Sunday November 9, 2014 - As the world pays tribute to all those who died that freedom, justice and the integrity of the human being be enjoyed by future generations, the rat and his vile battalion of intolerant thieves, liars and nation wreckers try to muzzle free speech and expression. The lessons of history refused to be learnt.

It is Remembrance Sunday today and in the United Kingdom and the rest of the free world tributes are being paid to those who paid the supreme sacrifice, who laid down their lives that the world would live to enjoy the freedoms that are the hallmark of a truly democratic and just society. In the UK, the BBC reports that it was Her Majesty the Queen herself who led the commemorations. "A two-minute silence was observed before the monarch laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in central London. Events have been held across the UK and abroad, including in Afghanistan. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, 70 years since the D-Day landings and the end of Britain's conflict in Afghanistan. Prime Minister David Cameron said the anniversaries made the commemorations "particularly poignant".

Today is also remembered by all freedom-loving peoples as the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the great division that existed then between the freedom-loving West and the repressive police states of the Eastern bloc lorded over by the Soviet Union. Thus did the divided country of East and West Germany become one country once more as totalitarianism gave way to democracy, the rule of law and integrity of the human being as enshrined in the basic principles of the European Union.

The BBC reports on today's events highlighting the significance of that event twenty five years ago - "The fall of the Berlin Wall has shown the world that dreams can come true and "nothing has to stay as it is", German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. Speaking 25 years after the event, Mrs Merkel said the message for those in countries where rights were threatened was that things could get better. Earlier she attended a service for the former East German regime's victims. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from communist East Germany to the West. Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War."

The BBC's Jenny Hill takes up the story giving putting a real human face to it as we find in the case of the present German leader Angela Merkel who was born in the then East Germany.

"It's a bitterly cold grey day in Berlin. This morning hundreds of people stood shivering next to one of the few remaining sections of the wall. From a big screen above them Angela Merkel could be seen at a commemorative church service. Later the crowds here will celebrate. But for now the mood is sombre. This wall, after all, dominated Berlin, part of a border which split a country in half. And scores of people died trying to cross it to escape communist East Germany.

One man had tears in his eyes as he told me he was born in East Berlin. People must never forget what the wall represented, he said. As Angela Merkel left church the crowds surged towards her. Speaking to some of them the chancellor said it was important to remember all those who suffered because of the wall, not just in Germany but across Eastern Europe. Freedom is a concept much valued by Angela Merkel. No wonder, perhaps, given that the German chancellor grew up in the East. She was in her 30s - working as a physicist - when the wall came down."

The History Channel gave us this insight into what the Berlin Wall was about - "Before the wall was built, Berliners on both sides of the city could move around fairly freely: They crossed the East-West border to work, to shop, to go to the theater and the movies. Trains and subway lines carried passengers back and forth.

After the wall was built, it became impossible to get from East to West Berlin except through one of three checkpoints: at Helmstedt (“Checkpoint Alpha” in American military parlance), at Dreilinden (“Checkpoint Bravo”) and in the center of Berlin at Friedrichstrasse (“Checkpoint Charlie”). (Eventually, the GDR built 12 checkpoints along the wall.)

At each of the checkpoints, East German soldiers screened diplomats and other officials before they were allowed to enter or leave. Except under special circumstances, travelers from East and West Berlin were rarely allowed across the border.

The construction of the Berlin Wall did stop the flood of refugees from East to West, and it did defuse the crisis over Berlin. (Though he was not happy about it, President Kennedy conceded that “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”) Over time, East German officials replaced the makeshift wall with one that was sturdier and more difficult to scale.

A 12-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide mass of reinforced concrete was topped with an enormous pipe that made climbing over nearly impossible. Behind the wall on the East German side was a so-called “Death Strip”: a gauntlet of soft sand (to show footprints), floodlights, vicious dogs, trip-wire machine guns and patrolling soldiers with orders to shoot escapees on sight.

In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however: From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds."

And even as the world pays tribute to those who fought against repressive regimes, dictatorships and human rights violators, the government of the odious and vindictive rat and his equally reprehensible gang of despots have now seen it fit to be jailing a journalist without the right to any trial and without the benefit of any explanations save to insinuate that as Sierra Leone's version of the Haitian beast of no nation Papa Doc Duvalier any who angers him in any way must be deprived of his freedom and by extension his/her life.

This singular act of the rat, signing an order that takes a citizen from his home and straight into prison lays bare what we had warned against all along - that the rat's link with the murderous and human rights-abusing AFRC/RUF coalition of evil remains strong - that he still yearns for the days of those beasts who trampled on the rights of all within the borders of Sierra Leone. And he and his gang are doing this even as resources from democratic countries of the West are being used in the fight against the Ebola scourge - even as UK troops mainly medical personnel are on the ground to help us in the fight against the disease that has claimed the lives of so many of our country men, women and children and of all ages.

We would also like to remind the rat and his gang that the subservient, compliant and compromised Parliament voted in the Emergency measures in the spirit that all resources of the government, where appropriate, would be used in the fight against the Ebola scourge and not to be used as a political weapon against all those perceived to be "enemies of the state" just because they dared speak truth to power.

We would also like to remind the rat and his gang that among those who voted in favour - at least two of the MP's from constituencies 005 and 015 do not represent the people from the areas they claim to speak for as they were imposed and settled in Parliament by a corrupt and compromised Judiciary and Electoral Commission that failed to order a bye-election as is legally enshrined in the country's constitution.

Again we reiterate - the approval of the state of emergency was to fight against the Ebola scourge and not meant as a weapon of choice against perceived political opponents.

As the hours have now turned into days following events in Burkina Faso, we now know why all the outlets that are on the payroll of the rat have kept silent over events in that country which should be a warning to the rat who had wanted to throw Sierra Leone's constitution into the sewers from whence he and his gang had emerged to take control of the reins of government.

The events in Burkina Faso is truly a painful and sobering reminder still tormenting him and his gang who had wanted to subvert the constitution so that they can continue to steal, kill and imprison all who stood in their path and with reckless abandon.

We would again want to remind them that the Ebola crisis need not have come to this stage had he and his gang heeded the warning of concerned citizens, the press and others that we needed to have done things in the right direction to stop the Ebola scourge from not only entering through the porous borders but to actually stop its spread once it entered the country.

All such warnings were ignored, were treated with contempt not even when a report from the Auditor General's office the 2012 Audit Report warned of the dismal state of the country's hospitals and health delivery centres.

On Monday February 10, 2014 as the Ebola scourge raged in neighbouring Guinea, we carried an item on our pages warning about a health delivery system that was not fit for purpose and calling the attention of the rat to the need for action.

As usual, he did nothing and was more concerned with garnering more resources for himself, family, friends and associates while leaving the poor to suffer. "The Audit report looked at the Dialysis Unit, a set-up that is so vital for human beings in a country where such a functioning unit could save lives, thousands if not tens and hundreds of thousands of lives, especially of the poor and unconnected. "Contracts which were awarded for the rehabilitation of the Dialysis Unit amounting to Le250,691,043 and the rehabilitation of the Connaught Hospital amounting to Le1,231,694,200 were not satisfactorily executed. There was a leaking roof in the Dialysis Ward, damaged toilets, and fans not in working order in the Hospital, while a work completion certification had been issued to the contractor."

This recent article from the pages of Voice of America should focus the attention of the rat and his gang of thieves and intolerant and rabid anti-democrats that many areas still lack the needed inputs if the disease is to be brought under control.

"Relatives of Ebola patients in Sierra Leone on Saturday criticized hospitals for rejecting sick people and not moving fast enough to tackle the outbreak. Earlier this week, the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) warned the number of Ebola cases is surging in Sierra Leone because of a lack of treatment centers, while scarcity of food may also be forcing some people to leave quarantined areas, risking further spread of the virus.

The warning came as Sierra Leone's deputy minister of health said Ebola had so badly damaged confidence in the West African country's health system that many people were dying from other diseases as the sick refused to come to clinics for treatment.

Sierra Leone resident Abubakarr Janneh has had some members of his family die of Ebola. Others are now sick, and the whole family is worried. Janneh doesn't live in the same house with his relatives infected by Ebola, but he said the health system is not working. “We have been calling but no response, except some family members decided to hire a taxi to bring them to this hospital and when they came they were rejected. So this is why people are afraid to come to hospital,” he told Reuters.

Fatu Filli, whose sister is battling the lethal virus, said patients being rejected from hospitals was commonplace. “This is one of the reasons why people are not coming to hospital. Because this type of sickness leads to death, you have to roam all around different hospitals, and at the end you lose your life, because you have been rejected at several hospitals," Filli said.

"And before this Ebola outbreak other diseases were already existing such as malaria, typhoid, even cholera and headache, but since the Ebola outbreak even if you have a slight headache, they attribute it to Ebola, so you don't even know what to do,” Filli said.

“The government has said before that if you have any sick person at home you should call the emergency number, but you have to call several times, and even if they respond, it will be after two to four days. So the slow response is the problem and that is why people are afraid to come to the hospital,” Filli said.

The U.N. mission said it suspects 50 percent of cases of the Ebola virus were not being reported in Sierra Leone. To control the outbreak, UNMEER estimated a total of 1,864 beds were needed by December, but the 10 new treatment centers currently planned had a total capacity of just 1,133 beds."

As for the management of the funds meant to help us fight the Ebola scourge, we would urge all those who mean well for our once beautiful and thriving country before it was hijacked by thieves, rapists and murderers that no physical cash be put into the paws of the rat and his gang.

Materials for the construction of much-needed testing, isolation and treatment centres as well as the disposal of victims with due respect are needed and even so - these must not be left in the hands of the rat and his thieving gang lest they resell these items under bogus arrangements that would continue to deplete the country's resources.

Already we had noticed a plea for a billion dollars by his Finance minister to fight the Ebola scourge in Sierra Leone, almost the same if not more than the amount requested by the World Health Organisation in tackling the Ebola scourge in the three most affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That request from the lips of one of his confidantes clearly shows that the rat sees this period of grief and mourning as an opportunity to reap more from the suffering masses. The rat and his gang are still to account for monies received for the fight against the Ebola scourge including that reported to have been received by former RUF activist, one Omrie Golley from the South Koreans.

While on the money theme, we were intrigued when reading an article on the website dedicated to the rat, the smoke and mirrors "Allowed to Pass" Div 3 graduate which in part stated -

"The RSLAF donated Four Hundred and Twenty-Six Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety Thousand Leones (Le 426,790,000) to help boost the fight against the spreading virus. It could be noted that RSLAF has been part of the fight against Ebola in the deployment of forces in quarantined districts and homes and are recently championing the fight to eradicate the disease.

President Koroma expressed thanks for the additional contribution made by the military and added that RSLAF has gone beyond the normal expected professional responsibility as they are now involved in every aspect of the fight.

He lauded their involvement whilst pointing out the military’s involvement in the construction of treatment centres, the running of the burial command center, providing security and facilitating logistical supplies. “This is a commendable effort,” he said.

Where did the military, the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed forces get this money?

Are we beginning to see a justification from the rat himself that other government-linked and controlled departments should steal from their budget to swell the coffers of the rat?

This is pure daylight robbery and corruption for which the military must be held to account.

This goes beyond their responsibility as enshrined in the constitution and we know that the constitution has not been suspended.

PS: Please tell that apology for human rights, that apology for education, that apology for the law - Frank Kargbo the so-titled Attorney General and Minister of Justice that he is one of the greatest of disappointments to befall our beautiful country Sierra Leone.

Please tell him and his rat of a boss that there's no English word like "hatredness" as he put into that statement on the jailing of journalist David Tam Baryoh.