I AM PROUD AND ELATED THAT MY WRITINGS ARE GIVING BIRTH TO NEWSPAPERS AND WHAT-NOT
Thursday July 13, 2006
By Wilfred Leeroy Kabs-Kanu
Yesterday , a lady ( Hurrah ! ! ) who went into the noble profession of journalism at about this same time last year after an altercation at a forum , during celebrations of the first year of her adventurism, confessed that I contributed to her decision to become a journalist. “Hurrah , Kabs Kanu,” my collegues have been patting me on my back. Arent you great to be able to influence such a decision ? ” .We are enjoying a lot of fun out of this confession . No to common laugh we don laugh at the COCORIOKO office here in Somerset, New Jersey. Whether the lady realised the import and implication of her confession or not, she has unwittingly helped not only to exonerate me when I said all along last year : “Bo, nar for me make de titty go pan journalism ” . She has also given credence to prophetic utterances that have been made about this Editor since his boyhood day that he will one day become a national influence. . No hard feelings about your confession , sister. More power to you.
My collegues have been teasing me that I am a prophet. Things that I say always come to pass,( like what I had been saying all last year that a certain newspaper came to being because somebody wanted to be ME ) .Also what I say turn out to be accurate judgements. This is what my collegues are saying I always judge people right. Readers can recall my statements last year that never mind akk the effusions of patriotism a certain newspaper came to being because the founder wanted to get back at me. Her own lips have now said it and proved that I was not being childish after all. I am not trying to be egoistic. If you are closer to me like my collegues , you will realise that egoistic behavior is never my wont. Even my good, old Bishop Sam Boyabei or my senior Pastor Craig , An American, can defend me here. Even my best friends like Alex Mansaray, Foday Mansaray, Dauda Bangura and others I do not want to name here know that I am not egoistic. They have known me for long.
Infact , let me pull another humble one here and show you whom to give credit to in this issue. . Give credit not to my prophetic ability at all .Rather , give kudos to the many prophets of truth I am about to write about who had foretold long ago that I will influence a lot of things in MY LIFETIME . Their prophesies have come true. I have become such a dramatic influence with COCORIOKO that a whole national newspaper was founded because of me. This is what would goad Pastor Craig to say :” Isn’t God good ?” .HE IS GOOD BECAUSE HE HAS HELPED TO MAKE THE PROPHESIES COME TO PASS.
To say our Lady’s confession shocked me , really, is a misstatement. I am elated and proud but in all sincerity I am not surprised Apart from all the prophesies about what I will accomplish one day as a writer, which have been proved correct many times in my life , things have happened to me throughout my life that graphically bespeak how much I am capable of influencing things through my writing if I really set my mind to becoming a full-time journalist , without the distraction of being a teacher, for instance. . But before I go into that, I want those who do not know me to understand today how I got into journalism . This is very important and central to what I want to say. An understanding of how I got into journalism, as opposed to my antagonists’ reasons, will make people understand why I am feeling proud and elated for a whole newspaper industry to be founded because of me. My dreams are coming true. I became a journalist not because of a perceived enemy or trauma in my life, but because I just love to express myself through writing and I thought that as a patriot who cares for my country I could use my writing ability to positively influence things there.
For those who had known me from my childhood days at Resrvation , Bo especially, they will be the first to elbow away any suggestions by anybody that I got into journalism because of a person or any event in my life or for commercial purposes. . In other words, when another person wants to say that I am in journalism because of ulterior motives or that I like to defame people, those who know me from childhood should be the very first to put the breaks on such suggestions. This is because they all know that JOURNALISM was something inate in me, first of all . They know that since I was 9, I had started writing. They also know too well that my purpose for entering journalism was that I loved and enjoyed writing. AND OH, HOW I AM ENJOYING IT. But even more so, those who have followedmy life since childhood know that I don’t design articles against particular persons. I just write what I feel about issues, regardless of who is involved. But it started first with an inexplicable passion for writing about things happening around me.
I cannot explain how it all started in me. All I knew was that this big, overwhelming desire came into me to write about anything I saw .
Those of you who attended C.E or SLC School at Dambara Road , Bo with me from 1963, after I moved to Bo from Freetown where I had previously attended St. Edwards Primary, can recall how after every match we played during lunch, I would quickly write a report on it and hang it up on the school noticeboard and you would read it before going home. Those were the days of boyhood friends like Samuel James ( Who was our soccer wizard) , his brother Isaac James, Mohamed Kandeh, Badara Sesay, Lamar Sesay, Abubakarr Sesay, David Moriba, Tommy Madingo, Sorie Kargbo, John Fewry, Sheka Kamara, Minkailu Jah , Musa Coomber, Saidu Katta, Nimrod Thomas, Mohamed Wai , etc. in the good, old days in Bo when our Headmaster, Mr. C.L. Bendu and other teachers like Mr. Monrovia, Mr. Fofana, Mr. Joseph Beah , Mrs. Lansana , Mr. Kaye etc encouraged such creativity.
I cannot explain to this day where I got that ability to write at that tender age of 9.I found that the desire was there at all times. All I knew also was that I also loved to read newspapers so much, especially the SIERRA LEONE DAILY MAIL , which was a classic in journalism in those days–A 12-paged daily newspaper , not only well-printed , but containing well-written, interesting and thought-provoking articles . And its sports coverage was superb. In those days, Zac. Humphrey would put you right on the football scene with his sports reports and pictures And when Khalil Kamara took over from him in 1965, he was also superb. If these newspapers are archived anywhere, there is a wealth of journalistic treasure lying somewhere. I used to read British newspapers too for which the District Commissioner then , Mr. D.K Jenkins subscribed and I was given the copies he had read , instead of having them clog his trash bin. They used to be sent to Sierra Leone as big booklets . It was in these papers I developed love for Manchester United.
I count Zac. Humphrey , Khalil Kamara, Fode Kande, John Kargbo( JK ) and Wurie Jalloh as the legends of sports-writing in Sierra Leone . In 1978, I met Zac in Liberia where he went after he retired from the DAILY MAIL .He was an aged man then but he was delighted to listen to the way I used to devour his reports during my childhood. He died in the early 1980s . JK and Fode Kande are also deceased .
Sports was not the only thriller in the DAILY MAIL in the 1960s. The editorials written Editor-In-Chief Clarence Labor were fantastic. Labor was a splendid and colorful writer who knew how to place interesting idioms in his writings .In all my life, I can say that the best editorial writers I have ever met are Clarence Labor, the legendary Sam Metzger ( at UNITY and THE NATION newspapers especially ) , the Liberian journalists Stanton Peabody ( THE LIBERIAN AGE and THE DAILY OBSERVER ) , Rufus Darpoh ( THE NEW LIBERIAN and THE DAILY OBSERVER ) and ofcourse my own buddies Pios Foray ( THE TABLET) and Lamini Waritay ( THE NEW LIBERIAN ) .
But back to the topic. People used to depend on me to cover matches played by the SLC school . Two of the teachers who encouraged me most were Mr. Kaye and Mr. Monrovia. Infact, they started the prophesies that if I continued writing like that , one day I would influence events in Sierra Leone. Imagine how outlandish the prophesies were then : A 9 year old from a very humble setting. Throughout my days at SLC, I wrote reports on games played by the school and my class.We formed a team called SEASIDE ROVERS and I covered their activities.
Then came 1966 and time to enter high school— CKC. There my journalism activities intensified. Suddenly, the desire came in me to produce my own newspaper . I started a hand-written newspaper called THE RESERVATION TIMES because I lived at Reservation then . I later changed its name to FREEDOM NATIONAL . I covered both news around Reservation and my SCHOOL. Oh, did my classmates and teachers love the paper ! ! The one copy would be passed around by my classmates and then the teachers would take it to the staffroom. I do remember Messrs. Gaima ( Latin teacher: “GAIMAMUS “), Lumumba Rogers ( History teacher : “LUMUMBS” ) , old man Sellu ( The Agric. teacher ), Pa. Dean ( the legendary English Literature teacher ), Henry Sheku ( the Geography teacher : “KAVOUR” ) , K.P.JACKSON ( Jacko ) and even Father Lambe ( Boy Jerry ) etc. all praising me for my writing skills .Lumumba loved me most because I was “killing” his subject and those who thought he was just fascinated with me were proved wrong when I had a distinction ( 1) in his subject at the GCE. I cannot also forget classmates who encouraged me a lot : Sigismond Massaquoi, Charles Mason, Pios Foray, the late Albert Margai jnr, Joseph Nyalley , Felix Risk, Segun Adetunji ( Awolowo) , Steven Swaray, Tamba Lamin, Augustine Braima , the late Albert Moody , the late Kofi Lahai ,Sylvester Foday etc. Some of them always brought newspapers in class for me. On some occasions , I swapped my lunch with them for newspapers . I would rather have a newspaper and stay in class and read it than go and enjoy Memuna’s delicious BEANS AKARA during lunch. I can see, in my mind’s eye , Steve Swaray and I riding giggs to the Police Barracks where he lived and waiting outside while he searched under his guardian , OC. Gaima’s living room centre table, for recen newspapers to give to me
Wherever all these people are today , if they read the Sierra Leone online newspapers they will be having great fun at what is going on between me and Our Lady . They will be wondering why the lady has been hurting her head for one year over Kabs Kanu for nothing . What these guys will certainly be saying is : “I wish this lady knew that Kabs has always been like that . He is just being Kabs …A HARD-HITTING WRITER WHO FROM HIS SCHOOLDAYS ALWAYS ARTICULATED HIS OPINIONS IN WRITING ! ! ! HE DID NOT PICK ON CHRISTIANA THORPE OR TRY TO DEFAME HER . HE HAS NOTHING AGAINST CHRISTIANA THORPE. THAT WAS JUST KABS KANU EXPRESSING HIS FEELINGS. IN SCHOOL , HE WROTE AGAINST EVEN FATHER LAMBE , AT THE RISK OF EXPULSION “. I wrote critical articles when I edited the CKC TIMES. THUS, it could be seen that I did not start writing because the SLPP came to power or a certain Christiana Thorpe was appointed Electoral Commissioner.
Need I talk about Fourah Bay College ? The lady said she was the first female to ever be elected President of the Students Union. Congratulations . But if nar cuss, let me also pass this on. I was the only person ever in FBC students’ politics to be made a member of the students’ government executive without being a member of the Students Representative Council ( SRC ), as provided for by the constitution of the Students union. Also, I was the first ever student to carry the title ” MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA “.After me, the title was changed to Public Relations . Jaiah Kallon tried to explain it once at LEONENET. I did not want to become a member of the students’ government. I wanted to remain the student critic of the administration. But everything was done for me to be a member of the executive because the students revolutionary government needed me to be their spokesman when they launched their revolution against the Harry Sawyer administration.
And why was that ? Because on campus, I had established myself as the most potent and bitter critic of the college administration and anti-social acts on campus. KWAME FITZJOHN should tell people what the then Warden of Students, Dan Decker , said about me when we appeared before him to answer to charges emanating from a press war on Chuks Press between me and some Lati Hyders . Dan D said I was a great asset to him and I was helping his job with my virulent criticisms of and exposure of antisocial acts on campus. Kwame, do you remember that ? I gave CHUKS PRESS the sting it has today. Hithertofore, CHUKS PRESS was just an ordinary, dormant notice board with few feeble articles. But I turned CHUKS PRESS into a hissing python that stung the administration and students governments. I criticised all the student council governments, from Marcel Thomasi to Hassan Kamara, to Kemoh Sulimani and even Njai-Bah , who recruited me, but with whom I fell out towards the end of his reign. Nobody could contain me .I helped to elect Foday Kallon who beat Sorie Turay of LEONENET in a famous election but when he started to “stagger” over the Ibrahim Taqi issue, I roasted him on CHUKS PRESS.
Whenever the students’ allowances were delayed, students would come and meet me privately and plead : “Bra , dah thing nor cross yate O. You nor go wass wan article ? Bra, we go put for you when de thing cross. “.Even some students government officials under fire from students for their allowances did the same. I would blast the administration, writing different articles under different names and there would be people rewriting them in their own handwriting so that nobody would know that I wrote them all . When we were finished, at the dead of night, we will go and hang them up at CHUKS PRESS .The next morning, the whole CAMPUS would be in a state of student militancy . The talk would be :that Students had gone wild and written many articles blasting the administration demanding their allowances and were on the verge of chaos. .
Kemoh Sulimani will go to CHUKS PRESS , grab all my articles and take them to Harry Sawyer, almost crying : “Pa, look at all the articles the students have started writing . They have confused my government too much. We have to give them their allowances or else there will be a big blow-up on campus “.Harry will read the articles and immediately put in a call to Pa. Cole to intensify his efforts to pay the students their allowances. Some lecturers looked on me with disdain when I walked on the campus because they know I could become their nemesis. .
Former students of FBC know me so well. If any idle person should decide, for instance, to go to State House to inform Pa. Kabbah or Solo Berewa about me, do you know what will happen ? Alpha Wurie, Foday Yumkella, Kanji Daramy,Sulay Daramy, John Karimu ,Emmanuel Grant ( If he had still been there ) , Septimus Kaikai, John Benjamin and others would say :” Pa, una nor men’ yah. Dah Kabs Kanu dey bin don tan so from 19-jubilee. Dah man dey nar write man from time. E nor dey pick on una or SLPP . Nar so normoh e tan ” .At least 40 percent of the people in the SLPP government know me from childhood and ofcourse they know about my writings and they don’t consider me anti-SLPP . WHEN THEY READ MY ARTICLES , ALL THEY WILL SAY IS : “OH KABS, E NOR DEY CHANGE.E LEK FOR BLAST ” They know that if another government comes to power, I will criticise it. They know that I am not picking on the SLPP but fulfilling my patriotic duty.
All these people of FBC fame also know that COCORIOKO was first published at FBC in 1974 as a mouthpiece of the student revolutionary government It was not set up for any self-serving or ulterior agenda. .I set it up , recruited the writers but since I could not be Editor because I was in the executive, I picked a Nigerian student called Ben Ikeakor to be the Editor-In-Chief. When Njai Bah and I fell out , I took over as Editor .
In sum, what I am trying to say with all these narratives , is that I had nothing against Christiana Thorpe .When I decided to write that article which has led to one-year of war of words and nerves , accusations and counter-accusations, etc I never had any evil motives . Rather, I just felt that I had to express my opinion that since Kabbah had given Thorpe a national award, it was a conflict of interests to appoint her to such a sensitive position as Electoral Commissioner. That was the crux of the article. I did not attribute any wrongdoing to Christiana. I did not place her integrity in doubt. All I did was to express my opinion , which I am entitled to as a bona fide citizen of the Republic of Sierra Leone .
Contrary to the impression our Lady wants to portray, the article was not designed to tarnish Christiana Thorpe in any way. Even Christiana herself would not find anything wrong with me expressing my opinion if she is democratic . The other party said I wrote that it was an unpopular appointment .I did not say so . Even if all parties overwhelmingly supported it , I felt there was a comflict of interests and that was all I articulated . AND GUESS WHAT ? Many of the forumites including respectable and credible people like Bob Jusu , Hatim Bash, King Loggy, and others whose names do not easily come to mind agreed with me. They all said I was right. And some of them provided more information about Christiana Thorpe’s attachment to the SLPP government. Here one of the messages from the whole drama that really demonstrated the intensity of the support given me during the affray Posted by Progress (80.229.45.21) on May 04, 2005 at 06:10:59: Thankfully , the forum was showing IP numbers and the writer’s IP is revealed . I had only spoken about the national ward President Kabbah gave Christiana Thorpe. But this and other writers not only defended me, but they did provide aditional information. The views of this writer do not reflect my position on Thorpe. I know nothing of a Sam Maligi and have no knowledge of what he is talking about
“Sierra Leone needs the likes of Kabs-Kanu to voice their opinion so that people can make up their minds. Kabs-Kanu, ignore people like 1N1P and continue your good work. I support your stance on this issue whole heartedly. Christiana Thorpe can never be neutral. SIERRA LEONEANS DESERVE THE LEADERS THEY HAVE! ” Progress .
If the expression of my opinion caused all these chaos and led to the formation of a national and international newspaper, it shows how influential , potent and powerful my voice HAS BECOME FROM THAT INNOCENT 9 YEAR-OLD KID IN BO whose teachers told him that one day he will influence things in his country. AND for that I say KUDOS TO GOD, ALL THOSE WHO HAVE POSITIVELY ENCOURAGED ME AND THE MEMBERS OF THAT PAPER AND THOSE WHO HAD FORETOLD THAT ONE DAY I WILL BE A HUGE INFLUENCE WITH MY WRITINGS.
I KNOW THAT COCORIOKO IS A VERY POWERFUL NEWSPAPER . IT IS READ IN FREETOWN LIKE ANY OF THE POPULAR DAILIES AND IS ONE OF THE LEADING PAPERS THERE. SOME NEWSPAPERS CARRY OUR STORIES EVERYDAY. WE KNOW WE ARE INFLUENCING THINGS IN SIERRA LEONE IN OUR OWN HUMBLE WAY. COCORIOKO IS ALSO READ INTERNATIONALLY ALL OVER THE WORLD AND THE LETTERS WE KEEP RECEIVING FROM READERS SHOW THAT WE ARE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE IN WORLD ONLINE JOURNALISM. . WE HAVE RECEIVED LETTERS AND COMMENDATION FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, COCORIOKO HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST READ INTERNET NEWSPAPERS IN THE WORLD. NIGERIANS LOVE IT. GHANAIANS AND LIBERIANS LOVE IT . KENYANS LOVE IT. WE ARE THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THE ZEAL HE HAS GIVEN US TO SURMOUNT ALL OUR PROBLEMS AND TO FACE THE CHALLEGES OF KEEPING IT ALIVE .
THE KNOWLEDGE THAT OUR VOICE IS SO STRIDENT AND POWERFUL WILL GIVE US MORE DETERMINATION TO CONTINUE SERVING SIERRA LEONE AND THE WORLD WITH ALL ZEAL AND FERVOUR. . WE KNOW WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED YET AND THERE IS A LOT MORE TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BUT WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE WE WILL MAKE IT .
