O bai Bangura,
The truest statement in your posting is that just like Kothor Idi Amin "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular" some Sierra Leoneans are " title conscious" to the extent that they would run the extra mile to buy, borrow or steal decorative academic degrees to enhance what they believe to be their prestige or faked genius. As you yourself are aware, the title – especially the elected title "president of Sierra Leone" is the highest title in that land – and as you know Sierra Leone only has one president and so the insatiably ambitious still have some way to go if they want to be King of all they survey.
That you present an unverified catalogue of your discontent and then rest your case under the improbable signature of William Bangura, decorating yourself with the murderous title of RUF Tonkolili does not commend you. I am not impressed.
You say that you are "very wise not to buy into the "accomplishments" of O Bai Koroma's APC Government, that he is not the miracle King Jesus and you are not one of his disciples. Unfortunately, your critique does not extend to EDUCATION – including the education of what President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and before him the Margai brothers referred to as the education of "the girl child", roughly half of the Sierra Leone population which I'm sure we all agree is one of the most important areas of national development. ( The matter that Mr. Kadiri recently brought our attention most candidly about Nigeria applies to Sierra Leone too, since some of our so called intellectuals especially those who want to be looked upon as Chomsky and Einstein spend most of their time on obtuse and obscure topics that are very far removed from anything to do with Sierra Leone's development – to areas where of course their scribblings would not be challenged - but of course there are exceptions such ( for your breed of political science scientists, this latest publication that Ignoramus Cornelius is yet to read : Democratization and Human Security in Postwar Sierra Leone Edited by Marda Mustapha, Joseph J. Bangura
Let me unpack your discontent chronologically: Predictably, in your heart, the perpetual memory of your uncle the late executed (in my opinion martyred) Brigadier John Amadu Bangura (during my last visit to Sierra Leone in April 1970) and the other martyrs Dr. Mohammed Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Brigadier David Lansana, Bai Mkari N'Silk and Lieutenant Habib Lansana Kamara five years later. Fast forward to Our Ernest of the New APC you at least concede that since he became president in 2007 to date he has not executed or hanged anybody and that in the court martial of the military officers of Teko Barracks accused of treason through due process , justice was done when all of the accused were acquitted by Judge Advocate Otto During
2. The economy. There's advice to be obtained from e.g. Jeffrey Sachs . You complain about the levels of unemployment - despite the new mining sectors in Tonkolili. Another concern that the APC inherited from the sLPP government of 1996 – 2007 is how to de-stress an overpopulated Freetown - overpopulated by the influx of citizens from other parts of the country during the war that the RUF imposed on the country. In my view the army of the unemployed who roam the streets of Freetown could be attracted to profitable agriculture in the provinces to help guarantee at least self- sufficiency /food security. What is your programme for the Sierra Leone government?
3. The other perennial issue concerning Zero tolerance for corruption versus the alleged thievery, the perennial, not too abstract matters about how accountability and transparency can be improved you will have to take up with O Bai, personally.
My guests have arrived – a German male and two Swedish females, so I must end here for the time being.
Take care
Cornelius
On Sunday, 29 November 2015 07:30:21 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:
Or Bai Cornelius,
Your President Ernest Bai Koroma and your "new" All People's Congress (APC), would have executed the 14 military officers of Teko Barracks who had been accused of treason if the Judge Advocate Otto During had not dismissed the charges against them. MAY GOD BLESS Judge During.
To quote Yogi Berra, "It's déjà vu all over again". Your "new" APC is the same as the old APC. It was Justice Marcus Cole, Attorney General N.A.P. Buck and one Dr. Abdulai Osman Conteh who was part of the prosecution team which found Dr. Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Brigadier David Lansana, Bai Mkari N'Silk and Lieutenant Habib Lansana Kamara guilty for a fake coup and were executed on July 19, 1975.
Korthor Cornelius you are aware that I am very wise not to buy into the "accomplishments" of your EBK and your APC. In 2009 when I criticized the economy of Ernest's APC, the rebuttal of his idiotic supporters including some of my relatives were that it was a worldwide problem because "my president" Barack Hussein Obama's economy had a 10 percent unemployment rate and his (Obama's) economy was losing about 600,000 jobs a month. Then, in Obama's economy there were massive job loses, but look at "my president" Obama's economy now. He has created more than 13 million jobs and the unemployment rate is 5 percent. How many jobs has EBK created since he was elected president and what is the rate of unemployment in Sierra Leone again? PLEASE.
Your EBK and your APC were not awarded the grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation for 2015 because of the THIEVERY of his party and him.
I would love to compare Sierra Leone now and another country with fewer natural resources, but that would be INSANE so I will NOT.
One of the adages of Professor Gomes from Guyana who taught Sociology of Poverty was that "Blacks are titled conscious". In Tonkolili we revere the chieftaincy and not the chief, consequently, I am not awed by Kanu's "titles".
Brother Cornelius, "… what good works" have your EBK and your APC accomplished in Sierra Leone with regards to accountability, transparency and governance? Eight years in politics is an eternity in which his party and he should have made tremendous strides socially and economically but THEY WOULD NOT. There are NO ADJECTIVES that can describe the state of "politics" in Sierra Leone because the GOVERNED DO NOT KNOW THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES to the 'government' and the 'administrations' are CALLOUS TO THE GOVERNED. "Monkey donia, all man for imself, God for we all" (to quote former President George H. W. Bush, "It is a dog eat dog world").
I told all the APC supporters including members of my extended family that EBK's APC will be similar to Stevens' and Momoh's APC, and Tejan Kabbah's Sierra Leone People's Party. I REST MY CASE. Those who voted for your EBK and your APC were not "expecting any miracles", but they were anticipating a better standard of living, accountability, governance and transparency, because they had VOTED FOR CHANGE.
The more things "change" in Sierra Leone the more they stay the same.William Bangura RUF Tonkolili
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