Saturday June
16, 2012
- Day of the African Child - What's in store for
children in Sierra Leone as the Ernest Bai Koroma cabal members refuse to respect the
rights of children even as they continue to plunder the
nation's wealth, wealth that should have been used to
lift the status of children, especially the disabled?
Why the story of Kadiatu and other children must be told
and retold for the attention of the unrepentant
looters of state coffers and
resources. UPDATE Where is the six year old girl that was used in that State House satanic ritual that saw the Christian President, Ernest Bai Koroma getting married to his "100" brides dressed in white? Today Saturday June 16 is observed as the International Day of the African Child - a day that should be used to reflect upon the plight of children on the continent and this year's theme is even more poignant - "The Rights of Children with Disabilities: The Duty to Protect, Respect, Promote and Fulfil" and should prick the conscience, assuming there's any, of Sierra Leone's overlords, new suppressors and oppressors that there's a vulnerable sector of society that needs attention and help. Once more let us remind the authorities in Sierra Leone of what gave rise to the celebration of today as reported on the pages of one Nigerian news outlet - "Daily Trust"
"On
June
16,
1976,
over
10,
000
black
school
children
took
to
the
streets
of
Soweto
township
in
South
Africa,
to
protest
the
inferior
quality
of
education
that
they
were
receiving
from
the
apartheid
regime
as
well
as
demand
their
rights
to
be
taught
in
their
own
language.
Police responded by firing tear gas and live bullets into the crowd. Several young boys and girls were shot down by security forces. In the two weeks of protests that followed, hundreds of people were killed while a thousand others were injured as the violence spread from one city to the other. By the end of the year, about 575 people had died across the country, 451 at the hands of police, according to SA History Online. The injured numbered 3907, with the police responsible for 2389 of them. About 5980 people were arrested in the townships that year.(www.southafrica.info) This singular incident brought to the fore the need to provide special measures that will ensure that children all over the world receive adequate protection." Opening fire on protesters has now become the norm in Sierra Leone where the armed wing of the ruling APC party parading as a sector of the police, the OSD, now finds itself in a position where it can open fire and kill unarmed protesters - sure in the knowledge that nothing would come out of it and that no one would be held to account, not even when an inquiry commissioned by the President submits findings that directly implicate the OSD We shall again remind the authorities in Sierra Leone
of their obligation to children as enshrined in the OAU
(now AU)
Charter on the Rights of the Child and again to
remind the nation wreckers that Sierra Leone is not only
a signatory but should be aware of why June 16 should
always be on the agenda of any responsible and caring
government. One international NGO REPSSI reminds us of
the importance of this day
In Sierra Leone, we had in the past drawn the attention of government to the plight of children, that we all have a moral obligation to make life for children bearable and worth living - more so in a situation where rampant corruption deprives citizens of their basic rights. In 2009 we drew attention to this BBC report on those girls kept out of school and forced to work on rocks to earn school fees parents and guardians can hardly afford. Next we brought your attention to the story of Kadiatu and quite recently international media outlets carried this story of children again engaged in illegal forms of labour - rock mining. The story was entitled - "The Rock-Mining Children of Sierra Leone Have Not Found Peace". We would therefore urge the looters of state funds to take a good hard look at the plight of children in Sierra Leone in general and to focus on those who are born with natural disabilities as well as those who were deliberately disabled in one form or the other by the cruel machetes, guns, bayonets and other instruments of torture by beasts in human form who carried out massive violations and human rights abuses on the civilian population in Sierra Leone. Let us remember the plight of the poor girl, who after being gang-raped by these beasts, gouged out her eyes so that she could not be able to identify her tormentors. Let us also ask the President and the 100 Muslim women in white who, according to one of his minions, were "married" to a Christian President at a satanic ceremony at State House in Freetown about the fate of that six year old girl who was forced to be a part of that devil worship ritual - "A calabash and mat, tied with white cloth – traditional symbols of marriage within nearly all the indigenous tribes in Sierra Leone – and a six year old girl (the ‘little bride’), also clad from head to toe in Islamic white clothes, were handed over to President Koroma by the APC Women’s Congress Leader to ‘seal’ the ‘marriage’ between President Koroma, a serious Christian, and the Islamic women, who pleaded with President Koroma to worship in their mosque." Where is that six year old girl? What has happened to her? Were her parents consulted before she was lured into that State House ritual or was one of the 100 "brides" the mother of the poor girl because they, the brides, not one of them could satisfy the demands of the ritual - the presentation of a virgin dressed in white? Sierra Leoneans must be informed about the fate of that six year old girl.
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