The 2011 HDI is now available online and according to the publishers the 2011 Human Development Report -

...argues that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together – and identifies policies on the national and global level that could spur mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals. Bold action is needed on both fronts, the Report contends, if the recent human development progress for most of the world’s poor majority is to be sustained, for the benefit of future generations as well as for those living today. Past Reports have shown that living standards in most countries have been rising - and converging - for several decades now. Yet the 2011 Report projects a disturbing reversal of those trends if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify, with the least developed countries diverging downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050. The Report shows further how the world’s most disadvantaged people suffer the most from environmental degradation, including in their immediate personal environment, and disproportionately lack political power, making it all the harder for the world community to reach agreement on needed global policy changes. The Report also outlines great potential for positive synergies in the quest for greater equality and sustainability, especially at the national level.

We took a look at Sierra Leone and what we saw was not encouraging - spurring us to once again call on the government to address bread and butter issues that affect the ordinary Sierra Leonean in terms of health, education, shelter and the basic necessities of life as well as above all, an atmosphere of security and tolerance in governance. The report notes that

The 10 countries that place last in the 2011 HDI are all in sub-Saharan Africa: Guinea, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The authorities in Freetown must know by now that the entire report of the Moses-Shears report on increasing violence in the country is out and in the hands of all those who care for the wellbeing of a country called Sierra Leone. What is now eagerly awaited is the government action on such an important document that delves into political violence in just one month - during March 2009 under the watch of the present government.

That is why we await the Government White Paper on the Shears-Moses inquiry report which has investigated the circumstances relating to violence, political violence in - (i) incidents of political violence and intolerance that occurred during the month of March, 2009 in:- Gendema, Pujehun District; Freetown, Western Urban Area; and Kenema, Kenema District;

We have today brought you an excerpt from that report as it relates to one Idrissa Hamid Kamara aka Leatherboot - a close protection officer to President Koroma and someone, who it seems from the report, is beyond the control of anyone, not even the President as is evidenced in that report that he left State House on March 16, 2009 to go to the SLPP headquarters without informing his superior officers and even the President.

This was the same man who appeared before the Justice Bankole Thompson Commission investigating allegations of rape during the attack on the SLPP headquarters wearing a pistol.

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That is why we are still baffled, puzzled why State House has still not thought it fit to publish both the report and the government White Paper on the Shears-Moses report - from the panel set up more than two years ago. Let us remind State House/President Koroma himself without the magician's robe, just what the Shears-Moses Commission's Terms of Reference were -

(a) To review and determine the circumstances as well as establish the facts relating to:

(i) incidents of political violence and intolerance that occurred during the month of March, 2009 in:- Gendema, Pujehun District; Freetown, Western Urban Area; and Kenema, Kenema District;

(ii) the roles and responsibilities of political parties, law enforcement agencies or any other persons persons or groups in relation to the incidents of political violence and intolerance referred to above;

(b) to make necessary findings or conclusions that shall provide a full understanding of the circumstances that resulted in the incidents referred to in sub-paragraph (a);

(c) to recommend measures to be taken and mechanism to be put in place to effectively prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future.

Is there something in that report that goes against the nature of the man who has stated that everyone knows he is a peaceful man? What is he afraid of? Where is his allegiance - is it to the AFRC/RUF murderers and rapists that he rubs shoulders with and protects at State House or the people of Sierra Leone - those who voted for him as well as those who voted for other political parties - all Sierra Leoneans who suffered the trauma of our troubles in a ten-year cycle of extreme violence and mayhem?

Come on Mr President - the people of Sierra Leone as well as the international community are watching you. Kindly prove to them that you do not condone violence; that you do not protect violent men; that you are capable of dealing with people who would want to take us back to those dark days. Or are we expecting too much from you? We hope not.

So please release your government's White Paper on the Shears-Moses report now. The real report is with all interested parties who await your response with keen anticipation.

We had in the past suggested a theme for the "sermon" of the high priest at the altar of deceit, falsehood, denigration and moral turpitude dedicated to the worship of his god ernest bai koroma, an altar the very foundation of which is based on lies, sexually explicit innuendoes, gutter language and all the muck that can be found in the treasure trove of the depraved, deprived and compulsive liar. We still would urge him, the satanic priest, to do a "sermon" on the theme - "Gluttony is a sin" with the hope that he would not be put off by his own admissions that - "The only thing I have not been able to accomplish is to pull down my weight". Is this the reason why he refuses to touch our suggested theme? Come on "fake pastor", "satanic rev" - you surely can manipulate words to present gluttony as something good for the soul.

Kindly note what he wrote on his very own internet discussion forum for the public to read - about his "performance" even as a CAD patient and this is not merely a pun on the word as he could more than qualify as a cad -

...CAD (a heart condition) need not be a death sentence. You can survive it like I did...Do not try to set a record in bed... If you have CAD, it does not affect your performance at all...."

Yes, the satanic sexually-explicit "rev" at his best again.

Or does he want to be reminded about what a former ally wrote about him after discovering his love for all things of a sexual nature? Yes, we will -

"This XXXX man is a miscreant; a so-called Reverend who thrives on mischievously making up stories against other people he dislikes and labels it as journalism. The level of dirty tricks and low down games he has played against me personally and against other innocent citizens over the last few years via his paper and forum is stomach churning. If this miscreant is an example of a Christian Community Leader, then Christianity would have gone to the dogs... TO THE DOGS. Thank God, I know otherwise. This man does not remotely fit the description of a Community Leader let alone a Christian Man of God! XXXX is a satanic bundle of hatred. XXXX is a son of satan (SOS) masquerading as a pastor. This pornographic pastor spends all his time on this forum and has no time to study the scriptures. You care more about the details of female .......(details too graphic to put here). You delight in immorality. The Lord whom you mock, and whose name you blaspheme will punish you if you don't repent."

Repent? No way...at the altar of the shrine dedicated to his god ernest bai koroma, the only repentance you can get from the satanic pastor is when threatened the sack by his god....which reminds us...is the high priest living on taxpayers money even though he himself had written that he was not qualified for such largesse?

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Tuesday October 25, 2011 - Another of the great ones has fallen, the man who stood for journalists and journalism is no more. The one and only Sam Metzger is no more - snatched by the inevitable fate of all human beings. His death, announced in Freetown on Monday October 10, 2011 came as a shock to many, more so to those who believed that when they called him in Freetown, he would always be there to give a gem or two about his experiences as a journalist when Sierra Leone was at the cross roads of forging out a pathway for the profession - never mind what side you reported for, be it the party, government or the opposition newspaper.

Sam Metzger believed that the basic principles of journalism, if adhered to, will always bring out the good points in the journalist as well as the organisation served. Who would forget his witty banter with the late editor of the SLPP newspaper, the one and only Julius Cole or some series he could come up with when he wanted to send a message to his detractors?

Sam Metzger stood tall, very tall in the practice of the noble art of journalism and he would be disappointed at the number of wannabes who, as he would say, without the ink drying on their first article would wake up one morning and call themselves "journalists" "editors" and worst of the lot "managing editors".

The disrespectful use of these labels by the undeserving could well have left him speechless if not confounded in what could easily be a sacrilege of good journalistic principles. There are many, too many to name who know the man for what he stood for and for those who studied at his feet, knew how lucky they were to be in his company. Life in the profession had not always been rosy for Sam Metzger in the field that he so dearly loved. When a young, up and coming "colleague" asked him why, at some stage he had stopped or watered down his criticism of the then ruling APC government, he quipped, "Borbor ar taya for go jail...ar don day ol" meaning " I am tired of serving time in prison...I am no longer young to bear the rigours of prison life...I am getting old you know" - it is difficult to put it in English for one to grasp the pragmatism in what the said then.

How many so-called journalists knew him as one of the lecturers when the then Extra Mural Department of Fourah Bay College set up the first and only Journalism Education Course in 1973? Few would remember that. Well he was the man who delivered and shared his experiences and skills with those who were practising newspaper journalists. The Sierra Herald joins the many true professionals, admirers and relations of the late Sam Metzger in wishing that the Good Lord in his mercy will grant him the eternal rest only He knows how to deliver. We leave you with this tribute on the pages of the online version of the Standard Times newspaper by Bernadette Cole, former head of the Independent Media Commission (IMC) and a colleague who knew the late man and his journalistic skills as well as what made him such a great man - his humility.

Update: Please see the details of the arrangements for the celebration of the life of a great journalist as put out by his family and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), an organisation he served as President. Courtesy, Sierra Express Media.

The man who would be Africa's first President of All Africa is no more. The colourful figure who dominated his country's political, social and other aspects of Libyan life is no more having succumbed to wounds he received before and after his capture by forces that had been trying to take his last stronghold, his birthplace of Sirte - a well-fortified town that had withstood and driven back wave after wave of attacks launched by a less experienced and poorly-equipped "army" of the transitional government. Gaddafi's capture in Sirte came as a surprise to many a watcher of the unfolding scene with speculations that he could well have left Libya for an unknown destination with fingers pointing in the direction of Niger. Libya's relationship with Sierra Leone became sour during the Siaka Stevens regime when the government received information that the then charismatic and young colonel had developed an interest in Sierra Leone - not because of the country's resources but because the young colonel had made it his policy that he would support all movements that had been formed to overthrow governments he considered as authoritarian and not working in the interest of their own people.

Among the targets was a Sierra Leone that was getting the works from an increasingly repressive regime where "careless talk" had become a crime, even though this was never on the statute books as Sierra Leone's constitution made freedom of association and free speech its core principles.Rebel leader Foday Sankoh is reported to have trained in Libya as did Charles Taylor of Liberia and one Kukoi of the Gambia. Elements of the then RUF received military training in various camps in Libya and these were to form the vanguard of any invasion force that would be needed to overthrow the APC. Disillusioned students and a couple of lecturers who had been thrown out of job and educational institution after the celebrated 1977 student demonstration against the Stevens regime made their way, first to Ghana where they received ideological education and then to Libya for the military aspect of their training. After Charles Taylor launched his rebellion in Liberia it was only a matter of time for the BBC to be called up by one Foday Sankoh who proudly announced that the RUF, the Revolutionary United Front was now on the move and ready to take on and remove the APC government then headed by the former head of the army Joseph Saidu Momoh.

And so began our troubles which claimed thousands of lives, destroyed Sierra Leone society and cohesion and plunged the country into a cycle of violence never before witnessed in the country's history. It was a very grateful Sierra Leone that listened to and understood former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who finally declared in 2002 that the war was over. Sierra Leoneans will always remember the Libyan leader as the man who created our troubles and as the man, though far from the borders of our country, had quite a formidable influence on Sierra Leone's political landscape. It was reported that it was President Kabbah who first thought it necessary to start a kind of dialogue with the Libyan leader - a move he described as fundamental if Sierra Leone was to end the debilitating war that was crippling nearly all sectors in Sierra Leone. For this he was criticised by the then leader of the opposition Ernest Bai Koroma who was later to become a glove in hand man of the Libyan leader. That he was made an honorary member of our Parliament - a Parliament made up of the ruling APC party, the main opposition SLPP party and others appear to speak volumes of just how much leverage petro-dollars wield in the politics of Sierra Leone.There would be many Libyans rejoicing at the passing away of a man who had ruled over their lives for many years, more than forty, who would think nothing of slaughtering hundreds of his own compatriots in cold blood should they show any sign of dissent. His death and the manner thereof should send signals to other dictators on the continent of the folly of their ways. How many will hearken to such a message - only time will tell.

We have been following with keen interest what looks like another class act by the magician himself, the smoke and mirrors President who would want to be seen and respected as the Fountain of Honour of our very own country, Sierra Leone. We don't like what we have seen so far in action taken by the government as regards the Kelvin Lewis report on the September 9, 2011 violence in Bo. It is to be recalled that it was the President himself who, in what some sections of the truly independent and unfettered press reported that he, the President was in a no-nonsense mood when he ordered that investigation. The Bo incident in which the Presidential hopeful of the main opposition party, the SLPP, Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio was attacked and wounded should be a great cause of concern as it was this action that precipitated the resulting chaos that saw another innocent Sierra Leonean losing his life, at least ten suffering from gunshot wounds and offices of the ruling party torched. As the report pointed out, the attack on the opposition flag bearer was pre-planned leaving no doubt in the minds of watchers of the increasing violence under the watch of our magician at State House that it must have received some kind of approval from APC party rulers and operations commanders. That the ruling party, would attempt in 21st century Sierra Leone and under the watchful eyes of the guarantors of our peace, use violence as a tool for intimidating the opposition reflects the APC's one-party psyche of intolerance for democratic values and good governance.

We note this bit from the Press Release from State House itself after the President received reports on violence in the country, among them the Bo violence that claimed the life of a bike rider, a Sierra Leonean, who pleaded for his life but was murdered by a policeman paid by and uniformed by innocent people like the murdered bike rider. This was a part of the written statement from State House

In the case of the incident in Bo, the independent investigation panel chaired by Mr Kelvin Lewis of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists presented its report to his Excellency the President on 30th September 2011. Government accepts the findings and recommendations of the panel and assures the general public that they will be fully implemented. Over 40 persons will soon be charged to court to the intent that the full force of the law will be brought to bear

Sunday October 16, 2011 - Tribute to a great freedom fighter - Martin Luther King Memorial is dedicated in Washington. A fitting and moving ceremony as America's first black President leads the honouring ceremony for the first black iconic freedom fighter to be assassinated for his dreams

It was a moving ceremony on Sunday. US President Barack Obama dedicating a new memorial to the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King at  a ceremony in Washington. According to the BBC, the US President told the crowd at the ceremony that the rights advocate, campaigner and fighter for the rights of all underprivileged in the United States, especially the marginalised black and "coloured" population was now among the founders of the American nation. The 30ft granite statue lies near the spot where Dr King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech in 1963.

"When met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the 'is-ness' of today. He kept pushing for the 'ought-ness' of tomorrow," Mr Obama said. "In this place, he will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it." The UK-based Sky news network says the new stone monument was unveiled in August and was dedicated on October 16th in front of some 150,000 people adding - "The civil rights leader was not a member of the nation's ruling elite - he was a firebrand who advocated civil disobedience and sought to subvert the social order of the day. But his genius was his ability to present himself as heir to the founders of America's constitutional principles. He believed it was his opponents who were un-American."

The dedication ceremony was a moving ceremony and with the statue sited where past Presidents of the United States have their memorials, is a fitting tribute to a man who believed in what he stood for and fought for it knowing that what he was doing was right and in the interest of all US citizens.

The Sierra Herald joins the rest of the world in paying tribute to a man who was selfless and was not in it for personal gains or wealth, but for the common good.

Friday October 14, 2011 - CORRUPTION, MORE CORRUPTION AND EVIL CORRUPTION LAID BARE AS STATE HOUSE IS IMPLICATED IN MISSIONS' SCANDALS: As the government abandons most of its key pledges to the electorate on governance, the rule of law and corruption, with the massive thieving and rampant corruption in our overseas missions exposed by the Auditor-General, we await to see what action the smoke and mirrors President will take in trying to put a stop to this massive stealing of the peoples' money. We await with keen interest the heads that will roll in a corruption scandal that sends a message to the donor and international community just how committed the government is to the pledges made to alleviate the lot of the ordinary Sierra Leonean.

We had to wait for a couple of days for all especially true Sierra Leoneans and friends of the mother country to absorb and try to comprehend the large-scale and rampant thieving that has been going on in our missions abroad as outlined below in the Auditor-General's report. It sends a chill down the spines of Sierra Leoneans who care and shudder to think of how this rampant thieving could be in many a replicate in the affairs of this government. We would again remind the ruling party, the one and only APC, the All Peoples Congress party of the pledges made to the people in its manifesto as it wooed them with what is now clearly a honey-coated sweet with an inner core of arsenic. Here is part of the preamble as it laid into the then seemingly uncaring government headed by former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

"The economy under the present Government (President Kabbah then) is bankrupt and propped up by the grace of institutional donor funds which are grossly misused. Furthermore our economy is characterized by many factors including endemic institutional corruption, alarmingly chronic youth employment, unbearable cost of living and a lack of political resolve to check and curb corruption...what emerged in the last ten years however, has been a pathetic and painful picture of socio-economic decline  corruption and generally poor governance. The challenge of any incoming government in 2007 will be to reverse this trend, by establishing proper governance and sustainable development, and generally breaking the depressing cycle of poverty."

We have in the past couple of weeks urged the high priest at the altar of profanities, falsehood and sexually explicit innuendoes and literature dedicated to his god ernest bai koroma to continue considering our previous suggested theme for his Sunday "sermons" - "Gluttony is a sin" and on this holy day we would again continue with a theme found in the Ninth Commandment which forbids true Christians, not to talk about those claiming to be pastors to be an example to others. The Ninth Commandment which forbids lying should be a central pillar to the activities of the true Christian. Here's what the Bible says about lying -

Proverbs 12:22 states - "Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight"

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Simply put, as our old folks would say, those who "lie and stick to it" do not pass through the gates leading to the city of true Christians. They are to be found outside the gates with their type - "dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

Kindly take a look at the links we have provided below and ask yourself why the stories have been expunged from the pages of a website that is run by a man who claims to a "pastor" an elder in Christian congregations. We have this line from one of the associates of the obese sow in heat who thinks nothing of dragging the names of good and respectable people, especially women into his morally-decadent and bankrupt, sewer-prone innuendoes only the brains of sewer rats of his type can manufacture. Here is what was written about him.

First of all, the Editor .......is not a social misfit but is a responsible and respected member of this New Jersey community ,who apart from being Associate Pastor of the AMERICAN FELLOWSHIP CHURCH of Lambertville, New Jersey, is also a respected school teacher and a journalist contributing so much to the socio-economic and political development of Sierra Leone...etc etc etc - Foday Mansaray , Chairman of the Board

We can again confirm what we had been informed about many years ago - that he is not a member, never has been and will not be an Associate Pastor of the American Fellowship Church as he claimed to be and documented on a page on the website of the "Patriotic Vanguard".

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The BBC reports that at the ceremony in which the names of the three women were made public, Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland noted that the Committee expressed the hope that the prize would "help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent. Today's reward to the three women who defied all the odds to fight for the rights of women and citizens in their various countries and communities is a testimony to the belief of all those who are of the considered opinion that women are equal partners in the fight for justice, equality and the integrity of the human being. The recognition of the efforts and works of these women highlights the selfless and unrelenting struggle against all who trample on the rights of women. This also means that the Nobel Committee has now concretised the UN Security Council Resolution which makes it an international war crime for all those who use violence against women. It also sends a clear message to perpetrators and those of a similar disposition that the threat of such violence and rape as a weapon of war and political intimidation will no longer be allowed to go unreported and unpunished. The online Washington Post newspaper in its report on the award quotes the Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute in Accra, Ghana and who has worked with Leymah Gbowee as saying that "We still have a long way to go...women have a challenge in being part of the decision-making process in our countries". The Nairobi-based Daily Nation observes in its report that Tawakul Karman is the first Arab woman to win the Peace prize and quoted how the Nobel Committee hailed her for "in the most trying circumstances, both before and during the "Arab Spring"....(playing) a leading part in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen". The Sierra Herald joins all good and peace-loving people in congratulating these three giants in the struggle for good governance, democracy and universal human rights.