Brima Rogers
I read with apt attention a piece by one ‘Sankara Kamara’, be it pseudonym or not, attempting to discredit Basita Michael, President of the country’s Bar Association. It came out very disappointing, and sadly childish. The attack on the lady’s personal came about following her position statement the just concluded Bintumani 3 conference on peace and national cohesion.
It was wrong to suggest that Michael had lacked intellectual prowess just because she had questioned government’s actions in recent times. Basita Michael Esq. was not creating new political theories, rather, she was outlining daily happenings ; her statement that a government cannot be preaching peace when it is sacking people who have security of tenure in the statute and the constitution and at the same time imposed a speaker in parliament on the majority part is nothing but the hard truth. Factual!
‘Sankara’ should note that it was Basita Michael’s magazine; SierraEye that once asked if the then president Ernest Bai Koroma was an asset or liability to the country. That may have been too hard, but the then former president never went berserk, he never used paid agents to attack the lady, he never chased her, because criticism was and remains vital to sustaining democracy.
Sankara should note that sacking people because of their tribe/region or political party is nothing but sickening and providing an avenue for a divided nation. This must not be tolerated if we are to build on national cohesion and sustain our peace.
Defending the Bar, I know for sure, that it was very vocal and critical of the former president’s decision to sack the then Vice President. If there is anything the country should do, it should commend the Bar and more so the leadership for saving our democracy and speaking out on critical national issues.
Basita is providing the required leadership and she has lived up to expectations. We need a critical platform. We are not in a communist state. Just not!
Has anyone read what the lady lawyer wrote on her Facebook page, criticizing those who didn’t attend the B3? Go there and see her challenging those who didn’t attend and then you will save her the unfair bashing and attacks. Women deserve better and Basita is one of them.
