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Monday March 25,
2013
- Kenya's
Supreme Court orders recount of votes in 22
constituencies as judges set ground rules for the
hearing of petitions filed by the main contender and
declared loser Raila Odinga. The battle fields of the
courts are readied. 
The Supreme Court of Kenya
has ordered the recounting of votes in 22 of the 291
constituencies of Kenya following petitions filed by the
losing candidate Raila Odinga that his party and
therefore himself were cheated of victory by the
country's main electoral body the Independent Electoral
and Boundaries Commission, the IEBC. One of Kenya's top
daily newspapers,
the Daily Nation
has reported -
"The Supreme Court has
ordered the re-tallying of the presidential votes in
22 polling stations across the country. In their
first sitting to set the ground rules for
determining three petitions challenging the outcome
of the presidential elections, the six judges gave
orders and strict deadlines by which the parties are
to fulfil the court’s orders. The judges also
ordered a fresh scrutiny of all Form 34 used by the
electoral commission in tallying the presidential
votes in all the 33,000 polling centres across the
country as well as the Form 36s used by the
commission in entering presidential constituency
results."
Another international news outlet
Al Jazeera stated
that Monday's sitting was the first of two days of
pre-trial hearings, with the Supreme Court saying
the main hearings would be held on Wednesday and
Thursday. "By law, the court
has until Saturday to rule. The Supreme Court's
verdict on the case is final, and both Odinga and
Kenyatta have said they will abide by its decision.
Kenyatta, who faces charges of crimes against
humanity at the International Criminal Court related
to violence after the 2007 vote, won 50.07 percent
of votes cast. He was well ahead of Odinga's 43.28
percent, but secured only marginally more than the
50 percent needed to avoid a second round run-off.
The challenge could prolong uncertainty in east
Africa's largest economy if a fresh election is
ordered."
The
Washington Post
adds - The court ordered
the recount of votes in 22 of the country’s 291
constituencies to see if any of the tallies exceed
the number of registered voters, one of the
complaints from Odinga’s team. The court also
ordered scrutiny of the 33,400 forms which were used
to record election results. More than 12 million
Kenyans on March 4 voted in the country’s first
presidential election since a 2007 vote sparked
weeks of tribal violence that killed more than 1,000
people. Kenyan officials have pleaded with the
public to not react to this year’s election with
violence. So far only minor instances of
election-related violence have been reported.
It is interesting
to note the Kenya judiciary's swift move to address
the issues raised by the petitions against the
declared winner. Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean losers still
have to get their days in court although Ghana is
well ahead of Sierra Leone in addressing the
petitions filed by the losing candidates and
parties. In Sierra Leone, if the past is anything to
go by, such petitions will never be addressed until
well after the life of the present Parliament and
which harbours those petitioned against. It is on
record that the late lawyer Terence Terry did his
best to file petitions against top APC operatives
like S I Koroma and others but saw all his efforts
brought to nought. We hope that in the meeting with
President Obama, Ernest Bai Koroma would be told, in
no uncertain terms that stealing the people's votes,
illegally using state resources as well as
compromising the Head of the Electoral
Commission of Dr Thorpe is no way to consolidate
democracy. Ernest Bai Koroma's perceived
encouragement of violence against
political opponents as well as against women and
refusing to punish identified violators, we hope
would be on the ticking off points the US President
would have on the slate for him.
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Friday March 22,
2013
- Another great African has fallen. Chinua Achebe is no
more as he joins the ancestors leaving behind a legacy
that would make Nigeria, Africa and the world proud.
Chinua Achebe, author of the classic and
internationally-acclaimed "Things Fall Apart" has
departed.
The news started trickling
in this morning, first from various internet sources and
then the usual word of mouth. "Have you heard?" "Is it
true that..." and was left hung in the air with hopes
that word doing the rounds that renowned Nigerian author
Chinua Achebe had passed on to the great beyond with a
rising sense of foreboding that the author of the
classic
"Things Fall Apart"
was no more would well turn out to be true. Indeed when
reliable Nigerian outlets including trusted newspapers
ran in their online editions that Chinua Achebe had
passed on after an eighty two year journey on Planet
Earth quoting the Governor of Anambra State, it became
quite clear that the great man was no more.
Tributes have been
pouring in from all over the globe for the man who could
rightly be called the father of modern African
literature. The BBC quotes an official statement from
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan
Nigeria's President Goodluck
Jonathan said Mr Achebe's admirers had
all learnt "indelible lessons of human existence" from
his works. "Achebe's frank, truthful and fearless
interventions in national affairs will be greatly missed
at home in Nigeria because while others may have
disagreed with his views, most Nigerians never doubted
his immense patriotism and sincere commitment to the
building of a greater, more united and prosperous nation
that all Africans and the entire black race could be
proud of," the president said in a statement. A
statement released on behalf of his family said Mr
Achebe was "one of the great literary voices of his
time". "He was also a beloved husband, father, uncle and
grandfather, whose wisdom and courage are an inspiration
to all who knew him. Professor Achebe's family requests
privacy at this time."
Last year, Mr Achebe
published a
long-awaited memoir
about the brutal
three-year Biafran
war - when the
south-eastern Igbo
region tried to
split from Nigeria
in 1967. After
leaving Nigeria, he
worked in the US as
a professor. His
1990 car accident
left him paralysed
from the waist down
and in a wheelchair.
A statement of the
Nelson Mandela
Centre of Memory
said it offered its
condolences to the
Achebe family. The
former South African
president and
anti-apartheid
fighter, who spent
27 years in jail,
"referred to Prof
Achebe as a writer
'in whose company
the prison walls
fell down'", the
statement said.
In a section devoted
to an
obituary on the
great man,
the BBC has noted -
"He has twice turned down the offer of a title Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, once in 2004 from Nigeria's then President Olusegun Obasanjo and again in 2011 from President Goodluck Jonathan. "What's the good of being a democracy if people are hungry and despondent and the infrastructure is not there," Mr Achebe told the BBC in 2004, explaining his decision. "There is no security of life. Parts of the country are alienated. Religious conflicts spring up now and again. The country is not working." Last year, he published a long-awaited memoir about the brutal three-year Biafran war - when the south-eastern Igbo region tried to split from Nigeria in 1967."
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Tuesday March
19, 2013
- Co-ordinated explosions in Baghdad kill and maim
Iraqis in their home country, suicide bomber creates
havoc in Somalia and more bad news all around the world.
However in two little corners of the globe, in Pakistan
and the United Kingdom, there is joy today. 
Yes indeed, it is not all
bad news and we can comfortably say that in two small
corners of the world, there's joy that is spreading all
over the world as the 15-year-old Pakistani school girl
who was shot on a school bus in her own home country
attended her first day at a UK school. Courageous Malala
Yousafzai is reported to have now mainly recovered
following treatment at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth
Hospital.
The BBC reports
that - "she described starting at the city's Edgbaston
High for Girls as "the most important day" of her
life, adding, "I think it is the happiest moment
that I'm going back to school, this is what I dreamed,
that all children should be able to go to school because
it is their basic right. "I am so proud to wear the
uniform because it proves I am a student and that I am
living my life and learning"
Malala is in year nine
and will start her GCSE curriculum next year. She said
she was looking forward to learning about politics and
law. Headmistress Dr Ruth Weekes said she believed
Malala needed the stability of being at school. She
said: "She wants to be a normal teenage girl and to have
the support of other girls around."Talking to her, I
know that's something she missed during her time in
hospital."
We have put the
continuing success story of Malala on our front pages to
highlight just how evil some two-footed creatures
passing off as human beings could be in their relentless
efforts to rape, maim, murder and do terrible things to
all those they deem as opponents, enemies who are
considered capable of thinking outside their warped
mindset as was exhibited by the Taliban executioners who
tried to snuff out the life and future of a teenager
whose only crime was daring to speak on behalf of women
and girls. That the women and girls in her home country
Pakistan should have the right to education!!! As we
give thanks to God/Allah/Jehovah/ whatever you perceive
Him to be let us also continue to pray for the sweet
repose of all those women and girls, unarmed and
defenceless as they were, who succumbed to the mindless
cruelty dished out by their tormentors in the
AFRC/RUF coalition of evil
led by Johnny Paul Koroma and Foday Sankoh. Let us
continue to pray for the survivors who are still trying
to cope with the trauma of their ordeal even as some of
the identified perpetrators continue to enjoy the
protection of President Koroma.
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Monday March 18,
2013
- DRC
killer and warlord Bosco Ntaganda gives himself up and
begs to be taken to the International Criminal Court
where he's wanted on war crimes charges. Like all
killers, he is frightened of getting the same treatment
he meted out to his victims - the unarmed civilians of
the DRC over whom he played god, killing, raping and
torturing as his warped mind thought fit. 
First reports over the
weekend indicating that the murderous DRC warlord Bosco
Ntaganda who calls himself "The Terminator" was in
Rwanda was denied by the authorities there even though
reports from the ground would seem to show that the
faction of the M23 rebels that he led had received a
good beating from the hands of another faction that was
bent on capturing him or just terminating his existence
on planet earth. Afraid, very scared that he was about
to face the rough justice he delivered to unarmed
civilians in the areas he controlled, he fled into
neighbouring Rwanda and last evening the United States
embassy in Kigali confirmed the open secret - that
Bosco Ntaganda had
indeed given himself up at the embassy and that he was
actually begging the US authorities to facilitate his
extradition to the Hague where he would face charges
relating to war crimes. Like all murderous cowards, he
took the easy way out knowing that once in the hands of
the ICC, he would receive all the comforts he denied the
civilians he tormented in his campaigns in the east of
the DRC. He must have advised himself that apart from
the loss of his freedom, he would be allowed to live in
relative comfort as the ICC does not hand out death
sentences. His thousands of victims lie buried, many in
unmarked graves, rape survivors still try to live with
their pain, the displaced still trying to understand why
they should be made to suffer in their own country, and
yet the killer coward whose troops terrorised the
civilians of east of the DRC now wants to be given the
comforts of the cells of the ICC, hoping that whatever
sentence he could receive if found guilty of his crimes
would be far better than death. The ICC arrest warrant
for Bosco Ntaganda states, among others that -
"Basing its decision on the evidence presented by
the Prosecutor, Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that
there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bosco
Ntaganda is responsible for three counts of crimes
against humanity, consisting in murder, rape and
sexual slavery, and persecution. In accordance with
the warrant of arrest, Bosco Ntaganda allegedly
bears individual criminal responsibility for four
counts of war crimes consisting of murder, attacks
against the civilian population, rape and sexual
slavery, and pillaging. The Chamber considered that
the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda is necessary to ensure
that he will appear before the judges and that he
will not obstruct the investigation, as well as to
prevent him from continuing with the commission of a
crime within the ICC’s jurisdiction."
Human Rights Watch
has welcomed the news and would like the US government
to speed up moves that would see Bosco Ntaganda facing
justice.
“Bosco Ntaganda has for
more than a decade led troops that have murdered, raped,
and pillaged across
eastern Congo,”
said Ida Sawyer, Africa researcher at Human Rights
Watch. “The United States has long been a strong voice
for Ntaganda’s arrest. Now it can ensure that he finally
faces justice, as the victims of these abuses have
waited far too long...Ntaganda’s appearance in the dock
at a fair and credible trial of the ICC would send a
strong message to other abusers that they too may face
justice one day,” Sawyer said. “The Congolese government
needs to play its part by investigating war crimes by
the army and fairly trying those responsible.”
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Thursday February 14, 2013
- Valentine's Day celebrations? No way...as the world
focuses on violence against women. Violence against
women and the girl child has to stop especially in
Sierra Leone where more than a decade after the war was
declared over violence against women and the girl child
in the form of rape, physical and mental abuse and murder remains unpunished in a
system that turns a blind eye to such
unwholesome acts of impunity. Time to remove the smoke and mirrors, smell the coffee and punish the perpetrators.
Today Thursday 14th
February is a day of action in a thematic action titled
1 Billion Rising because the organisers say -
"The truth is shocking. According
to the United Nations,
one of every three women on the
planet will be physically or
sexually abused in her lifetime.
Although sources of violence may
seem diverse, women's responses
sound tragically similar.
Besides the pain and strength
you will hear in their survival
stories, the themes that resound
across cultures and geographies
are of the indifference of
authorities, the familial
instinct of denial, and the lack
of public outrage about the
violence that millions of women
experience every day. V-Day
was born of the belief that
until these themes are
addressed, these violations
named and taken up by whole
communities as an unacceptable
desecration of human dignity,
the violence will continue."
If you observe those who carry out or encourage
violence against women and the girl child in Sierra
Leone, they would be all smiles today, presenting gifts
and cards to their "sophisticated" victims while
continuing to treat the poor and
economically-disadvantaged with disdain and scorn as
impunity is encouraged on a massive scale in the
country. School-going girls are forced into a form of
sexual slavery as those with thieving hands in state
coffers use tax payers' resources to buy off worried and
concerned parents; college ladies are forced, because of
their economic prison situation to sell their bodies to
politicians and those with economic clout just so they
can live a life, which on the surface looks bright and
rosy, but which in reality is a mirage that hides the
shame and deep pain brought about by poverty. The
scourge of rape continues unabated as does violence
against women, encouraged it would appear by all three
arms of governance, the Executive, the Legislature and
the Judiciary with the latter either unwilling or unable
to enforce sections of the law that should punish
perpetrators.
The International Rescue Committee's unit
in Sierra Leone in one report talks about rape victims
reaching a mindset where instead of outing their
violators get blamed for the outrage committed against
them - "women and girls are regularly blamed for the
rapes they suffer and assailants are rarely
prosecuted...a dedicated team help
dozens of girls like Fulamatu every month at the
IRC’s three Rainbow Centres – facilities that provide
medical care, counselling, legal aid and educational
support for survivors of sexual violence...the vast majority of clients are
girls who have been sexually assaulted by men whom
they know — neighbours, relatives, even pastors.
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Wednesday March 13, 2013 -
White smoke billowing from the
Sistine Chapel chimney is seen - the bells are ringing
out from the Basilica - the chimes telling all and
sundry that indeed a new Pope is with us and many brave
the inclement weather, rain, cold and all to catch a
glimpse of the man destined to lead the Catholic
community.
It is getting to
18.27gmt....growing excitement in St Peter's
Square...any time now....any time now and the world will
see the new Pope. Ceremonies after the election going on
away from the eyes of the watching public as the new man
in the Vatican prepares to meet the public. Meantime,
the BBC man at the scene talks about a growing sea of
humanity filling the square about extraordinary scenes
as people appear - filling in all areas of the
square.18.33gmt -The
Swiss guards now making an appearance
reminding us of the history of the Swiss guards at the
Vatican. They are not there to add colour for the
cameras of tourists - they are real security officers
who, when not putting on a public display in their
uniforms, would accompany the Pope as security guards -
in plain clothes, of course.
The BBC adds -
"The name of the new Pope,
the 266th, is expected to be announced shortly. He
will replace Pope Benedict XVI, who stepped down
last month saying he was no longer strong enough to
lead the Church. The 115 cardinals have been in
isolation since Tuesday afternoon, and held four
inconclusive votes. At least 77 of them, or
two-thirds, would have had to vote for a single
candidate for him to be elected Pope. Before the
conclave began, there was no clear frontrunner to
replace Benedict. Crowds with umbrellas massed in
the square flying flags from around the world."
19.03gmt - still
waiting...watching that balcony from where the
announcement would be made before the new Pope
appears...
19.12gmt - The Cardinal to make the
announcement appears...speaking in Latin...the new Pope
is from Argentina and he was not on the cards of the
pundits. Quite a surprise, says the TV commentators.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina has chosen
the name Francis, so he becomes Pope Francis the First.
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Sunday February
10, 2013
- And it is a win for Nigeria's Super Eagles as Sunday
Mba on a Sunday football match scores the one and only
goal against a very spirited Burkina Faso side, a
country pundits gave no chance before the South Africa
Africa Cup of Nations 2013. Well done Nigeria and all
those who made the African football fiesta a success.
The Super Eagles of
Nigeria are the champions of Africa and they showed just
how determined they can be when face with challenges
from unpredictable teams and players keen to show that
their presence in South Africa was not just for the
photographs as Ethiopia and Cape Verde demonstrated so
amply. Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi, a former Super
Eagles player must be a very happy man indeed after
having to endure quite some harsh criticisms over the
players he fielded for a trophy they had not won for
nineteen years. Last win was in 1994.
The BBC sport page
summed it all up
It was a win
that was
fully
deserved as
Nigeria
comfortably
beat a
tired-looking
Burkina
Faso, who
struggled to
make an
impact in
their maiden
final
appearance.
And perhaps
it was one
game too
many for the
Burkinabe,
who had
failed to
win a single
game on
foreign soil
in the
Nations Cup
before this
tournament
but shocked
many by
going so far
this time.
Nigeria
coach
Stephen
Keshi:
"Winning
this is
mainly for
my nation -
when I came
on board a
year and a
half ago my
dream ws to
make all
Nigerians
happy, and
to construct
a great
Nigerian
team, We are
not there
yet, it's
still in
process.
"You don't
want to know
what was
going
through my
head (in the
final five
minutes)! To
represent
Africa in
Brazil at
the Confed
Cup is an
honour for
Nigeria."
Burkina Faso
coach Paul
Put:
"We
showed
Nigeria a
bit too much
respect in
the first
half - in
the second
half we
tried to do
everything
possible.
But you have
to be big
when you
lose and
small when
you win.
"Possibly,
we were a
little tired
after two
matches that
went to
extra-time,
but I'm not
going to
look for
excuses. The
whole of
Burkina Faso
can be proud
of their
players."
And so it was, after
all the hopes, after all the expectations, the highs and
lows the podium rightly has Nigeria at the top, followed
by
Burkina Faso and
then bringing up the rear of the runners-up train in
third position,
a magnificent Mali
that outplayed Ghana, one of the great hopes before the
tournament. Congratulations one and all. Cheers
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Monday February
4, 2013
- We are not impressed. Too much smoke, too many
mirrors. Corruption, financial indiscipline and lack of
transparency in Sierra Leone's financial affairs
watered, bred and encouraged from the innermost recesses
of State House from where the puppet master Ernest Bai
Koroma operates. 
We have been watching with
interest the various messages sent out by His
Excellency, the President Dr... (multiplied by n where n
can be any positive number greater than 1) Ernest Bai
Koroma Phd; ZQX etc etc on the latest corruption case
slammed against operatives of his administration in the
health sector. Here's a President who, to his
government's credit ushered in a strong anti-corruption
Act of 2008 that
should have got the crooked in all walks of government
life trembling all the way to court if he had allowed
the Anti Corruption Commission, the ACC, that came in
the wake of the new Act to be truly independent. That
would have earned him and his government a very positive
mark in the fight against corruption not only in the
country, but the entire continent and we daresay the
world. And as the former head of the ACC one
Abdul Tejan Cole
observed while attending an international meeting on
corruption, the one big flaw in the Anti Corruption Act
of 2008, strong though it appears on paper, was to have
a politician, the Head of State given the luxury of
appointing the head of the Commission. That was the
greatest flaw which has opened the Commission to
accusations of protecting the interests of the
President, be they his ministers, relations or whatever
associates he had or acquired during his occupancy of
the top seat in the country.
It all started when
GAVI, the Global Alliance for
Vaccinations and Immunizations stated in
a leaked letter that it was holding back some six
million US dollars in payment to Sierra Leone because an
in-depth report had revealed "serious concerns of misuse
of GAVI funds totalling over a million US dollars" and
this is what, it seems has suddenly galvanised both the
Anti Corruption Commission and State House in what
appears to be another stage trick from the magician, the
smoke and mirrors President at State House. In all the
reports of the Auditor General in which massive thieving
and financial indiscipline are clearly highlighted,
neither State House nor the Anti Corruption Commission
thought it fit to take any meaningful stand to stop the
massive bleeding of state coffers. It took the GAVI
action to galvanise both institutions into action. A
disgrace we say.
And so it was quite a
surprise to read statements from State House (read
Ernest Bai Koroma) stating that he has suspended some
civil servants, ten in all including the Chief Medical
Officer over allegations that they could well have had a
hand and or knowledge in the disgraceful thieving of
funds meant for the delivery of health care in Sierra
Leone. It is not lost on us that no political head was
queried by State House. Very interesting.
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