Saturday February 11, 2012 - Why 11 year old Kadiatu's story published in the UK "Mirror" newspaper must be told again and again.....highlighting how the thieving operatives of the government and ruling party secure what they believe are all the good things in life for self and associates as the unconnected wallow in poverty, filth and deprivation. Sierra Leone's uncaring Nazis and AFRC/RUF apologists exposed again. But do they care?

We are afraid, just as they did in their previous nation-wrecking grip on power for 24 years - they just do not care.

In their little over four years in party the trait running across their handling of the government affairs remains - thieving and looting of the national treasury at every opportunity.

The story of Kadiatu must be told and retold so that Sierra Leoneans, friends of Sierra Leone and all those who care about a country still trying to recover from a decade of a brutal war would have an idea of just what obtains on the ground which the smoke and mirrors President Koroma and his thieving and deceitful associates would not want to be highlighted.

We await his internet flying toilets, managed by vermin to the core to describe John Bishop as another "enemy of the state" - a term reserved for anyone who dares state things are they are on the ground and how the poor, deprived and unconnected try to live in a country where those with paws on the national purse engage in massive looting.

The story - When John met Kadiatu is a moving story - far removed from the fictitious pictures painted by hired "journalists" of the smoke and mirrors President Ernest Bai Koroma.

John Bishop is a stand-up comic whose antics on TV is a delight to many of his admirers as he delves into issues many take for granted until he gets to work on them - to the applause and delight of his numerous fans and audiences all over the United Kingdom.

However John's assignment to Freetown and his story of Kadiatu is no laughing matter.

In what appears to be a little spotlight on one aspect of life for the ordinary Sierra Leonean girl, he has set people thinking about just what this means for the survival of children in a country where death always knocks at the door because of a lack of the vaccines and other medications needed to combat preventable diseases like measles.

Fancy this if you will -

"The white sands and clear waters of Sierra Leone became a dream destination after they featured in the Bounty bar ads – but little Kadiatu’s home, a stone’s throw from the beach, is miles from a taste of paradise. The 11-year-old sits next to me on the muddy bank of a stinking, sewage-filled canal. Pigs and dogs are foraging for scraps in the filthy, rat-infested water. Looking downstream I’m appalled to see two shoeless toddlers paddling through this cesspit picking up and examining bits of rubbish. A horrifying scene, but one Kadiatu and hundreds of other children wake up to each day."

Yes, this is a true picture - a microcosm of what obtains in Sierra Leone where the vast resources of the country is being mortgaged to shady investors of all descriptions.

This is a true picture of what obtains in a country whose finances are being ripped apart and raped by a gang of unrepentant thieves bereft of any morals and any sense of integrity - a country whose auditors' reports have shown just how uncaring the thieves are as they tear apart all what was in place when they assumed the mantle of leadership of the country promising heaven on earth that would be far removed from the excesses of the previous SLPP government of President Kabbah.

The Daily Mirror notes - "There are 250,000 reasons why John is putting himself through a week of hell. One of them is a little girl called Kadiatu. John met Kadiatu on his recent trip to the slums of Sierra Leone and wants to raise money to pay for enough vaccines to protect 250,000 children in Africa, just like her, against five deadly diseases. It costs just five pounds for a pentavalent vaccine that will protect a child from all five.

This is the story of the girl child under the watch of Ernest Bai Koroma and his minions of deceit, lies, more lies and damned lies.

And her story is not the only one to have reached the attention of international watchers of the socio-politico-economic canvas of Sierra Leone.

Remember the story of children breaking rocks so that they could contribute to the family's effort to make ends?

This was what we had on our pages

August 23, 2009 - As the world reflects on a great evil this year's International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition should focus on modern forms of a system that, at least on paper, should have been abolished more than 200 years ago. It's August 23 again and a time to reflect on man's inhumanity to his/her fellow sojourner on Planet Earth and vow that never again can the world sit idly by and allow such evil to permeate modern society. It is in this respect that the Sierra Herald would plead with all governments and human rights organisations to do all in their power to end the new and insidious trends in modern slavery where people traffickers and profit-making companies and organisations exploit the weak and vulnerable. As we all observe and reflect on this day, set aside by the United Nations, the Sierra Herald would urge the authorities in Sierra Leone to take a second look at the 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. We urge the Ernest Koroma government to take a look at reports in the local media like AWOKO to help focus on the problem rather than engaging in smoke and mirrors to wish the problem away. It is also a time to take a good look at the plight of women and girls who during the country's troubles were abducted, raped and forced to become the "wives" of thugs, rapists and murderers calling themselves rebels of the RUF and their allies in the national army, the sobels. These are the sex slaves still living in Sierra Leone while their former tormentors get a pat on the back from those claiming to be in authority. We urge our readers to use the links provide to learn more about slavery and also how this evil manifests itself in modern society. Human Rights Education Association - Slavery and Forced Labour The BBC Abolition Pages - With many articles on slavery and it's abolition more than 200 years ago as well as modern form of the evil as well as this link with people telling their stories across Africa Kindly also use this link for some useful information and a quote attributed to the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie - Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Now dare to ask any of the exposed thieves in the government, Sierra Leone's missions abroad and all sectors of the economy where massive and mounting thieving is going on - to contribute a single leone to the country's development and you are bound to get a stare reserved for a perception of somebody gone bonkers, gone round the bend - to dare ask the thieves to contribute a small part of their ill-gotten wealth to help the likes of Kadiatu.

Not even when you go to missions where allowances for children over 18 years are routinely signed for and collected with some putting in the names of non-existent kids.

4. Payment of Children’s and Education Allowances to Diplomatic Staff

It was observed that Children’s Allowances were being paid arbitrarily. In some instances, Children’s Allowances were paid to Diplomatic Staff not entitled to it.
In addition, copies of Birth Certificates of children of Diplomatic Staff were neither on file nor were they produced or made available to the auditor for inspection to support the payments, amounting to US$195,057.81, made to staff for the period under review.

We recommended that the HOC should ensure that Children’s Allowances were only paid to Diplomatic staff entitled to receive such allowances, for a maximum of three children under 18 years. It was also recommended that the HOC should ensure that the officers concerned must produce evidence of their children’s birth certificates; otherwise the amount involved was to be recovered and evidence of recovery forwarded to the Office of the Auditor General for verification.

Ask any of the slimy things at our mission at the United Nations where double payments are ripped from the national purse every time the President goes on a jamboree with his favoured ones including one Khadija Sesay of the Open Governance Initiative, one of the most secretive sub-offices under President Koroma.

Ask them to contribute a dime from their stolen wealth - and they inevitably will end up with a fever...

This is a part of the Auditor's report on government finances for 2010

During the Financial year 2008, the Office of the Secretary to the President received US$57,161 for the 63^rd UN General Assembly Meeting; for the same period an amount of US$43,800 was also remitted to the Mission for the same purpose.

In the 2009 Financial Year, the MOFED paid US$46,691.00 in respect of the 64^th UN General Assembly Meeting and remitted US$36,596 to the Sierra Leone Permanent Mission for the same purpose.

During the 2010 Financial Year, the Office of the Secretary to the President received US$54,267 to cover accommodation, incidental and imprest in respect of the 65^th UN General Assembly meeting and for the same period an amount of US$49,915 was remitted to the Mission.

Of utmost concern to the auditor was the unavailability of the relevant supporting documents and schedules to cover those payments. We therefore recommended that the Financial Secretary should explain, with substantial evidence, why duplicate payments were made in respect of the UN General Assembly Meetings; in the absence of which the amounts involved should be refunded by the officers concerned.

These are the payments made to the UN mission as well as to the Secretary to the President.....

Financial Year 2008 for 63rd UN Meeting - Total amount disbursed for the President's UN jamboree - US$100,961.00

Financial Year 2009 for 64th UN Meeting - Total amount disbursed for the President's UN jamboree - US$83,287.00

Financial Year 2010 for 65th UN Meeting - Total amount disbursed for the President's UN jamboree - US$104,182.00

Grand Total for UN jamborees for the 63rd, 64th and 65th United Nations General Assembly Meetings - US$288,430.00