On Monday December 22, 2014 I lost a father and a friend Dr. Hamid Taqi. Uncle Hamid as I adorably called him was the younger brother of Mohamed Omar/Omotayor Taqi and Ibrahim Taqi from my paternal country, Sierra Leone.
I met uncle Hamid in 1999 in Washington, DC. I had introduced myself as the nephew of the late Brigadier John Amadu Bangura and he immediately began to discuss the issues that plagued the country then and still persists until today.
He hated Siaka Stevens and his All People's Congress' cabal of S.I. Koroma, C.A. Kamara-Taylor, Bambay Kamara, Joseph Momoh and Abdulai Conteh et al. He had tremendous contempt for Dr. John-Karefa Smart and was profoundly frustrated with his Temne people.
He revered Bangura who he called "Korthor" (brother in Temne) John, but said his problems were that he was too much of a Christian, and was too deferential to Stevens. He also said had Korthor John "court martialed" then Col. Joseph Momoh, Lt. Col Sam King and their clique the country would not have been in this predicament. Uncle Hamid always said as crass as the APC were they were organized.
He maintained to his dying days that there was a concerted effort by the political class of both parties to eliminate his brothers Bangura, Ibrahim and Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna. Most of the Mendes and all the supporters of the Sierra Leone's People's Party (SLPP) will never forgive "our people" (the Temnes) from defeating their party in the March 1967 General Elections. The All People's Congress (APC) also saw his brothers as a threat to their tyranny and thievery, and therefore had to be eliminated.
Uncle Hamid was a colleague of Stevens at the Marampa mines. When the laborers demonstrated for an increase in wages at the mines, Stevens had told him, that they should only be paid enough to purchase a cup of rice and a bottle of palm wine. From thence, he had concluded that Stevens should never be in a position of authority. The rest they say is history.
S.I. Koroma not being a Temne was his rationale to conspire and murder his (uncle Hamid's) brothers. Uncle Hamid will say in Creole, "Nar Mandigo. Nor to Temne man" translation: He was not a Temne but from the Mandigo tribe.
He hated Dr. Abdulai Conteh because he was part of the prosecution team which lied that Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Brig. David Lansana, Bai Makari N'Silk, Lt. Habib Lansana Kamara and others had orchestrated the attack at the residence of C.A. Kamara-Taylor who was then the acting president to topple the APC government. When I will tease him that Conteh was learned, he will retort in Creole, "Learn book? Damn Soso" translation: "An intellectual? He was a feckless Susu tribesman".
On Karefa-Smart, Uncle Hamid will consistently say, "Nor to betteh man" translation: "He was useless." After Karefa-Smart had completed his studies overeas and returned to Rotifunk his birth place, he refused to sleep in the abode that had been provided for him, but slept in the train, because he did not want to be bitten by mosquitoes. Uncle Hamid will then get upset and pose rhetorical questions, "Can you imagine? And he wanted to lead his people? What people?"
After Dr. Forna and his brother Ibrahim Taqi had been arrested for treason in July 1974, because they had orchestrated the attack on the residence of then acting-president C.A. Kamara with dynamites to topple the government, Uncle Hamid called Karefa-Smart and advised him to contact the BBC, the VOA and compose opinions in major Western newspapers to denounce the actions of Stevens and his APC, Karefa-Smart told him that Forna and Taqi had brought "problems" to themselves and he would not do it. And he did not. Karefa-Smart was too narcissistic, Uncle Hamid concluded.
For the life of him Uncle Hamid did not comprehend how Karefa-Smart could lose a General Election to the likes of Tejan Kabbah. I could hear his disgust, "Can you imagine, Karefa losing an election to someone such as Kabbah?"
Uncle Hamid was very frustrated, to put it mildly, with his Temne people. He would always disclose to me that the late Paramount Chief Alkali Modu used to remind him that whenever the Temnes inform you that they are your disciples, you must advise them that no, they must lead and you will be the follower. He always contrasted the attitude of the Mendes to the Temnes, being that the former are very coordinated.
The problems of his brothers and the United Democratic Party (UDP) were that they were disorganized. According to uncle Hamid had they coordinated the Temnes, they would have orchestrated demonstrations and eventually mayhem after Forna, the Taqis, M.O. and Ibrahim were arrested by Stevens and his APC in October 1970 for having resigned from their party in September 1970.
When I inquired that after the "Sergeants Revolt" of April 18, 1968 led by Warrant Officer Class I, Regimental Sergeant Major Alex Foday Conteh that toppled Brigadier Juxon-Smith's National Reformation Council junta, why uncle Ibrahim Taqi did not demand that he led the APC, he had said his brother never had leadership aspirations. That, I told him was one of their and our problems.
Uncle Hamid never confide me about his association with the Revolutionary United Front or their leader the late Foday Saybanah Sankoh. I had read in a forum that two "prominent" Temnes had visited Sankoh when he was in Libya, and I had assumed he was one of them. But he had categorically denied that he was ever involved with them or Sankoh.
Uncle Hamid would have loved to be buried in Sierra Leone, the country of his birth and the land that he loved so much, but given the political nonsense in the country, it would have been below his DIGNITY AND OURS for him to have been buried during the governments of either the APC or the SLPP.
Uncle Hamid died a VERY BITTER man, but he received a funeral befitting nobility, because the Taqis are from ruling houses in the great Tonkolili District. This is in contrast to his brothers Brigadier John Amadu Bangura, Major Fara Jawara, Major S.E. Momoh, Lt. Kolugbondah, Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Brigadier David Lansana, Bai Mkari N'Silk, and Lt. Habib Lansana Kamara who were hung like pigs, pissed upon, acid thrown on their faces and buried in unmarked graves full of acid.
Till we meet again on the other side Uncle Hamid. Or wah O Uncle Hamid. Or wah O. Translations: Goodbye Uncle Hamid. Goodbye.
This was how we ended our conversations: He will say, "Take care now William". And I will respond, "Take care uncle Hamid". But I will never hear his voice again. But his voice will be FOREVER ETCHED IN MY MEMORY TILL WE MEET ON THE OTHER SIDE.
"Ndeepe? Plah Fou". Translation: "Have you eaten it? The new rice. That was the mantra of my people's party the United Democratic Party.
May the Lord my God continue to have perpetual mercy on the souls of my fallen heroes, and persistently forgive them for their trespasses. AMEN.
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