Monday October 31, 2005
First Name: Binta Bah
Second Name: Pokawa
Address: Milton Keynes
United Kingdom
Reply to Alie Formeh.Berewa No Hurricane.
Was it not for the fact that this was a matter of national importance; one would have been tempted to dismiss Alie Formeh as a joke and wonder if he was for real.
His comment on Berewa has no merit of fact, evidence and indeed commonsense.
This seems to be the Sierra Leone thing, open ones mouth and talk rubbish. Was it Mark Twain who once said.’better to keep your mouth shut to appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubts?
At the reception in London, the great man himself said, most people who make comments about him have never actually met him. Alie Formeh who purports to live somewhere in the United States of America was not at the reception we had for Mr Berewa in London. That been a matter of fact, how on earth could he be a proper person to comment on Solo B’s performance on the night and his health in particular. I sat on the same table as Mr Berewa, and my experience was that of a hurricane nothing whimp about him and his performance. The great man has courage. Courage does not mean bravado, but simply the ability to hold on to a faith of belief. That is what this man has.
What I have noticed is that the opponent of Mr Berewa after failing to beat him at the convention, and without any prospect of been able to put forward coherent arguments on Policy matters have resulted in the Juvenile and school boy/girl tactic of distraction, by making his age and health an issue.
Mr Berewa is as fit as a fiddle well enough to lead SLPP to a historic third term come 2007, and my research shows that a third of current World leaders are older than Solo B. So why are Sierra Leoneans making age an issue.are you thinking what I am thinking? Ronald Regan was one of America’s most effective President, how old was he when he came to power.do you know Mr Formeh?
Mr Berewa reinterated his policy statement in London been those of alleviating poverty, justice for all and stamping out corruption.However Mr Formeh went on to state that the VP did not. ?Make clear his policy’. Did he expect the VP to spell out in details his election manifesto at a Public reception in a London Hotel nearly two years before the elections? When the time comes Berewa’s policies will be fully, stated, costed, and explained. Berewa’s policies will be substantially determined by his love for Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone People, and not by reckless manifestation of unfufilable promises.
Mr Formeh says that the SLPP government has.’failed miserably’. He must have been living in cloud cocoon land if even with his devious mind he cannot see substantial changes in Sierra Leone now and before 1996. Just think, before 1996, half the Country was in Rebel hands, people were been massacred children were been amputated, properties burnt down, women and children raped and so on and so forth. SLPP government under pa Kabbah and his able assistance- Solo B made peace a priority, they pursued peace and stability for Sierra Leone. Today things may still be difficult but even you and your cohorts most remember the civil war. We are just coming out of 11 years of civil war. Does peace and stability mean anything to you? It should do. People like you keep flouting words like, Democracy, Human Rights, Anti Corruption, Development, End poverty, fine words indeed, but if there is no peace and stability all those wonderful dreams will remain just that dreams.
President Kabbah will retire knowing that he has a glowing reputation for the fact that he and his able VP were the ones that brought peace to Sierra Leoneans after a very savage Civil war.
When the history of Sierra Leone is finally written, the two most important underlining factors will be (1) Independence and (2) the end of the civil war. And who brought the two to Sierra Leone? SLPP governments.
Lets talk about corruption, this is the by word of people like Formeh who cannot find anything else to pin on our leaders. No one in his or her right mind will condone corruption and corrupt practices. But this is not something unique to Sierra Leone. If you have any admissible evidence that our leaders have acted corruptly while in Government offices please submit this evidence for public observation, as they say inAmerica, show us the beef. Finger pointing alone, because you don’t like somebody or you can use the keyboard is not good enough if we aspire to be treated as mature and civilised political operators. To say that that any government can eradicate corruption effectively is a fairy tale. It is the abstract theoretical world of western academics, which has been seized upon by reactionary politicians in donor countries wishing to lend imitation respectability to their indifferences to our economic misery. Sierra Leoneshould be careful not to fall in this trap.
After all, did the SLPP government not appoint the ACC? May be they would have been more effective if they had kept to their remit rather than go on like loose cannon, acting ultra vires, ignoring the fact that they were subject to the Law of the land and forgetting their responsibilities.
When we write or talk from abroad, it is as if we are living in utopia. The west is no better; they are just better at doing corruption. . In these days of electronic communications, it is easy to see. For your information Mr Formeh, as I am writing this I have just heard breaking news that Lewis Libby has been indicted by the Grand Jury in America.this is the closet man to the vice president of the United States of America. By the way did you see Fahrenheit 9/11.You should watch it?
Then think about Halliburton, the Enron affaires; before I forget, do you know what is happening to Tom Delay, house Majority leader in the US Congress?
The time has come to stop knocking our country. We have come a long way, and has a long way to go. We now need to promote new impetus which will be required if we are to uproot the complacency and narrow-minded convention that all politicians are the same. Kabbah has been a great Leader for both SLPP and the country; we in the SLPP, with Berewa as leader are on a journey. I am optimistic about the future and I am sure majority of Sierra leoneans are.
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