Yesterday, December 22, 2015 was the first anniversary of the death of my beloved uncle Hamid Taqi. Uncle Hamid as I was fond of calling him was the younger brother of Ibrahim Taqi who was murdered on July 29, 1975 by Siaka Stevens and his All People's Congress (APC) for a fake coup. M.O. Taqi who was also jailed with Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna and Ibrahim Taqi from September 1970 until 1973 for resigning from Stevens' APC, due to the latter's thievery and his intention of transforming the country from a multi-party democracy to a one-party state with him (Stevens) being an Executive President who would be above his Republican constitution and all other laws in the country, was also an older brother of Hamid Taqi.
I used to only call uncle Hamid on Saturdays, but if there were urgent political issues in Sierra Leone I would telephone him during the week. If he was alive he would be berating President Ernest Koroma and his APC for the Ebola epidemic because of their uselessness in not constructing more hospitals and poly-clinics in every district, and not focusing on its eradication. Uncle Hamid would also mention Koroma's "management skills" and stealing which led to the collapse of the National Insurance Company.
He would compare Koroma's sacking of his then vice-president Sam-Sumana as a deja-vu when Stevens chose the then Force Commander of the Army Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh as his successor rather than his first vice-president Sorie Ibrahim Koroma.
Uncle Hamid would have reminded me that Prime Minister Sir Albert Margai of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) was also a common criminal, and also was Tejan Kabba who as a Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry had stolen from the people and was found guilty by a Beoku-Betts commission of inquiry which had been established in 1967 by a military junta the National Reformation Council.
Uncle Hamid would have opined on the uselessness of the SLPP for losing the bye-election in Kono given the corruption, maladministration, disillusionment and uselessness of Koroma and his APC. He would have uttered his famous remark, "Can you imagine". In the next breath he would have "complimented" the APC, 'Wilhelm--he loved to call me by the origin of my name--as crass as the APC are they are organized by Sierra Leone's 'standard'.
On the failure of Koroma and his APC to secure grants from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, he would have said, "There is no difference between Koroma's APC and those of Stevens' and Momoh's". Den all nar tiffman dem (They are all bunch of thieves).
When I will tease him that for the life of me that our Temne people persistently "banklaneh" (blindly support) the APC, he would have retorted, "No way they (Temnes) are not my people". I will insistently goad him by saying, "Ar fehm ma me nangh a", uncle Hamid. His response would have been, "Oo nar try dae (You deal with them)"
I will accomplish your tasks my uncle Hamid.
Or wah O uncle Hamid. Or wah. (Goodbye uncle Hamid. Goodbye)
Till we meet again, rokom ro (in the heavens)
William Bangura
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