Pope Francis, Politics and the Mabanta Boy

A Journalist's Journey with God and Humanity

by Sheka Tarawalie

Pope Francis, Politics and the Mabanta Boy is Sheka Tarawalie’s autobiography tracing his early life in Sierra Leone, through imprisonment and being declared a ‘wanted man’, before his exile to the UK. The book also remembers his political appointment. Working through continual conflict and confrontation with his government colleagues and the President who appointed him, Sheka still managed to be within the system for several years and at the same time make landmark inputs.

In addition – while recounting the circumstances of his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in his official capacity – Sheka delves into the history of the Church, the powers of the Pope, the child sex abuse scandals – even the historical ‘sins’ of the Crusades, the Transatlantic slave trade and the sale of indulgences which led to the Reformation. A book that is likely to stir debate, Pope Francis, Politics and the Mabanta Boy goes on to confront the many delicate issues around contemporary Islamic fundamentalism, Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Author news

'POPE FRANCIS, POLITICS AND THE MABANTA BOY' was released on 28 May 2019

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About the Author

Sheka Tarawalie

Sheka Tarawalie is a Sierra Leonean journalist, writer and author who, until March 2016, was Sierra Leone's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, a position he got in January 2013 in the new cabinet of President Ernest Bai Koroma's second term. He was previously the Deputy Minister of Information & Communications, to which he was appointed in December 2010 by President Koroma, whom he served as Press Secretary immediately before that. He was appointed to the position of Press Secretary in December 2007.

Tarawalie is an English Honours graduate from Fourah Bay College (Sierra leone's premier university founded in 1827), and he was the founder and one-time Editor-In-Chief of The Torchlight, a Freetown newspaper, in which he was very critical of the previous government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah especially through his weekly 'Black Tank' column. He travelled to the United Kingdom and eventually sought 'Right of asylum' because of threats to his life. When his initial asylum claim was turned down, he launched a well-supported local and national appeal from Manchester.

He worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau and as a journalist in a voluntary capacity, eventually becoming sub-editor of Expotimes (an online news organ), and board member of the Exiled Journalists' Network, UK. He was also a member of the Manchester branch of Britain's National Union of Journalists (NUJ). He made a name for himself by excelling in his work at the Citizens Advice Bureau and attracted an award personally given to him by the Princess Royale, Princess Anne, at a well-attended ceremony in York, England. He got married in the Church of England to Rose Tarawalie (nee Kabeera), a British national of Rwandan origins.

He returned to Sierra Leone to take up the position of Press Secretary when the President appointed him. Tarawalie is one of Sierra Leone's most distinguished journalists. He has now written a 400-odd-page autobiography, 'Pope Francis, Politics and the Mabanta Boy' (2019) - published by Troubador[UK]. (Wikipedia entry)