By: Chernor Mamadou Bah, Social Commentator & Humanist Columnist
The Hague, Netherlands
I’ve never met Dr. David Moinina Sengeh in person. I don’t know if he prefers his coffee dark or his cassava leaves white. But I know this, every time I read about his work, listen to his words, or see the young people he inspires, I feel proud to be Sierra Leonean.
From my small flat here in The Hague, I follow the news back home religiously. Politics there can often feel like an endless echo of the same noise, promises recycled, hopes deferred, and potential wasted. But then you come across a figure like David Sengeh, and suddenly, the noise quiets. You start to believe again. Belief built in hope. Hope developed through action.
They’ve called him names, questioned his identity, and twisted his openness into rumours. It’s a familiar tactic. When someone can’t match a person’s ideas, they attack their person. They try to reduce brilliance to gossip because ideas that big make them uncomfortable. It sounds too good to be real. Yet David’s calm, intelligent response to hate has been extraordinary. He doesn’t throw insults back. He lifts the conversation. When others reach for division, he reaches for inclusion. He meets it with reason, humour, and grace. And then he gets back to work every time. And that’s what makes him extraordinary to the old political machinery that feeds on division and fear.
Dr. Sengeh’s Radical Inclusion Movement is not politics-as-usual. It’s not rhetoric for the cameras. It’s a clear, moral stance that says: no child should be left behind. Whether it’s a girl who became pregnant, a child with a disability, or someone from a remote village, everyone deserves a chance. That’s leadership rooted in humanity, not ambition. It’s leadership built on more than fifteen years of practice and service.
As a Sierra Leonean living in Europe, I’m used to seeing leaders who speak less but do more. David fits that mould. He delivers. And in a country tired of empty speeches, delivery is everything.
Let’s be real, Sierra Leone has no shortage of clever talkers. What we’ve lacked are doers with clean hearts and capable hands. David is both. He’s a scientist who designs prosthetic limbs for amputees, a minister who actually reads reports, and a leader who not only believes in young people, he enables each one to reach her potential. That combination is rare anywhere in the world. What we haven’t seen is a leader who brings intellect, innovation, and empathy together in one body. David does with a gentle smile. A son of this soil who’s proven, time and again, that brilliance doesn’t only belong in Washington or London or Tokyo.
We must not let cynicism bury progress. We must not let the loudest voices drown out the good work quietly transforming lives. Because when history is written, it won’t remember who shouted the loudest, but who built something that lasted. Let that sink in.
David Moinina Sengeh is building. Patiently. Intelligently. With grace. With loyalty. Sometimes I argued that he is loyal to a fault. Over the past seven years, there is no time in which he does not show reverence and elevate his boss, President Julius Maada Bio. They have a beautiful father-son, mentor-mentee relationship. And if we, the people at home and abroad, care about Sierra Leone’s future, we must make sure David’s kind of leadership doesn’t go unnoticed or unprotected. We must speak up to the opposition who unfairly attack his family. We must warn his own party folk who think because David could become, then they must.
We need that. Desperately.
He’s not perfect, and he doesn’t claim to be. But he represents what Sierra Leone could be: a nation led by vision, by ideas, and by the courage to include everyone.
While others spend their time dividing us by tribe, gender, or rumour, David is uniting us around a shared purpose. Yes, sometimes he too can be over political. But he is human. He is proof that leadership can be intelligent, kind, and unapologetically youthful. He speaks the language of the future without forgetting the lessons of the past.
Call him what you want, but you cannot deny his vision, his work ethic, or his courage. Sierra Leone doesn’t need another politician. Sierra Leone needs a builder, a dreamer, a doer, a leader. And in David Moinina Sengeh, we’ve found all four.
From where I sit drinking my coffee white, far from home but always connected, I can say this with certainty: the world already knows his worth. Now it’s time for all Sierra Leoneans to fully protect and own him. We must guide him to be the best leader he could be.
Because this isn’t just politics. This is progress. This is purpose. This is hope, reborn in human form
