Mischief-makers impersonate Zainab Bangura with a false public statement

Mrs. Zainab Bangura, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has been a target of malevolent and mischief-making confusionists on the internet. A statement circulating and being attributed to her is completely false and fake. Mrs. Bangura did not write that statement . It is the work of mischief-makers. 

We want to warn users of the internet to be wary of what they read on Sierra Leone presently on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, online forums and even in anti-government newspapers. Some troublemakers are churning out public statements and attributing them to the Sierra Leone Government or public officials or supporters of the government and even diplomats not presently engaged in politics. DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ABOUT SIERRA LEONE PRESENTLY, WE REPEAT. Opponents of President Ernest Koroma and the Government have gone berserk on the internet with false, fabricated and malicious stories and schemes. 

EVEN THE STATEMENT BEING ATTRIBUTED TO ZAINAB BANGURA IS FULL OF LIES, FALSE ALLEGATIONS AND INSANE REMARKS. WE WILL NOT PUBLISH EVERYTHING IN IT. 

Sierra Leoneans are busy abusing social media and the internet , and they wonder what is wrong with their country. How do you expect foreigners to love your country when you have no love for it ? How can you be crying for change in your country but you continue to be a more serious part of the problems ? How do you expect your government to succeed when you are undermining all efforts by the government to change the country for the better ? Is it not ironic ? 

Now, it is an innocent international diplomat , busy working hard to make the world a better place,  that they want to bring their malevolent attitudes to, by impersonating her . What a shame.  

MRS. BANGURA wants to bring it to the notice of the reading public that the statement below did not emanate from her : 

_______________________________________________________
Dear Sierra Leoneans, It is high time a whistle blower website which protects the anonymity of whistle blowers, is set
up so that those with relevant information about the alleged corrupt activities (as they relate to foreign investors) ofmembers of government and all the others in that wretched and corrupt government, can come forward without fear of reprisals.

The US State Department and the UK
Serious Fraud Office would welcome any
applicable and helpful information.
Various stock exchanges around the
world (ASX, AIM) and the police in various
jurisdictions (Scotland Yard,
Australia, RCMP, Switzerland) would welcome
relevant information.

I will say it again, it is not possible for foreign investors who are subject to anti-corruption laws in their home countries to successfully operate in Sierra Leone. In fact, the general consensus in London, Zurich, Tel Aviv, New York, Toronto and Johannesburg, the traditional centres of finance for West African extractive industries projects, is that
Sierra Leone under the Koroma mafia government is best avoided.

It is near impossible to raise finance for projects in Sierra Leone from serious capital markets players, and this is not just because of the Ebola crisis.

In fact it boggles the mind that one or two Western companies like Stellar Diamonds which, according to its recent press releases, is in the process of applying for a mining license, are under the misguided notion that they can operate in
Sierra Leone without engaging in corrupt activity.

If I was a shareholder and/or financier of Sierra Rutile, Addax or Stellar Diamonds, I would be very, very concerned. And I would challenge the management of these companies to explain how they are able to operate or intend to operate in such a rotten system without becoming tainted. It is simply not possible.

Also, the Administrators of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Anti bribery legislation are salivating over the opportunity to convict some of those foreign companies which have, and are operating in Sierra Leone.

They want to make an example of the Koroma-led government, which seems bound and determined to make corruption a national way of life, even while other jurisdictions are reforming.

In the meantime, Sierra Leone will be left behind, a footnote in the African Renaissance story because of the greed,
ignorance and shortsightedness of its current leadership.

Regards
Zainab
"Gavi" Bangura