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Remembering January 6, 1999 and how hell was let loose on Sierra Leone

....AND HOW THE "INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS" WERE FORCED OUT INTO THE OPEN...

Thursday June 25, 2009 - THE KING IS DEAD - THE KING OF POP IS NO MORE

It is with great sadness and a deep sense of shock, disbelief and loss that the Sierra Herald joins the news world in bringing to you the passing away of the world's greatest pop icon and a star whose shining star shone all over the world, the one and only Michael Jackson. And at age 50 - only 50 (Date of Birth - August 29, 1959..oops got that wrong - its 1958, not 1959) the Sierra Herald would be tempted to add for a man who had the world at his feet and who for many years wowed the world the way only he can. He may have had his problems as is likely in the world of show business, he could have had personal problems, he could well have angered a number of his followers because of what they saw as an attempt to change his appearance, but he was still forgiven by them no doubt as could be evidenced by the rush for tickets for a proposed London tour that was scheduled for July 8 - a total sell-out that left fans asking for more. Up to the time of hitting the computer keys, friends were still hoping that news of his demise could be a mistake, an error for which they were willing to forgive errant news agencies. But as it turned out - the man is gone to the great beyond and may the Good Lord grant him eternal solace. R I P.

Friday May 5 - Startling revelations - Feeding off the backs of the deprived and poor - Liberian World Vision official questioned over donor funds. Time to look at Sierra Leone.

A Senior Vice President of the Christian humanitarian organisation World Vision George Ward has told the BBC that new rules are now in place to ensure that proper accounting is in place after the organisation's auditors discovered that of all the aid meant for the people of Liberia, only 9% were actually delivered to the people for whom it was intended. George Ward revealed documents were falsified and that witnesses were compromised and that if they had actually got people on the ground to verify rather than rely on officials on the ground in Liberia, such a massive fraud would not have reached the level that has now been unearthed. Three people are to account for the missing funds including the programmes manager Joe Bondo. One news source noted

"Joe Bondo has been in a Washington jail since his arrest May 20, and documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington suggest a plea deal is in the works...The names of the other two officials were blacked out in charging documents, and the Justice Department would not comment on their status. But an exhibit filed in the case identifies them as Morris Fahnbulleh and Thomas Parker, commodity officers with the program.

Prosecutors say the three men accused in the case built three to four houses each in the area around the capital, Monrovia, and bought new vehicles every few months. Outside Bondo's house was a water pump that prosecutors say was intended for a World Vision project.

The three officials have been charged with 12 criminal counts, including fraud, theft, lying to investigators and witness-tampering.

In early 2007, World Vision got an anonymous tip that its food deliveries were being diverted and sent auditors to 258 Liberian towns that supposedly benefited from its program. The auditors found 91 percent of the food was not delivered and 34 of the towns didn't even exist.

Time for a good look at aid management by religious and other organisations in Sierra Leone during the war recovery period? About time - the Sierra Herald believes.

June 5, 2009 - As ICC Chief Prosecutor gets ready to brief the UN Security Council on Darfur, human rights groups issue statements on eve.

Human Rights Watch and Justice for Darfur - rights monitoring groups with eyes on acts that threaten the integrity of the human being all over the world and more especially Darfur (Justice for Darfur) have issued statements urging the United Nations Security Council to press for the surrender and trial of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and others wanted for serious crimes committed in Darfur. It would be recalled that since the arrest warrant was made public, the Sudanese President had been comforted by the stance of the African Union and the Arab League - two organisations that have openly stated that they would not carry out the request of the ICC to arrest and hand the Sudanese President for trial in the Hague. There have been calls from states belonging to these groups for a delay in the execution of the arrest warrant. What happens next after ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's address will be closely watched not only by human rights activists, but by other Heads of State with a tendency to violate the human rights of those they lord over in the name of a government in power.

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Remember the story of the south London woman caught by Laos government immigration officials and in prison on drug smuggling investigations? Yes it is about 20-year old Samantha Orobator who was awaiting trial for drug smuggling in far away Laos. UK TV pictures showed her weeping mother remonstrating in a show of support for those wanting to save her from the execution squad in Laos - for in that country a guilty verdict is death for the amount of heroin she was carrying on her body when caught. She however managed to escape certain death after pleading guilty but was spared with a life sentence imposed by the Laotian authorities whose laws forbade the execution of the pregnant. The UK-based Telegraph has noted

"She was arrested at Wattay Airport in the Lao capital, Vientiane, as she tried to board a plane last August. At first she told authorities she was pregnant by her boyfriend in England, but tests prove negative until another examination in March".

If things work out as planned by the UK authorities, Samantha would be in the UK soon enough to serve her sentence in a UK prison. The question now is - how did she get pregnant when she had not complained of being a victim of rape? Mysteries, mysteries and mysteries raising further questions that would put other womenfolk from the continent under increasing and sometimes unnecessary scrutiny.

May 31, 2009 - Welcome and let us celebrate Pentecost with hearts of gold, let us put aside all evil thoughts and deliberate lies for personal gains. Rejoice in the faith O ye who profess to be Christians and let your acts reflect the faith so that your friends and acquaintances may marvel at the change in you. Celebrate Pentecost we say and for all those who profess, who want others to believe that they are truly members of the Body of Christ, let us see the true grit of the Christian in you. Stop your evil acts that see you speaking in tongues that are far removed from what happened on this great day of Pentecost. Stop changing names on the internet as you hoodwink people while professing to belong to the Body of Christ. Stop speaking with a forked tongue using the cloak of the priest to engage in the work of the Devil in pursuit of earthly personal gains. And for President Ernest Bai Koroma, remember what your late father told you about the power of God and what your mum Aunty Alice has always hammered in your ear. Listen son, listen and repent as you make good your ways. The Good Lord is not mocked. And that piece of great advice also goes to former Trade and now Works Minister Alimamy P. Koroma. Allow the fire of Pentecost to burn in you so that all around you will see God's beauty in you and your actions. Read the thoughts of Leonard Akehurst on this who in part states

"Pentecost is the culmination of an experience in order to be the beginning of another. It was for the apostles; it should be so for us. We should celebrate, on this day, the coming of the Holy Spirit in our lives, his definitive presence within us from our baptism, and his constant coming upon us, time after time, as we call on him and open ourselves in faith to receive him. The apostles’ mission is also our mission"

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May 25, 2009 - How a good and noble day was turned upside down by the beasts in Sierra Leone

Today May 25, 2009 is a public holiday here in the United Kingdom - called Spring Bank Holiday as residents within the borders of the United Kingdom say goodbye to those dwindling daylight hours and the cold of the winter months. Students of African politics welcome May 25 as African Liberation Day - a day set aside by the continent to honour all those who struggled for freedom of African countries from the yoke of colonialism. And sadly, it was this day that was chosen by certain elements within the Sierra Leone army, a minority bent on mayhem, murder, looting and rape to deny the people of Sierra Leone their choice of a democratically-elected government. Residents of the capital Freetown will never forget that day as would the rest of the country as the Johnny Paul renegades invited their co-murderers and rapists in the RUF to join them and make the country as ungovernable as they could. They however met their match in the civilian population who had vowed at the Bintumani 1 and 2 conference halls that never again would they allow the khaki boys to rule the country. NEVER AGAIN. And so as we observe this day, let us all as Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone remember all those who perished, who suffered the trauma of rape and the dispossession of limb and property that they may be comforted and that the Good Lord in His infinite mercy will provide the appropriate balm. AMEN.

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The Freetown-based AWOKO newspaper has reported another of the government's good intentions - setting up committees to investigate allegations of rape and assault carried out on women holed up at the opposition SLPP office in Freetown as well as another to look generally into cases of violence against Sierra Leoneans in their own God-given land. The terms of the 3-man commission into the rape allegations include according to the newspaper

".....will have such powers, rights and privileges vested in the High Court especially when enforcing attendance of witness, compelling the production of documents and to examine witnesses even from abroad....To achieve their objectives, the commission will have free and unhindered access to all places and buildings that has to do with the allegation. They will also have unhindered freedom to all persons including security officers, to documents, information and materials."

A nice piece of legal instrument there that would help rope in any who would have used the interim to leave the country. The Head of the Commission charged with the responsibility of looking into the rape allegations is no stranger to Sierra Leone. Justice Bankole Thompson is a Sierra Leonean whose prowess in the legal field is well-respected and court room lovers would no doubt have been given an insight into his legal mind at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Nice move, we say nice move.

Friday May 22, 2009 - Rwandan genocide accused is found guilty by Canadian court

In what has been seen as a landmark verdict and a first in the legal books, a court in Canada has today found a man accused of being a part of the death machine in Rwanda that claimed a million lives guilty of war crimes. Desire Munyaneza 42, is the first man to have been convicted under a new law, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act enacted to deal with just such cases and even though the failed asylum seeker is allowed to appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court, his guilty verdict is aimed at sending a clear message to all within the borders of Canada that the country would never be a haven for alleged war criminals. The Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail has noted

In a landmark decision, Désiré Munyaneza was convicted on two counts of genocide, two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for his part in the 1994 mass slaughter. Quebec Superior Court Justice André Denis delivered the verdict in a brief statement summarizing his 560-page judgment.

This thing called justice.

Reports from the mother country, of course not carried by the neo-Nazi propaganda machine, say all 22 SLPP supporters who were charged to court after their offices were ransacked by marauding ruling party operatives are now free. Free because human rights organisations, Sierra Leoneans who want to see justice in the land and the Sierra Herald were watching with keen interest how the courts were to be manipulated by a thing which passes for a government and which thing still refuses to accept that the constitution clearly demarcates the three arms of governance that prevents the Executive controlling the Judiciary. A welcome development but which leaves many an unanswered question over why the victims were hauled before the courts while their tormentors led by the Ernest Koroma's chief bodyguard is still at large which no doubt would have ugly repercussions on a country whose present leaders insist they want to "re-brand" the country. From a haven of tottering democracy to one of outright disrespect for human rights and lawlessness? We hope not. Kindly note this statement put out by the neo-Nazi propaganda machine after Sierra Leonean Tom Nyuma was nearly killed by the neo-Nazis of Sierra Leone.

A report in the Freetown-based AWOKO newspaper has once more thrown the spotlight on areas that need to be addressed by the authorities in Freetown - the provision of basics like potable water for residents. Had priority been assigned to such vital areas, Aminata would be alive today and continuing her education despite all the hardships faced by parents and relations wishing to improve the lot of not only the girl-child, but children everywhere in Sierra Leone. The lack of respect for the environment as the land-grabbing and private construction frenzy by mainly politicians in first the uncaring SLPP and now the neo-Nazi APC of Ernest Bai Koroma does not augur well for the country. We would urge all concerned to take a step back and remember that at the end of the day, it is the duty of care that would bring them the vote in Sierra Leone's fledgling democracy - never mind former Trade and now Works Minister Alimamy Koroma's boast that come 2012, they would swamp INEC, the electoral body with unopposed candidates!!!! May the Good Lord in His infinite mercy grant our grand daughter, daughter, sister and relation Aminata Kamara the rest and peace that only He can provide. Amen

Take a good look, a very good look at the picture opposite. It is for the attention of the harbingers and preachers of hate, war and intolerance. It is for those who day in and day out instead of asking the government to try and make life easier for the ordinary Sierra Leonean, have given themselves a new well-paying job from the thing in Freetown which passes for a government headed by AFRC junta apologist Ernest Bai Koroma.

It would seem these days that the best way to drink deep from state coffers is to demonise anyone critical of the Ernest Bai Koroma set-up - a thing which instead of concentrating on lifting Sierra Leoneans from their misery are so hell-bent on getting a second term come 2012 that its operatives have lost any vision, if they had any, that would have improved the lot of the ordinary Sierra Leonean and in the process in just under two years have made the uncaring, corrupt and arrogant SLPP more of an angel that they ought to be.

The opposition dare not hold any meeting and it becomes treasonable...it becomes a plot to remove the government by illegal means.

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Tuesday May 12, 2009 - Nazi war crimes suspect prepares to face the music - this thing called justice.

Update - The Daily Mirror tracks down the most wanted 10 of Hitler's henchmen

Alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk is in jail in Munich, facing charges of being an accessory to the deaths of 29,000 Jews in World War II. The BBC reports - The frail 89-year-old arrived in Germany on Tuesday morning after being deported from the US. He is now in Stadelheim prison, say prosecutors, where he will undergo a medical check and then have his pages-long arrest warrant read out to him. He denies accusations that he worked as a guard in the Sobibor Nazi death camp. Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker lived in suburban Cleveland and when he was first arrested was let off the hook because he pleaded that he could have been a victim of mistaken identity. That proved, it would seem a breathing space as prosecutors dug deeper to make their case water-tight. Pleas by him and those interested that he should be allowed to die quietly in the United States because of his age fell on ears that were keen on ensuring that this alleged former Nazi have his day again in court. This thing called justice - the wheels could appear to move slowly, too slowly sometimes to create frustrations but in the end, they will always get to the destination. This is a warning to to all those who gave the oxygen of respectability to the AFRC/RUF junta as atrocities were being perpetrated against the hostage population in the mother country during those trying times. Be warned that whatever you do to cover up your tracks, one fine day justice will catch up with you as the mask you now wear gets ripped off to reveal your true role in the rape and sacking of Sierra Leone.

Two articles in the Standard Times online news outlet seen today Friday May 8, 2009 and we are informed also replicated in the hard version in the mother country would have any reader feel uneasy, if not extremely agitated and apprehensive given what the country has had to go through in the decade of war, deprivation, murder, rape and outright rule of the beasts in human form. And so to read the two articles published by the Standard Times (never mind the absence of a by-line) raising the spectre of war and insurrection by no group other than the main opposition SLPP - a party that gave way to the then and now ruling opposition party APC to have its leader occupy the top seat and hence become President of the Republic. One item sets the scene, purporting to have evidence of communication within the opposition preparing for war by whatever means against the government while the commentary is a goading to the Ernest Bai Koroma set-up that the government should arrest and hang the opposition to silence them forever. It could have worked during the Stevens and Momoh tenure, but not this time we hope. The items by Standard Times call for a thorough investigation not only by the authorities, but by a committee that should include representatives of the international community. The Sierra Herald would want to alert each and every member of the international community with representatives in Sierra Leone as well as other governments more so those in the West to take a particular note of this, lest the country gets dragged into another quagmire by a government which has increasingly shown contempt for any form of opposition. Sierra Leoneans forced to leave home, friends, community and the land that they love yearn to go back to a country that has paid a dear price for peace.

Sometimes in the heat of the moment, like the confirmation of how certain Ernest Bai Koroma paid praise singers are being rewarded with tax payers money and resources, it is so easy to let really good news slip easily under the radar. And the slip is because the re-opening of the Njala branch of the bank was not performed by His Excellency, the Dr, the Insurance Broker and AFRC apologist Ernest Bai Koroma and so was not there in person to do the usual. The Sierra Herald is happy to note that not all newspapers believe that the antics of the President is the only newsworthy item within the borders of Sierra Leone. AWOKO carried this good news story as it should be done by all development-oriented news outlets. The re-opening of this branch will not only ease transactions for students, but also for business people from places like Taiama, Bo and Kenema, not to talk about residents of Njala itself. We say welcome back Sierra Leone Commercial Bank. Welcome.

As hundreds in London demonstrate today for the legal right to stay in the United Kingdom, out there in Laos a pregnant Briton goes on trial today Monday May 4, 2009. According to press reports a last-ditch attempt was being made by British diplomats and legal campaigners to save a four-month pregnant British woman who faces death by firing squad in Laos if she is convicted of smuggling heroin. She is Samantha Orobator, 20, from south London, who has been held for nine months in the notorious Phonthong jail in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, apparently without any access to a lawyer. Nigerian-born Orobator was arrested last August at Vientiane's Wattay Airport where she was allegedly caught with 680g of heroin. Smuggling anything more than 500g carries a mandatory death sentence in Laos. She is now due in court, either today or tomorrow, for what the renowned human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith describes as a "show trial".

It is reported from the mother country that one Ernest Bai Koroma ostensibly the President and father of the nation, but in reality an apologist for the brutal and human rights-abusing AFRC/RUF led by Johnny Paul Koroma, has requested the people of Sierra Leone to pray and fast. That's how they start, mocking the Good Lord by pretending they really believe in HIM while at the same time engaged in acts that are best left in the dark. Here is a man who is so God-fearing with what looks like a belated faith in fasting that he had the temerity, the gumption to tell the nation on April 21 to fast and pray for a period that was already in progress. What manner of man is this? President Ernest Bai Koroma is advised to go through the history of this God-fearing country so he can have an idea of what is meant by "God is not mocked" and the fate that awaited all those who used the name of the Good Lord in vain. According to a press release from the new AFRC/RUF set-up (AFRC MK2), the people were called to this prayer even after it had started....a fateful afterthought? Be careful Ernest. Be very careful.

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Today is April 19 and it is a wonder that the streets of the capital and elsewhere are not decorated with an assorted splash of red and white of APC party "comrades". Or have they failed to tell their sons and daughters, grandsons and daughters and those who did not know that this date was forced down the throats of Sierra Leoneans as the day to be celebrated as the country's national day? Go on, ET and others - tell those who were unborn how Siaka Stevens ably assisted by "men who should have known better" tried to rewrite the country's history. The day Sierra Leone achieved independence, freedom from colonial rule - April 27 - was relegated to the dustbins of history as April 19 Siaka Stevens' Republic Day became the national day.

Footpath to another round of chaos as the army becomes a political tool?

The great convention of the great party, the one and only APC has now ended. The party posts have been filled using whatever method that is most convenient for the party bigwigs but through it all could be seen the dark clouds of what should never again be seen in the mother country. Using a national institution like the army in a public display of political affiliation, going as far as having the military band play the so-called APC party song does not only cross the line but calls for a censure of President Koroma. It is such unbridled display of the lack of the spirit of the constitution that led the country on the path we would never want to tread again. Never again.

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Obligations of the mass media.

11. The press, radio and television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Constitution and highlight the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people - The Constitution of Sierra Leone.