OLD WEBSITE : MR. PRESIDENT , GET UP ON YOUR HAUNCHES AND ENFORCE THE LAW ! ! ! !

MR. PRESIDENT , GET UP ON YOUR HAUNCHES AND ENFORCE THE LAW ! ! ! !

Friday July 29, 2005

A man has just died in Sierra Leone following a merciless beating he received from thugs led by an SLPP Parliamentarian, Mrs. Fatmata Hassan. Three days have passed since the man, the Editor of the FOR DI PEOPLE  newspaper, Harry Yansaneh , succumbed to his injuries from that beating. And as the chief law enforcement officer in the nation, what is President Kabbah doing about it ?

The President, in his usual evasiveness, will cite the Separation of Powers doctrine once again, but this will not be appectable to any reasonable person who understands how the law operates in Sierra Leone. Though there is supposed to be Separation of powers between the Executive , the Legislature and the Judiciary, everyone knows that when it comes to political matters , the judiciary balks to take any strong , independent action  without being prompted by the Executive. This has been our political culture from time immemorial.

Mrs.Fatmata Hassan should be immediately arrested and start helping the Police in their investigations into the circumstances leading to the death of Mr. Harry Yansaneh. But since she is a powerful politician , with ties to many high-ups in the country, the judiciary will be hesitant to take the lead in having Mrs. Hassan arrested. It is not common  in Sierra Leone to see any high-ranking political personality arrested like that at the whim of the judiciary.

But the President can step in judiciously. If he is serious about enforcing the laws of the country, he can suggest to the Police to investigate a serious matter like this which has the potential of destroying the nation’s image in the eyes of the international community and stakeholders. That in no way constitutes an infraction of the Separation of Powers doctrine.  Even President Bush , who heads the world’s best democracy, could take such a move without incurring the displeasure of men of reason and conscience.

President Kabbah certainly does not want to be leader in a country where the law of the jungle prevails.

President Kabbah’s timely intervention in this matter is the only best way that justice could be done. And indeed, there is need for those responsible for the death of Harry Yansaneh to face justice. Human life is very precious. We must not be perceived as a people who have no value for human life. Yansaneh was created by God, like everyone of us and he desrves to breathe the breath of life until his maker decides to call him home. Nobody has the right to terminate his life as has been done in this case. Those who take the lives of others needlessly should face the full weight of the law.

We hope President Kabbah would get up on his haunches and enforce the law. The crime of Manslaughter has been committed. An innocent man was beaten and he has died as a direct consequence of the beating. Those responsible for his beating  and subsequent death should face the law. This and only this will convine people that we are serious about enforcing the law in Sierra Leone.

IF ONLY KABBAH LOVED THE NATION MORE…..

Sunday July 10, 2005

Despite criticisms from  some Africans who are too difficult to please, the decision by the G8  leaders to bail out the poor nations with a $ U.S.50 billion windfall should have all Africans, including Sierra Leoneans dancing.

Africans should dance not only because of the windfall, but the new commitment of the world’s richest nations to hear the pleas of the impoverished continent at last. Whatever wind of change has started blowing in the world, it all bodes well for poor nations like Sierra Leone , who could reap rich dividends from the economic bail-out the G8 nations had set into motion.

Forget about Col.Ghadaffi’s diatribe that poor nations should not depend too much on the West. Ghadaffi can say this because he rules a country flowing in milk and honey with his oil proceeds topping billions annually. If he had been in our shoes, he would have thought twice before making such pronouncements. Some of the G8  nations helped to ruin Africa. There is therefore no shame involved in having them fix it for us. What would be sad is if after being bailed out , African nations sit supinely on their hunches doing nothing and just live on the expectation of getting more from these countries. For now, we cannot reject the economic recovery program being formulated by the economic superpowers.  We cannot afford at this time to look a gift horse in the mouth. Our situation is too desperate.

But the question will always be : “Will Sierra Leone put her house in order enough to benefit from debt relief and the economic wind fall  the G8 countries  are promising ?” This question will ring louder in the ears of all Sierra Leoneans looking with discouragement at the way their country had been ruined by the politicians and other thieving and unprogressive citizens. It should ring  louder in every ear in the diaspora and back home, because there is no patriotic Sierra Leonean who is not tired with the poverty and blight in their country.

This is a golden opportunity  and everybody wants to see it benefit Sierra Leone , but will our governors  seize it by the cuff and allow it  not to pass her by ? This could have been very possible . After all, all they ask for is a brave and committed fight to end corruption, good governance , responsible handling of the economy and democracy. But it is improbable that Sierra Leone would achieve maximum benefits from the G8  initiatives because we do not have leaders who love the nation enough to take the bull by the horns and fight to fulfill these conditionalities that go with the aid package.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah came in like the Lion of Judah to our redemption at last. Hardly any President in all our history enjoyed the support and goodwill Kabbah was blessed with when the people handed him the throne in 1996.But the President has yet to show that he loves the nation and was ready to reciprocate every goodwill they have showered on him.

Kabbah does not love the nation enough because if he did his primary concern would have been hearing the desperate pleas of the suffering people .But since the inception of his rule, all Kabbah has shown is a determination to please his cronies .Kabbah tries hard to please his batmen, henchmen and kaboodle more than the nation .Since he came to power, Kabbah has shown more interest in compensating them at all costs, protecting them and turning a blind eye to the orgy of corruption and accumulation of vulgar riches that these cronies would rather engage in while ruling the country. And if debt relief and economic redemption hinge on Kabbah wrestling them down the high-faluting heights they have built for themselves with our resources, the G8 countries should rather forget about Sierra Leone. Kabbah will never do it. There are men and women in power in Sierra Leone who need to be arrested and charged with corruption for Sierra Leone to benefit fully from G8  but Kabbah would rather see us miss that opportunity than touch his sacred cows.

DOUBLE STANDARDS BY ECOWAS LEADERS

Let’s face it. None of the  ECOWAS leaders smarting over the standoff in Togo deserve the right to condemn the powerbrokers in that West African  nation for violating the constitution and imposing the son of former President Gnassingbe Eyadema as leader after the death of his father.

By the same token that Faure Eyadema is an imposter and illegal leader, most of the leaders of the ECOWAS ( Economic Community of West African States) are similarly constitutional buffs who achieved power by unlawful means. Many of them flagrantly cheated and rigged the elections that brought them to power.Worse still, many of them have sought unconstitutional methods to remain in control against the wishes of their people  after highjacking the electoral process. .

This newspaper is not trying  to diminish the fact that there deserves to be an outcry against the Togolese authorities for bending the constitution at the death of the President. They had no right to tamper with the constitution. That sacrosanct document stipulates clearly that the Speaker of the House of Assembly should take over power on the death of the President. An international outrage of the type going on is essential in bringing violators of the constitution in Africa to their knees. A strong message has been sent by ECOWAS leaders that constitutional abuses and arm-twisting will no longer be accepted on their backyards. The sanctions, arms embargo and travel bans just imposed on the illegal Togolese leaders are the right step in the right direction.

However, we hope that  this tough stance will be extended to leaders who steal elections. There is no difference between Faure Eyadema ‘s method of ascension to the throne and the subterranean manner leaders who steal elections enter power. They all entered through the backdoor, without the blessings of the constitution. The only difference is that one method is more subtle than the other. The Commanders-In -Thief  devised more cunning and ingenious ways to highjack the constitution . But a thief is a thief, regardless of how cunningly he pulled off his act. It is hypocrisy and double standards of the highest order when election rogues try to dictate to another leader who did not use the constitution to gain power. They have no moral authority whatsover to ostracize and force down another leader.

Some of the African leaders weilding the biggest sticks also have a record for subverting international justice. Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo is concerned that the Togo experience will set a bad precedent in Africa but he is less concerned that he has deprived millions of Africans of justice by granting refuge to Liberia’s former dictator, Charles Taylor, The African Hitler , who staged a ruthless war in West Africa that killed millions of people in Liberia, Sierra Leone , Guinea  and the Ivory Coast.

Obasanjo, by refusing to hand over Taylor to the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone , has disturbed the natural order of justice in the world and has subverted the interests of millions of people who want to see Taylor face the legal consequences for his callous indifference to the lives of their children, husbands, wives, neighbours, townsmates and others who were cruelly massacred at the instance of the Liberian butcher’s quest for power.

Faure Eyadema can defy these African leaders justifiably on the grounds that they lack the moral authority to force him to step down . He has a right to tell them to get rid of  the skeletons in their cupboards first before seeking to dictate what happens in his  country. After all, was it not Jesus Christ, The Lord and Saviour of the world, who told the hypocritical scribes and pharisees to remove the logs from their own eyes first before seeking to remove the mote from other people’s eyes ?

THE DEMONIZATION OF GOOD AND PROGRESSIVE CITIZENS BY OUR MEGALOMANIAC PRESIDENTS

The unconditional pardon President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah granted former Army Captain Abu Noah , whom he described as a good citizen , was the right step in the right direction, though Kabbah himself has serious lessons to learn from his own magnanimity.

Abu Noah was one of the soldiers accused of staging the 1970 abortive miltary coup said to have been led by the late Force Commander,   Brigadier John Bangura , for which Bangura himself and some top army brass like Major F.L.M.Jawara, S.E.Momoh , Lt. Joseph Kolugbonda etc were hanged at Pademba Road Prisons. Noah and some other officers including Major D.D.K.Vandi and  Capt. Mboma Gbaigbai were given long-term imprisonments.

Since he was released in the 1980s , Noah has proved a worthy citizen by contributing marvellously to the society. His Security Force helps to provide safety to many business concerns and important installations. Also, he is a writer and has produced interesting works of art. Only God knows whether Noah was ever part of a plan to overthrow the APC  government in 1970.

It was well overdue for our nation to start lifting back to their feet those great and progressive citizens who were illegally and criminally destroyed by our megalomanic Presidents and their psychotic governments, even as Kabbah needs to also grant such a hand to citizens  like journalist Paul Kamara, who is languishing in jail presently for allegedly falling foul of our archaic and draconian libel laws.

Throughout Sierra Leone’s post-Independence history, many of our good and progressive citizens, who would have otherwise provided valuable service to help build the nation , have been turned into demons overnight by our power-hungry, insecure and intolerant Presidents. Most of them received the bad rap and were not only imprisoned and later stigmatized in society, but in some cases they were killed , as it happened in the pathetic case of the former Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Mr. Sam Bangura, who was bumped off by hired killers sent out by the government after he allegedly refused to release funds to finance some wasteful and dsetructive projects.

Many good , educated, eminent and patriotic Sierra Leoneans were exterminated   by various governments for no reason .Some were accused of involvement in coup plots and were found guilty and sentenced to death , or given long-term imprisonments and when they served their terms they were regarded as demons and society never received them or allowed them to occupy top jobs. Others fell because they were outspoken and the governments, always afraid of their shadows, perceived them as enemies. Their only crime was that they were patriotic.

The APC  killed important citizens like Brigadiers Bangura and David Lansana, Dr. Mohamed Forna, Ibrahim Taqi, Sam Bangura, F.M.Minah among many others. The NPRC  murdered Captain Kawuta Dumbuya, Salami Coker and some others while the Kabbah SLPP government killed many soldiers like Abdul K.Sesay, Kula Samba , Abu Zagalo Sankoh, Max Kanga etc. , Ministers of the gospel, journalists and others whom they accused of playing a part in the AFRC 1997 coup. Hundreds more were brutally burnt or hacked to death by pro-government vigilantees for allegedly being junta collaborators.

 Many of these citizens died for nothing. As Dr.Forna’s daughter Aminata’s book, THE DEVIL THAT DANCED ON THE WATER, graphically exposed, some witnesses who testified against her father during his 1974 coup trial were coached by political thugs about what to say to implicate her father.

It is very painful indeed to imagine that citizens who had spent a better half of their lives to be educated or trained in their fields were killed just like that by our governments all because they disagreed with the President or his government officials or his policies. 

If Kabbah is really serious about giving  back victimized citizens their lives , he must set up a judicial inquiry to find out the circumstances under which Brigs. Bangura, Lansana, Forna, Taqi, Minah, Salami Coker, Kawuta, Kula Samba  and others died at the hands of our various  governments. Though they are dead and can never be brought back to life, exoneration and vindication of these men  and woman will at least bring a deserving closure to the matters  and gladden the hearts of their relatives that the truth had eventually been known that their beloved were heroes  and heroine after all and not villains.

Kabbah must also release from jail without any conditions journalist Paul Kamara and other prisoners of conscience who are good citizens but are being demonized because of their patriotism to speak out against evil in the society or because they were just perceived as enemies of the government.

‘IRON LADY’ FROM UGANDA WILL BOOST SPECIAL COURT PANACHE

Monday January 11, 2004

By Wilfred Leeroy Kabs-Kanu

When the Sierra Leone government and the United Nations signed a treaty for a war crimes tribunal to try those deemed as bearing the greatest responsibilities for the perverse acts of bestiality , cruelty  and godless massacres  perpetuated by combatants during the Sierra Leone war, one thing stood out like a sore thumb. It will not be an easy task for such a tribunal.

And the Special Court has not had an easy ride , predictably. The tribunal was bound to be walking on a minefield because it was trying to bring justice to a country whose philosophy of life was perpetuating atrocities with IMPUNITY .

The culture  that  ‘big men‘ will rape, burn, destroy  and kill and walk away free from it had become so ingrained in  Sierra Leone that some of the alleged war criminals targeted by this treaty did not even attempt to flee, even though the word was long out that once the Court kicked off, they were prime suspects  for indictment. They did not run away because they were satisfied in their heart of hearts that no one would dare touch them.After all, who had the guile and panache to question their acts, even if they left over 150, 000 people butchered to death by their own  alleged cruel complicity,   negligence and breach of duty  ? Johnny Paul Koroma , when he fled, did so because the government was out to arrest him for an alleged coup plot, not because rumors were all over that he was one of those to be tried by the Special Court. None of them probably ever expected that the war crimes tribunal net would get close to them.

But David Crane, The Special Court Prosecutor,   had surprise packets for them. And he unveiled these packets   on March 7, 2003 when he handed out indictments to the alleged perpetrators  who were immediately handcuffed and placed into custody. Some of the indictees obviously  thought  that they would never be brought to account for their alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity .

However, let it  be known , first and foremost,  that all the men so far arrested by the Special Court are only suspects. Nothing has been proved against them  and they are all innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The fact remained , though, that having the Special Court work in impunity-plagued Sierra Leone was a job cut out not for faint hearts. And Crane and party have had their fair share of  thorns and briers in the form of violent attacks in the press and threats from supporters of the indictees.  Crane has been called all kinds of names . The impresive thing, however, is that Crane and co. have  hung in  thick , in their  relentless and unwavering desire to bring justice to all the victims of the Sierra Leone war. “Crane  is as cool as a cucumber . You never met a more thick-skinned individual “, our reporters in Freetown have said.

Now, if panache is indeed the keynote of the court , this is about to be boosted. Julia Sebatunde, the Ugandan woman  who will be sworn in this month as a member of the third trial chamber , is a  he-woman  and will help to provide the guile necessary to break the stranglehold of impunity  not only over Sierra Leone but neigbouring Liberia , whose former rebel President Charles Taylor along with AFRC  indictees Alex Tamba Brima , Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Kanu will appear before her. Sebatunde will continue the pattern of fearlessness, transparency and fairness so far demonstrated by the other judges Cameroonian Benjamin Itoe and Sierra Leonean Bankole Thompson .But even more, she will prove that she cannot be intimidated.

If Charles Taylor is ever chained away from Calabar and brought to Freetown to stand trial, it is not wishful thinking to predict that he will bring a lot of drama to the court. A man not used to be ordered around even before he became a rebel, and a dictator who has walked over almost a million dead bodies to power, he will definitely be a hard nut to crack in court. He will resort to all forms of delaying and intimidatory tactics. He will issue veiled threats and being a man stuffed  with his own self-importance and  misguided sense of a messianic mission to save Liberia, he will delay proceedings not only with appeals to the jugular, but will give the court a taste of his terrible temper , which had seen him  allegedly order the immediate execution of those who merely disagreed with him.

But Taylor will meet his match in Sebatunde, who tamed many unruly men in court  in her native Uganda. News of  Ms. Sebatunde’s fearsome and fearless handling of men who run off the rails in court preceded her to Freetown. As a matter of fact, one would not read a Ugandan newspaper without a news item on Sebatunde’s amazing theatrics with the nation-wreckers of her country.

She is the daring woman who sent  the top brass in her nation’s corrupt Army and  Police Force packing. As Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry set up by President Musoveni to  first investigate corruption in the Ugandan Police Police, Ms.Sebatunde failed to succumb to violent threats and life-threatening intimidation and took on the powerful Ugandan Police Force singlehandedly. Police officers who appeared before her and tried to cow her with their characteristic ‘macho’ were verbally cut down to size and put in their right places.  She has an amazing penchant for taking a tough and uncompromising stand with even witnesses who appear in court  or judicial commissions and suddenly develop amnesia or deliberately seek to mislead.

Ultimately, Ms.Sebatunde accomplished what nobody had ever done in Uganda –She exposed Police cover-ups , robbery , crooked deals with Ugandan passports, , complicity with criminals and abuse of power. The result was that most of the top Police officers were fired by the President. She also investigated the powerful CID Director Chris Bakiza and forced him on the unemployment line. She then took on the army and also exposed rampant corruption by the soldiers as a result of which top army officers lost their jobs.

Ms.Sebatunde’s biggest fight turned out to be with the million-dollar criminal enterprise called the Ugandan Revenue Authority. Infact , the URA  had formed such a mafia that it decided immediately to put the judge out of business. One night, gunshots disturbed the peace of the  judge’s locality  as armed men stormed her Bugolobi residence to assassinate her. Unlike other women who would have panicked, ran out and made themselves sitting ducks for the wild gunmen , Julia Sebatunde remained indoors and watched her guards engage the intruders in a bloody fight-to-the-finish . A combined Army-Police team materialized  later to provide reinforcement and  help send the armed hired killers scampering away into the dark their mission unaccomplished .

Julia told the nation the next day that,  “Even if they had harmed me, it would not have made any difference. It was too late to affect the findings of the probe. God , who put me here, will ensure that I complete the job “. And she did. Her probe exposed the URA  as a major wrecker of the Ugandan economy and many heads rolled.

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES : SOBERING LESSONS FOR OUR  AGBAGBA AFRICAN POLITICIANS

As I sat in my living room with my opinionated daughter ( I love her) and wife watching the U.S.Presidential debate last week, one of the emotions that overwhelmed me was fascination for these people called Americans.

And if you were an African and the event did not leave you thinking how we could learn from such genuine politics in action , maybe your mind was on something else.

Make no mistake about it, the Presidential debate presented many sobering lessons for us , Africans, especially the breed of citizens we call politicians , more so at a time like this when one of the reasons behind our presence on foreign lands today is the misuse , abuse and perversion of politics in our countries.

Oh, how I would have loved to have been in the same living room watching the debate with our “Agbagba” African politicians , like our own Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Nigerian leader Segun Obasanjo,Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Charles Taylor ,Guinea’s Lansana Conte , Gambia’s Yaya Jammeh , Ivory Coast’s Konan Bedie and others. And how I wished the Siaka Stevenses, Mobutu Sese Sekous, Samuel Does, Idi Amins and the rest of the dictators who have left us in this world were alive too and watching ! ! !

As I listened and watched John Kerry make President Bush grimace in complete disarray many times with his pointed and well-articulate attacks on the President’s policies in Iraq, the idea that came to my mind was…What if it had been in Africa ? What if one of the above mentioned African “Agbagbas” had been in President Bush’s position ?

That night, radio and TV broadcasts would have been rudely interrupted by the playing of the national anthem, and the President would have appeared to make a nation-wide broadcast , in which he would have announced breathlessly to the bespectacled citizens that he had uncovered a plot to overthrow his government, that a State of Emergency had been immediately declared and that all opposition politicians and civil rights activists had been arrested for their part in the coup plot.

Infact, some African President with a sense of the dramatic would have even stage-managed the so-called coup attempt, having their own soldiers fire into the Presidential Palace , as Samuel Doe did in Liberia in 1984 in the bogus coup plot in which Col.M.M.D.Flanzhamaton allowed himself to be used by the then Liberian Head of State as the leader of the so-called plot. When Flanzhammaton goofed it in a TV  appearance where he was made to “confess”  to the nation about  the “coup attempt ” and did not sound convincing, Doe executed him by firing squad in anger and released the oppositin politicians from jail.

This sickening and pathetic scenerio has been played with such monotonous naivety in Africa that even kids born yesterday no longer believe their Presidents when they announce that their rivals had made an attempt to overthrow their governments. They know that it is an orchestrated ploy by African leaders to get rid of their rivals .

If the political debate I watched in my living room had actually taken place between an African President and his rival for power, John Kerry would have been cooling his heels in prison by now. He would have been accused of Treason, Subversion and planning to murder the President, all false charges.

We sit down and wonder why our continent remains backward and lags behind all other continents in socio-political and economic developments .One of the main reasons is the backwardness of our political culture and the unwillingness of our African politicians to keep abreast of modern, civilized political practices. Most of our African nations are superfluously blessed with human and natural resources but the images from Africa that flicker on world TV  are always depressing.It is always pictures of starving people ,  helpless, malnourished, dying  war victims,  infrastructural damage , depreciation and scarrred landscapes, all due to wars caused by political intolerance. . Nothing good ever comes out of Africa because of the dearth of  authentic and unadulterated politics.

When we look at the pictures of the two U.S. political antagonists shaking hands and beaming with smiles, it really strikes a chord. How many of our Presidents and poltical opponents come closer to each other, not to mention shake each others’ hands with such pure , profuse passion and joy ? Can we ever have such a picture of President Siaka Stevens  and  Sir Albert Margai , if both men were still alive and at the forefront of our politics   ? Can President Obasanjo  withstand barrages of attacks on his policies in a public debate with Odumegwu Ojukwu  or Muhammedu Buhari  without asking for the heads of these men on a platter the next morning ? Whoever questions the policies of an African leader becomes an “Enemy of the State” and he and his family and proteges are immediately marked out for extermination or harassment and denial of rights and priviledges.

As Hilton Fyle rightly insinuated  in that APC  program last week, our African politicians have an unprogressive and uncivilized mentality about politics.Once elected to power, they consider themselves untouchables and sacred cows who know all the answers and whose policies should be unquestioningly accepted by the populace and their rivals. Once in power, the African President becomes the traditional Big Man with the Big stick  . His actions and policies can no longer be questioned .He is always right.And everybody must surrender their views and live under the yoke of the Big man with the Big stick who knows it all and who decides everything. Whether his policies are taking his nation to the cleaners or not, they must not be challenged.

In all fairness, President Kabbah cannot be equated with some of the dictators we have had in our country or Africa. To a great extent, President Kabbah is trying ,  whether under international pressure or not , to have the other side of the story heard. I have always said that it would be sinful to compare Kabbah with some of our past leaders. The President has his faults, but let us give him some credit for allowing opposition parties to air their views and anti-government newspapers to continue publishing derogatory comments  against his government. Media practitioners  are being persecuted , indeed, but how many such journalists would have been assured that they would  have lived to see  the other day if they had been operating in the Sierra Leone of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s ?

However, Sierra Leone is still one of the chronically backward nations in Africa, socio-politically and economically because her leaders have not allowed her political institutions and a viable democratic political culture to flourish. The government is deliberately and subtly striving to stifle the emergence of civil organizations and the development of genuine multi-party democracy . Eloquent and “peppery” opposition members have been bought over to the ruling party, thus weakening the opposition . The former Elections Commissioner’s resignation and revelations that the government tampered with elections results remain a serious indictment against President Kabbah’s administration.

If we must ever develop our economies and elevate the social status of our people in Africa, we must turn away from our political wretchedness and backwardness We must develop the same  concept of party poltics as prevail in developed countries.Politics is designed  for the elevation of the socio-economic and social conditions of the people. It does not exist as a vehicle for a motely crowd of bandits to use  to perpetuate themselves in power.

KABBAH : A MAN FOR ALL  PEOPLE ? 

By Leeroy Wilfred Kabs-Kanu

Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has his faults. He may not be hard enough on nation-wreckers busy siphoning the country’s money into their private accounts .But one thing that must be conceded about him. For present day Sierra Leone , he is a man for all seasons.

    Kabbah, like President Siaka Stevens, has  that incredible charisma and persona that appeal to all men, all tribes and all nationals. Because of his marvelous abilty to keep people together, Sierra Leone has enjoyed  remarkable success in keep the nation in one piece.

He has made mistakes in power and we in the press have wasted no time to highlight them , but to prove that our criticisms of the President are not ill-motivated, some of us  shall drum home his good qualities when and as it becomes necessary.

The SLPP  scored the inimitable during the last General and Local Council elections by penetrating the strongholds of her bitter rivals for power, the APC. The SLPP has been able to storm the APC’s Northern bastions and win valuable seats there .  In the recent elections, the SLPP cut the APC’s  joy short  after the opposition party swept the Western Area, when it clinched significant seats in the Kambia, Port Loko, Koinadugu and Tonkolili Districts . These victories have been made possible by Kabbah’s ability to reach Sierra Leoneans of all tribes, colours and professions.President Kabbah’s centrist political strategy has been most fascinating and progressive. He has shunned all temptations  and pressures from party hardliners to set his face like a flint South/Eastwards. Kabbah has instead  looked Northwards and Westwards as well to build his political team   and the result is that he has one of the most tribally and regionally-balanced cabinets ever seen. This itself is reflecting positively on the nation —We are more united as a people than we think.

Kabbah’s religious profession has also been a great blessing to a nation that is  not only predominantly Islam but prides herself as having  people  with the best tolerant attitude  for other religions. Kabbah has been able to nourish  the roots of unity existing between Muslims and Christians by treating people from both religions fairly, tolerantly and equally.

When Vice-President Joseph Berewa succeeds Kabbah in a couple of years, Sierra Leoneans, especially SLPP supporters , will come to terms with reality. Unless Berewa fills Kabbah’s shoes  effectively, diligently continuing the President’s Centrist politics, the first dynamism that will change is the goodwill being enjoyed in all the regions by the SLPP.

Kabbah has  many sore points, but when his rule is looked at in totality, he has done  better than most of Sierra Leone’s previous rulers. And he could leave a more enduring legacy if he clamps down on corruption and succeeds in putting behind bars those  whose greed for filthy lucre has impoverished the nation beyond redemption.

By Wilfred Leeroy Kabs-Kanu ( LL.B Hons. )

Monday June 7, 2004

Let’s get it straight . No man is guilty of any offence unless it has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is culpable , either by his own acts or omission. As Sierra Leone enters a very tense and tenuous week, when Chief Hinga Norman’s trial will rivet the nation and the world, it is but worthwhile to let Sierra Leoneans remain calm and give the legal system a chance.

That Hinga Norman is considered a hero by many Sierra Leoneans goes without saying. It is a fact that when he gets up on Tuesday to make his opening statement as promised by the CDF Spokesman in the U.S, Rev. Alfred SamForay, he is going to rivet the nation and the world. Even the drop of a pin will be heard in the court room and people will be driven to the edge of their seats.

Whenever a public figure or a hero  goes on trial, there is excruciating passion and the media frenzy and national emotions are humonguous. We were witnesses to the spectacle in America when football hero O.J. Simpson went on trial for the alleged murder of his wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.

But the test of our maturity as a nation  and  our adherence to the principles of democracy and the Rule of Law are about to receive an acid test.  

It is worthwhile to tell our Sierra Leonean people that the law is our friend and not our foe. The law exists to consolidate and concretize the commendable strides that mankind has made in civilization.  Without the rule of law, man would relapse into the depths of uncivilization and the human being will face the prospects of extinction. We must always welcome the operation of the rule of law .

That said, we must also know that the indictment or formal charge against any person is not evidence of guilt.Any man charged to court is presumed to be innocent. The presumption of innocence is the bedrock of our civilization, democracy and the rule of law. However horrid the crimes the prosecutors will highlight during their opening statements or presentation of evidence, Chief Hinga Norman and others are innocent of all those charges until the court proves beyond a reasonable doubt by clear and convincing evidence  that they are guilty. They actually are not under any legal duty to prove anything. It is the prosecution who has  to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Chief Norman,  Allieu Kondewa and Moinina Fofana indeed bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities allegedly committed by the CDF  during the war.

The Judges will listen to all the evidence and will decide by majority vote  whether these facts are backed by credible evidence  to convict the three men. I am certain that if these men are innocent of the charges as their supporters are asserting, the court will return a verdict of “Not Guilty. “

Given a choice to distrust or trust the Special Court, I will choose the latter. The Special Court, over the past months , has taken legal decisions that should instil confidence in the minds of Sierra Leoneans .The ruling by Judge Bankole Thomas to unfreeze the accounts of Chief Norman because the prosecution failed to prove that the money in the account were proceeds from the operations of the war was admirable. So was the recent decision by the Trial Chamber not to allow the Prosecution to add charges of sexual violence to the CDF rap sheet.

These two decisions handed down by the Justices  manifested  independence   of the judges from the prosecution. What was more, the very Justice Geoffrey Robertson, who many thought demonstrated bias against the  accused for comments made in a book , impartially voted against charging the CDF  with the offence of recruiting child soldiers. Infact, he was only dissenting voice.  We cannot also forget the independent thinking that Judge Gelega King has demonstrated. So far, the prosecution and the Trial and Appeal Chambers have all displayed their independence from each other.

We Sierra Leoneans must learn to allow the justice system to do its work, without imputing unneccessary suspicions on it. This is a message that must be heeded not only by the Hinga Norman supporters but even those on the other side of the divide.

When the prosecution begins to present its case, the nation and the world will be treated to a graphic exposure of grotesque, beastly and horrenduous crimes that David Crane warned will make men of conscience recoil. However, non-supporters of Hinga Norman and the CDF  must realise that for now these are only allegations. They must not take the litany of crimes, however aweful, as gospel truth and start to stir passions against the accused , their families and supporters.

The prosecution will still have the burden of proof to show by clear and convincing evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the men in the dock are culpable for these felonies. At this point, it may be necessary to read the direction given to the jury by the Judge in the celebrated case of The State v. Aubert , 120 N.H.634 , 421 A .2nd. 124 ( 1980) : “Under our constitution, all defendants in criminal cases are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of proving guilt is entirely on the state.The defendant does not have to prove his innocence. THE DEFENDANT ENTERS THIS COURTROOM AS AN INNOCENT PERSON UNTIL THE STATE CONVINCES YOU BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT HE IS GUILTY OF EVERY ELEMENT OF THE ALLEGED OFFENCE. IF , AFTER ALL THE EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS, YOU HAVE A REASONABLE DOUBT AS TO DEFENDANT’S HAVING COMMITTED ANY ONE OR MORE OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENCE, THEN YOU MUST FIND HIM NOT GUILTY. ” ( Editor : Substitute “Prosecution” for “The State  in our situation “).

We therefore call upon all Sierra Leoneans to suppress their emotions, suspicions and personal beliefs and allow the justice system to work. Sierra Leoneans must also realise that no one tribe or ethnic group is on trial. The CDF was composed of citizens across the broad spectrum of tribes in Sierra Leone. It just happens that Norman, Kondowa and Fofana were deemed as  holding such command authority within the CDF  as to be considered  to bear the greatest responsibility for the alleged atrocities said to have been committed by the militia. We therefore admonish all Sierra Leoneans to leave out tribalism from  this  case.

Let us conduct ourselves in such  a manner that when judgement is finally delivered, we will be able to say with pride that we allowed the system of justice to work.

1992-1995 : THE MISSING LINK IN CURBING IMPUNITY IN SIERRA LEONE : SPECIAL COURT TERMS OF REFERENCE MUST BE EXPANDED

Monday March 1, 2004

The revelation by the former German Ambassador, Karl Prinz, about how heartlessly   the former Inspector-General of Police, Bambay Kamara  was tortured by the then Chairman of the NPRC Military junta Capt. Valentine Strasser  before he was finally put to death for no reason , is chilling, to say the least. It was like a scene from the film, JEEPERS CREEPERS.

According to Mr. Prinz, Strasser had hot, boiling water poured over the former Police Boss, scalding his skin, before he was executed for trumped-up and unproved charges that Bambay and many others who were also  exterminated, tried to overthrow the junta.

This paper  , by no means, supports the misgovernment and misrule of the likes of Bambay Kamara during the infamous APC  era. Bambay, who was the head of the security apparatus of the oppressive, suppressive and megalomanic APC  regime , presided over very serious abuses of the constitutional and human rights of innocent citizens. However, if the NPRC  thought that the ex-police boss and others in the government needed to face justice for the heinous crimes against the people, it should have been done through the court of law They should have been brought to  justice through a competent and legally-constituted court of law . To take the law into one’s hands and perpetute wicked , horrific and merciless acts on an accused before killing him violates human conscience and international law.

What Strasser allegedly did to pour hot, boiling water over the former I-G  was unacceptable.It smarked of malicious hate and the devillish gratiation of the vicious  and revengful human spirit . And Bambay was not the only one so gorily tortured before being killed extrajudiciously. It was alleged that the soldiers poured acid over some of the victims.Others were said to have been still breathing when they were buried in a mass grave.

We are concerned  about these unmerciful acts of atrocities because several other allegations of more violent human rights abuses were levied against the bloody junta. Infact, the NPRC  junta later turned out to be synonymous with torture and people said they were as equally wicked as the RUF  rebels.People were violently massacred for no reason during the rule of the junta. Strasser and some other junta members should have acted reasonably to deter people from committing these crimes against humanity, but they did not. Instead, some of them took part in these crimes with impunity.

 We will not be helping the cause of justice and the crusade against impunity in Sierra Leone if these acts are not punished .If it was expedient to arrest and charge the Kamajor Commander Sam Hinga Norman and two other militia members for alleged war crimes said to have been committed in their quest to stop the RUF  from overunnug Sierra Leone, it is unfair to leave out worse  war crimes suspects who served the NPRC  junta. Strasser and other junta members should be equally arrested and tried for committing even worse offences.

Those who negotiated the setting up of the Special Court erred when they confined the court’s term of reference to the events after the signing of the Lome Peace Accord.Worse human rights abuses were committed before Lome and most of the nation’s hardened torturers , killers, rapists and mutilators of innocent people operated during the periof 1992-1995. This is the main complaint against the Special Court —It was not designed to bring overall and across-the -Board justice to a dangerous situation . Most of those who harmed the innocent people are walking free and probably gloating about their deeds while a selected few are facing the music behind bars.

The International Community, which helped to create the Special Court,  must come to the help of the nation to make sure that justice is fully done in our post-war situation.The terms of the Special Court must be re-negotiated to include all war crimes and acts of atrocities committed since the war started in 1990.

We await to see equitable justice in post-war Sierra Leone. If the whole exercise of the Special Court and the Crusade Against impunity are to bear enduring and tangible fruits, all acts of atrocities committed between 1992-1995 must be considered.Strasser and party must also appear before the tribunal.

NO MORE DRAMA IN  SIERRA  LEONE

   The people of Sierra Leone have suffered a lot. Since what was once a paradise in Africa became a self-governing nation , nothing good has come to Sierra Leone. We have continued to lurch and suffer from one bad government to the other.

While one Government and its leader would be making heavyweather of goofing big-time, some Sierra Leoneans would arise from the shadows , declaring that they are Mr. and Mrs. FIX-ITS. They bamboozle the people with promises that if they were given a chance, they would do a better job.

Shortly after things started to turn sour in the country under the reign of the late Prime Minister, Sir Albert Margai, the APC  emerged with a cast of very impressive and patriotic-looking smart-talkers. There was Pa. Shaki, the former Trade Unionist and he was propped up by self-proclaiming redeemers in the persons of the slick-talking Sorie Ibrahim Koroma, the quick-smiling C.A. Camara -Taylor, Bangalie Mansaray, S.A.T.Koroma , Ibrahim Taqi, Mohamed Taqi and others. They turned on the political style and won the hearts of the people and the historic and thumb-biter of a General Elections in 1967.

But even kids born today know the damages that Pa. Shaki and his hoodlums caused on the nation in 26 years of misrule and destruction of every thing and every legacy from colonial rule. In 1992, another band of self-styled redeemers from the military barracks stepped in with guns blazing, and  cleared the political landscape off the vermins that were the APC  nation-wreckers.

They raised the hopes of the Sierra Leonean people skyhigh with utopian promises but the NPRC Military junta turned out to be one of the most destructive governments to have ruled Sierra Leone. Where the APC  had been irredeemably corrupt, the NPRC  broke the mold for bold-faced thieving and human rights violations  .Once haggard-looking and malnourished soldiers soon  became fat and good-looking bureaucrats in  jackboots, driving the latest and the last word in sleek and fashionable cars , building mansions far and wide and totalling six-figure accounts in foreign banks. They  did not only fail to fulfill all their promises or  sack the national treasury, but they aggravated , tribalized and politicised the rebel war which became a full-blown disaster in Sierra Leone that is still talked about the world over as one of the most brutal conflicts ever fought on this globe.  

The International Community gave them the boot , but not before they organized a sham of a General Elections that gave power on a silver platter to one former U.N. official named Ahmad Tejan Kabbah , who had also arisen and was playing the game of another redeemer.

Actually, Pa. Kabbah has done a good job in spurts and in some areas. At least , he should be given credit for accomplishing what the loud-mouthed and good-for-nothing soldiers could not accomplish–end the Civil War. Kabbah has also made some commendable efforts to revive some of our social institutions bludgeoned into non-existence by the APC  and the NPRC.

But Pa. Kabbah failed where it mattered most. He was not able to stop thieving by the politicians and public servants. Infact, the level of corruption in Pa. Kabbah’s government is so frightening that if these same people remain in power for 5 more years, our once great nation will be mortgaged to eager bidders .” Rev., so so tiff nar Sierra Leone now. If you nor sabby tiff, nar garpay go waya you “, one man complained to the Editor the other day. Because of his failure to rein in thieving government officials, Kabbah has sullied what could have been a memorable legacy.

Every imaginable civilian or soldier who has ruled Sierra Leone  has failed us in Sierra Leone. There is hardly  a single one of them that you would call a good man , though indeed Andrew Juxon-Smith and Pa.Kabbah could at least lift their heads in public and say  that they are  “passable”  .And  yet people are being braced for another round of glib talk by another group of redeemers when Pa. Kabbah retires soon in 2007.

I do not know Solomon Berewa or any of the SLPP  aspirants from Adam. But one message that they  and  contenders from the other political parties  need to hear from the people is that Sierra Leoneans are tired of fiasco politics. They are tired of being taken for a ride. They have been made to look so much like jerks that it should not be surprising if they boycott the next General Elections.

I have nothing against Mr. Berewa or any of those who want to be President. Ernest Koroma was my college mate at FBC ,  a man I admired for his gentility .However, the national interest dictates that any true patriot of Sierra Leone speak out the message that Sierra Leoneans are tired of drama. They want to se what they have not been privileged to perceive in Sierra Leone –True politics  and true and sincere leadership. As the American singer, Mary J. Blige would like to say, we are tired of drama. We want no more drama in our lives.

We want to see serious-minded people this time, people who mean what they say and who act more than they talk  ; people goaded by the interest of the millions of Sierra Leoneans suffering unnecessarily inside and outside the country. We want to see men who will transform all their great talk into massive action for the betterment of our hurting nation. We want to see men who will wage a fearless and uncompromising battle against all the ills in our society, like bribery and corruption; nepotism, tribalism, influence-peddling, self-promotion, incompetence, lasciviousness ,  unpatriotism and the like.

We want to se aspirants who will wage war on hunger and make sure that no Sierra Leonean goes to bed hungry .He must be a man capable of galvanizing and mobilizing the nation to action , to utilize our enormous natural resources, lush farm lands, rivers and streams to make Sierra Leone self-sufficient in food production.

WE ARE TIREDOF DRAMA. WE WANT NO MORE DRAMA IN OUR LIVES.