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Sunday July 20,
2014
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Like Charles Taylor like Putin. Pressure mounts
on the former KGB chief and Russian leader Putin
to rein in the Ukrainian separatists rebels and
to allow investigators on the crime scene where
nearly three hundred civilians were murdered. 
Thursday July 17 should have been like any other
day as the world tries to grapple with the many
problems facing mankind - from the wiping out of
four children playing along the beach in Gaza in
the unending strife between Hamas and Israeli
forces to the Boko Haram militants bent on using
murder as a calling card to their cause in
Nigeria. It was on this day that a tragedy hit
the world headlines as reports began filtering
in of another Malaysian Airlines plane in grave
trouble. As the details started emerging, it
became clear that a Boeing 777 flying from
Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur - MH 17 - had been downed by
missiles believed to have been fired from a part
of Ukraine that is occupied by separatist rebels
enjoying the protection of Putin-led Russia. One
BBC report states that -
Western
countries
have
demanded
that Russia
put pressure
on Ukrainian
rebels to
allow
unhindered
access to
the site of
Thursday's
Malaysia
Airlines
crash. Dutch PM
Mark Rutte
said he had
told Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin that
time was
"running
out" to show
he could
help. Most
crash
victims were
Dutch. The US
and Britain
also told
Russia full
access to
the area was
needed.
International
observers
have had
their
movements
restricted
by
pro-Russia
militiamen
who control
the crash
site. Both
Ukraine and
the
pro-Russian
rebels have
accused each
other of
shooting
down the
Boeing 777,
which was
flying from
Amsterdam to
Kuala
Lumpur. Flight
MH17 was
reportedly
hit by a
missile over
a rebel-held
area in
Donetsk
region on
Thursday.
All 298
people on
board died.
The
passenger
list
released by
Malaysia
Airlines
shows the
plane was
carrying 193
Dutch
nationals
(including
one with
dual US
nationality),
43
Malaysians
(including
15 crew), 27
Australians,
12
Indonesians
and 10
Britons
(including
one with
dual South
African
nationality),
four
Germans,
four
Belgians,
three from
the
Philippines,
and one each
from Canada
and
New Zealand.
Former KGB
chief
President
Putin has so
far only
expressed
sympathy at
the loss of
lives, but
is reported
to have put
the blame
squarely on
the
government
of Ukraine
even as
pressure
mounts on
him to do
and say more
than he is
willing to
give away.
Indeed
Putin's role
in the
Ukraine
crisis could
be likened
to that of
Charles
Taylor and
the killers
and human
rights
abusers in
Sierra Leone
during our
troubles.
While Taylor
pretended to
be the
statesman
who could
broker peace
with the
rebels, it
was not lost
on many that
in reality,
it was he
who was
giving the
order to the
rebels and
as pressure
mounts, it
would not be
that
surprising
to hear
quite soon
that Russia
has taken a
direct role
in ensuring
that the
crime scene
is preserved
- after
covering up
any links to
Russia. A
well-nigh
impossible
task given
the
technology
now
available in
forensic
investigations.
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Saturday
July 12, 2014
- An intolerant, corrupt and autocratic set-up
passing for a government shows its true colours
as a radio programme is ordered off air. How the
IMC lost the plot as it sells its so-called
independence to an undemocratic "cabinet". 
The smoke and
mirrors occupant of State House, aka the rat has
struck again - this time using a so-called
cabinet directive to muzzle what it believes are
utterances in a radio programme - "Monologue".
Just to be certain that what we have heard is
not of the stuff of fiction, we visited the
website of the IMC, the Independent Media
Commission and found this - indicating what the IMC
is there to do in the affairs of news management
and the ethics associated thereof -
"Promoting a free and pluralistic media throughout Sierra
Leone and ensuring that media institutions achieve the
highest level of efficiency in the provision of media
services."
Let's start
from the beginning and with this account on the
pages of the
Politico online news
outlet which in part states -
Sierra Leone’s Independent Media Commission (IMC)
has slammed a two-month ban on what is arguably
the country’s most widely-listened-to radio
programme, MONOLOGUE. It followed a cabinet
instruction, contained in a letter
Politico has seen, instructing the
media regulator to axe off the programme
temporarily. The Chairman of the IMC, Rod
Mac-Johnson confirms the weekly programme, which
airs on five radio stations across the country,
has been banned for sixty days. In a letter
dated 4 July and addressed to the manager of the
host radio station of the programme, Citizen
radio, IMC says the programme has been taken off
air because it aired a programme whose content
was unsubstantiated. The letter reads in part
thus: “I am further directed to convey to you
the cabinet conclusion C.P. (2014) at the
meeting on 21st May 2014 that ‘the Monologue
Programme on Citizen Radio be issued a sixty-day
suspension order’ as from 12 O’ clock today”.
The letter does not explain exactly what the
programme did do wrong but the IMC Chairman says
“the commission cannot disobey a cabinet
directive”. He says MONOLOGUE broadcast
unsubstantiated things about the military and
the defence minister, bordering on “the security
of the state”. He says the presenter of the
programme, David Tam-Baryoh was summoned to the
commission where he admitted to wrongdoing and
apologised. But Tam-Baryoh denies this account
saying the IMC absolved him of any wrongdoing
after looking into the complaint. Even as this
illegal manipulation of press freedom was taking
place, we were alarmed, but not surprised that
not a squeak was heard from the many paid
outlets of the rat with those who feed fat on
his droppings burying their miserable heads in
the sand of deceit and denial. They are on
record as stating that under the rat - press
freedom has been the best since independence.
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Monday July 7,
2014 - Nine years ago today, evil struck at the
heart of London as terrorists explode deadly
devices on the capital's land transportation
system - hitting a bus and underground trains -
all packed with passengers during the morning
rush hour. 52 people lost their lives and many
lost limbs and a way of life. Nine years later,
London is moving on - still alive, vibrant and
unbowed.
Nine years ago today, terror was unleashed on
the people of London. It was in the form of
suicide bombers who targeted commuters during
London's busiest morning hours. The BBC story of
the day encapsulates it as the reports started
coming in -
Bomb attacks
on London - A series of
bomb attacks on London's transport network has
killed more than 30 people and injured about 700
others. Three explosions on the
Underground left 35 dead and two died in a blast
on a double-decker bus. The first three bombs
went off at 0850 on underground trains just
outside Liverpool Street and Edgware Road
stations, and on another travelling between
King's Cross and Russell Square. The final explosion was
around an hour later on a number 30
double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, not far
from King's Cross. Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw said the bombings had "the hallmarks of an
al-Qaeda-related attack". Prime Minister Tony
Blair promised the "most intense police and
security service action to make sure we bring
those responsible to justice". Mr Blair, who flew back
to London from the G8 summit in Gleneagles,
condemned the terrorists and paid tribute to the
stoicism and resilience of the people of London.
"They are trying to use
the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to
frighten us out of doing the things that we want
to do," he said in a televised statement from
Downing Street.
When the dust
finally settled and figures collected, it
emerged that
52 people were killed
by four male suicide bombers - this was
Britain's first incident of such a terror by
what experts called a home-grown terrorist group
-as they were all British. The UK-based
Daily Mail
reports that hours before a commemoration at the
Memorial Pillars at Hyde Park, vandals daubed
the columns with graffiti with political
messages which in essence was aimed at
justifying the July 7, 2005 bombings. This never
halted the ceremony as relations of victims and
survivors remembered their loved ones who never
returned home alive. To get an idea of what is
was like to be caught up in that attack here's
what one survivor Rachael McFayden to the BBC.
As we left King's Cross, about 0855, there was
an almighty bang and everything went totally
black.
Then clouds of choking smoke filled the tube
carriage and I thought I had been blinded. It
was so dark that nobody could see anything. I thought I was about to die, or was dead.
Then I realised I was choking, the smoke was
like being underwater. But gradually I could see, a little, as the
emergency lights in the tunnel kicked in. The glass was smashed so air started to flood
in, we were OK. There was silence for 10 seconds. Then a
terrible screaming. We all tried not to panic, saying to each
other, "OK, stay cool, stand up if you aren't
injured, hold hands, don't cry, stand up, hold
on, we'll get out, the driver is trying to talk
to us." Some people screamed, some groaned, but we
kept saying: "Shh, we'll get out, stay cool, the
driver is talking to us, let's listen to him." The driver said: "I've got to go forward a
bit, then I can let you out, but first I need to
make sure the track isn't live." We all shouted the message into the darkness.
It got passed down the train.
An inquest had been
held...and the results published for all to
understand what happened -
Coroner Lady Justice
Hallett has delivered her
verdicts and recommendations following inquests
into the deaths of 52 people, killed in a series
of bomb blasts across London on 7 July 2005.
Four bombers targeted Tube trains at Aldgate,
Edgware Road and Russell Square and a double
decker bus in Tavistock Square. The inquests at
London's Royal Courts of Justice, which began
last October, heard 309 witnesses and saw a
further 197 statements over 19 weeks.
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Thursday
June 19, 2014
-
Is this justice? Why are the poor treated like
dirt in their own God-given country? The story
of women in prisons of Sierra Leone is the story
of a government failing its own people. 
The Integrated
Regional Information Networks, or IRIN is a news
source that very often focuses on humanitarian
stories and is a great source of down to earth
stories on events that often appear to fly below
the radar of the major international news
networks.
Our attention
has been drawn to a film by this organisation
which focuses on Sierra Leone women in prison.
"Women Behind Bars" should be a must-view for
anyone concerned with justice and the welfare of
women and children in Sierra Leone. It tells of
the challenges facing the administration of
justice in the country as well as the horrors
women in prison have to undergo while in the
custody of their overseers in prison. We would
urge you to please exercise the needed patience;
that you listen to the pleas of the
disadvantaged and also, we hope, that you will
get an insight into what it means to be
incarcerated in a system that has its own rules
and regulations that dehumanises all those
within its clutches. Kindly take a listen and
try to understand the challenges facing inmates
when it comes to health delivery systems for
female prisoners and most of all the failure of
the system to take care of the children of
prisoners who, because of the circumstances of
their mothers, have to live with them within the
walls of the prison. We have got a couple of
stills from the videos to highlight the
intimidation and bullying that goes on -
something the prison authorities and the
government are aware of but do nothing about to
ease the suffering of the women and their
children. This is the synopsis of the film as
written by the makers, IRIN.
"Twelve years
after Sierra Leone’s long civil war came to an
end, its broken institutions and weak
development indicators continue to impact on the
lives of its people. And as ever it’s women who
bear the brunt. Aside from the usual grim data,
one statistic stands out: the number of female
prisoners has doubled over the past three years.
IRIN’s latest film,
Women Behind Bars,
tries to understand why prison rates for women
are soaring. It follows two paralegals, Victoria
and Marvel (AKA Small Pepper) as they fight for
the rights of women trapped in poverty, and a
corrupt system that discriminates against them.
In a country of only 400 lawyers, Sierra Leone’s
80 paralegals have a crucial role to play in
trying to deliver basic human rights. As we
watch Victoria and Marvel at work, negotiating
with police and prison authorities, advising and
at times cajoling the women they have come to
help, it becomes clear how daunting that task
is."
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Friday
May 9, 2014
- As the search for more than two hundred
abducted girls gets even greater momentum,
former UK Prime Minister and UN envoy Gordon
Brown launches the Safe School Initiative to
make other schools other than Chibok safe for
children. Meanwhile at State House in Freetown,
the rat sits tight knowing that within his
kitchen closet are perpetrators of school
children abduction, war brides, rape and murder. 
The UN Special
Envoy for Global Education and former UK Prime
Minister Gordon Brown is now in Abuja, Nigeria
and he has told the BBC this morning that he has
spoken with US Secretary of State John Kerry,
top government leaders in his country, France
and China in an effort to co-ordinate the search
for the more than 200 school girls abducted from
their school in Chibok by the terrorists and
mindless killers calling themselves Boko Haram.
Mr Brown told
BBC TV this morning that the countries offering
Nigeria help are not only concentrating on
getting the children back, but initiating plans
that would ensure that other schools in Nigeria
are safe for children to study in peace, devoid
of any fears for their safety that would impact
on their education. On
his website
before today's interview from Abuja, he noted
Starting with 500 schools as
the pilots in northern
states, the “Safe Schools
Initiative” will focus on
school and community
interventions, with special
measures for the most
at-risk and vulnerable
children. The initiative
will build community
security groups to promote
safe zones for education,
consisting of teachers,
parents, police, community
leaders and young people
themselves. In the
longer-term, the initiative
will focus on bolstering the
physical protection of
schools, providing school
guards and police in
partnership with Nigerian
authorities, training staff
as school safety officers,
providing communications
tools and school
counsellors.
Meanwhile a very worried
world is increasing pressure
on both terrorists and the
government of President
Goodluck Jonathan to do
whatever they can to deliver
the girls, some of whom are
believed to have already
died from the rigours they
had been subjected to since
their abduction by the
terrorists who not only
razed the school but shot
and burnt their way through
any structure and humans
that came their way.
We are now calling on our very own First Lady to join the call of solidarity with the parents of Nigeria. We call on our very own Sia Nyama Koroma, a mother too, to organise a rally this weekend in support of all those forces seeking to make school children safe not only in Nigeria but all over the world. Go for it First Lady Sia. Go for it and show solidarity with other mothers and parents.
Join Michelle Obama, the US First Lady in this campaign.
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