By Ophaniel Gooding
On Saturday, 4 November 2022 Sierra Leonean whistle-blower for fake academic qualifications Dr Johnny Edriss Lahai posted on his Facebook wall, 6 photos. 5 were pictures of the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education (MBSSE), Dr Moinina Sengeh’s playful college days .
The six photo is a screen shot of a Facebook comment section in which a comment was made by Moinina David Sengeh which reads: “he is my one and only-” was circled in green.
The pictures were followed by a text post which reads: beautiful photos of Kadiatu (or Dr. Sengeh; aka Dr Cobbler) insinuating that Dr. Sengeh may either be homosexual or may have experimented homosexuality whiles attending college in America.
Note: in Sierra Leone is a female name. At the time of fact checking the post has received 1k likes, 4O1 comments and 28 shares.
In one of the comments Dr Lahaii posted: “My sister Kadiatu (Dr. Cobbler) was an enjoyer. I love her inmate way of posing for photos.”
The viral post has brought lots of comments online questioning the Minister’s sexual orientation.
In response to the post a Sierra Leonean based in England Titus Boye-Thompson wrote in an opinion piece demanding that the Minister should come out of the closet and resign.
According to Titus, “ it is expected that Minister Dr Moninah Sengeh should resign as Minister of Education, a position that puts him in direct authority and influence over impressionable young children.”
Also adding that “This call for the Minister to vacate his position at the heart of education in this country is not related to his performance on the job but to the specifics of what has been put in the public domain, the optics that does not tell a good story and the implications that such would have on the morale of his Ministry.”
Speaking with the MBSSE Minister with regards to the post which insinuates he is gay, Dr Sengeh responded “The short answer is No! I’m not.”
However he explained that It’s unfortunate at this time when we are talking about inclusion and people are being victimized for their orientation.
However he noted the picture posted are his colleague at the University and roommates.
“I studied in a country were men walked and hold hands does that mean they are gays?” he questioned. He also noted that the post is unfortunate and ridiculous.