult political opponents, and divide the nation, she herself has taken the matter to the public square. Public conduct invites public scrutiny.
Calling on the President to restrain his wife is not an insult-it is a constitutional and moral appeal. Leadership begins at home. In every serious democracy, spouses of presidents are expected to exercise restraint precisely because their words carry power without mandate. This is not patriarchy. It is governance.
The attempt to frame Hon. Musa Tarawally’s remarks as a “threat” while ignoring years of provocation by the First Lady is selective outrage. If warning against continued recklessness is criminal, then what do we call repeated inflammatory statements from someone who holds no elected office but wields enormous influence?
Let us be honest:The First Lady is not being attacked because she is a woman.
She is being criticized because she has chosen to behave like a political enforcer rather than a unifying national figure which definitely has consequences.
Her constant visibility—most times for the wrong reasons—has deepened divisions within the SLPP and hardened political fault lines across the country. At a time when Sierra Leone desperately needs healing, restraint, and maturity, we have a First Lady who thrives on confrontation and controversy.
If President Bio is truly the “father of the nation,” then protecting his legacy means drawing firm boundaries, not enabling political excess under the shield of marital proximity to power. Respect is not demanded by silencing critics; it is earned by leadership that values discipline, unity, and humility.
The SLPP does not need fear. It does not need intimidation. It does not need a First Lady who behaves like a political combatant.
It needs restraint.
It needs order.
It needs leadership that understands that unchecked power—no matter how informal—destroys parties and fractures nations.
The line was crossed long ago.
What Musa Tarawally did was finally point to it.