Subject: BIG FRAUD AT STATE LODGE
From: BUFORD HWY
To: All
Date Posted: 19:45:25 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-rtc-ae10.proxy.aol.com at 152.163.101.14

Message:
:

Kabbah’s CSO reacts … Big fraud at State Lodge

The Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Kabbah, who was accused of selfishly maligning community people from getting pieces of state land they had applied for, has denied the allegation. The CSO, Faiah Sellu, told Awoko over the weekend that there was a big fraud with respect to government’s lands going on at State Lodge and that they were thoroughly investigating the matter. About the allegation he explained: “Sometime last year some officers serving under me at State Lodge were struggling with some civilians at Kamayamar, back of Malama [at Lumbly, west of the capital] for lands. “The Inspector General of Police called me and asked me to investigate the matter. During my investigations I asked for the list of the names of all those struggling for the lands. The list was brought to me and I discovered that about 70% of the names were not even working at State Lodge, so I decided to only spearhead the fight for a letter of release for lands only for those people who are working at State Lodge. “I reported back to the ministry of lands’ Permanent Secretary (PS) through the protocol officer and the PS wrote formerly to the Chief of Protocol to supply him with the names of people who wanted lands in our department (State Lodge), so I gave him the list of the seventy names from our department. “Not long, the PS started to allocate pieces of land, but I discovered that the allocat1ons were not reflecting the list I submitted to him. The PS allocated the first 60 plots but we discovered that 24 of them only went to State House staff and 36 went to civilians not working at State House. So I brought this to the attention of the PS who then advised that I held on to the letter of release of the state lands of those who are not State Lodge staff and release the confirmation letter to those who are certified State Lodge staff. He said he would then redirect the lands allocat1on from those who are not working at State Lodge to the bonafide State Lodge staff. “At that point I took a month’s break from the office. When I returned I found out that the man whom I left in charge of the documents had already distributed them to the civilians who are not working at State Lodge, which he was not supposed to do. Because of this grave offence, which surmounted to insubordination, failing to comply with the rules of the force, I took disciplinary action against him. I asked him out of the lodge. I also drove Musa out for indiscipline because he is a constable and, he is not the appropriate authority to receive documents on behalf of State Lodge from any office in this country. He went and took these land documents from lands and refused to listen to my directives, that he should never collect these documents and as a result I sent him out of the institution I am heading”.
Print

Subject: Here is another one
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 19:16:16 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: pub31.lib.csus.edu at 130.86.14.31

Message:
We are Sierra Leoneans and must practice the principle of Democracy.

Subject: Argumentum ad hominem
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 18:35:24 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-141271d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.113.18.20

Message:
Goodbye

Subject: THE VULTURE FUND BITES ZAMBIA & FLIES AWAY. WHO'S NEXT
From: kroobaymom
To: All
Date Posted: 18:29:28 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: kroobaymom@yahoo.com
Entered From: pool-72-75-46-82.washdc.east.verizon.net at 72.75.46.82

Message:
A recent judgement in a British court has ordered the government of Zambia to pay $15 million dollars for a debt bought over by a profiteering predator who had contributed to President Chiluba's charity. With the level of corruption in Sierra Leone, can the Minister if Finance assure us that our country is safe?

VULTURE FUNDS-
Jubilee USA Network policy brief

Debt cancellation provides the chance for impoverished countries to start fresh and allocate additional resources to essential health, education, and other spending. Commitments by the US government and other shareholders at the IMF and World Bank led to the creation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, which
was designed to alleviate impoverished countries of some of their unpayable debts. In 2005, The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) was established to augment these efforts by canceling more debt.

While the international community was extending debt relief to some impoverished countries, a new form of business emerged, with the purpose of speculating in and profiteering from poor country debt in default. This new business by so-called “vulture funds” comes at the expense of the citizens of these indebted countries some of the poorest in the world as well as taxpayers in countries like the US, who have been supporting in part the cost of debt relief. The Jubilee USA Network, along with other groups in the US, the UK and elsewhere, is increasingly monitoring the activity of vulture funds and working to publicize and curtail their activity.

What is a vulture fund?

‘Vulture fund’ is a name given to a company that seeks to make profit by buying up ‘bad’ debt at a cheap price, then trying to recover the full amount, often by suing through the courts. Such companies often describe themselves as ‘distressed debt funds’. Some target failing companies, but Jubilee USA Network is focused on those that target poor country governments. These vulture fund companies tend to be quite secretive, and many of them are based in tax havens. Some are owned by large, often U.S.-based, financial institutions such as hedge funds. In other cases, there is limited or no information on who owns them. Often companies are set up simply to pursue one debt, then shut down again.

How do vulture funds operate?

When an impoverished country has outstanding debt owed to a government or a commercial creditor –– that has not been written down or restructured according to HIPC or MDRI terms –– there is a chance that a financial organization will seek to buy that debt at reduced prices and seek repayment of the original amount and more. Firms call this capitalizing, but debt campaigners consider this vulture activity. Vulture fund activity has increased in the past 3 years with the provision of debt cancellation as these funds seek to seize on the opportunity of resources being freed up by debt relief. Vulture fund activity has resulted in a large and growing number of lawsuits being brought against HIPCs.

The Case of Donegal v. Zambia

The most recent, or visible, vulture fund case has been that of Donegal International, Limited suing the government of Zambia –– and winning $15 million. In 1979, Zambia purchased agricultural equipment and services from Romania on credit. Being unable to service this debt, in 1999 Zambia and Romania agreed to liquidate this debt for $3.28 million. But before Zambia could seal the deal, a vulture swooped in. Donegal International, Limited is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Its only business is to pursue the bian debt. Donegal’s sole director is a man called Michael Sheehan, who owns a company called Debt Advisory International, based in Washington DC. He bought this debt value at $3.28 million and later sued the Zambian government for $55 million. On April 24th, the British High Court ruled that the government of Zambia would
have to pay Donegal some $15 million. This represents over a third of what Zambia is projected to save in debt relief delivered through HIPC and the MDRI in 2007.

A Growing Problem; A Tremendous Social Cost
At least 20 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) have been threatened with or have been subject to legal actions by commercial creditors and vulture funds since 1999. The debtor governments have almost always lost. There have been some mixed results and settlements out of court. But the only known case where a debtor government has won in court is a case in Madagascar. When they lose, poor debtor governments have been obliged to pay the original debt, interest and fees accrued since the debt has been in arrears, as well as the legal costs of the plaintiff. The amounts awarded to plaintiffs have varied from 1 to 6 times the original value of the debt, or $1 million to $153 million. The average has been 2.2 times the original value. More than 14 settlements have exceeded $50 million, a huge sum to pay in one year, especially when compared to other crucial spending needs. Considering these costs comparatively:

» In Uganda and Sierra Leone lawsuit payments were as high as 35% and 34%, respectively, of total debt service in one year.

More than two-thirds of the lawsuits brought by vulture funds occur in the US or UK jurisdictions. This because is in part because these courts are seen as being more creditor-friendly and more efficient. But there are an increasing number of cases being made at the national level, where weaker legal systems get mired in the details
of these cases.

What Other Countries are at Risk?

There have been at least 40 lawsuits by commercial creditors against HIPC countries. According to the International Development Association (of the World Bank Group) and the IMF’s HIPC Initiative’s 2006 report, some of the countries currently being pursued by vulture funds include but are not limited to:
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of Congo
Republic of Congo
Ethiopia
Guyana
Honduras
Nicaragua
Sao Tome and Principe
Sierra Leone
Uganda
Zambia

Source: Survey on Commercial Creditor Participation and Creditor Lawsuits against HIPCs. The survey was responded by 24 countries out of 29 HIPCs. Please reference link for information about specific countries creditors, status of legal action, original monetary claim and the judgment for creditor. Click here for more information.

Subject: The British Prime Minister Tony Blair visit Sierra Leone
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 17:53:59 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: pub31.lib.csus.edu at 130.86.14.31

Message:
The British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, storm Lungi and other environs

Subject: FOR Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 13:18:57 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
“Even if you believe Berewa to be superior to Margai, Berewa according to you is still unfit to be President. By supporting Berewa, you are supporting a man that is unfit to be President of Sierra Leone.

“You have now become a liability for Berewa. For if people believed in what you said about Berewa then they will be ambivalent about supporting Berewa and more likely to support one of the other two candidates.” – Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara

Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara:

Where do you get your information from?

When did I ever say or write that Berewa is unfit to be president?

Merely because some crooked moniker abuser makes up something erroneous about what I said or did not say and puts it in my mouth does not mean I need to rely. And I won't as I see fit.

Besides, I have made it clear again and again that whatever I might have said about Berewa's qualifications, he is still far, far superior as a presidential candidate than Koroma, Maggai, Jalloh, etc. and that SLPP is likewise exceedingly superior to all the opposition parties.

Next, I do not know where you came from with your baseless claim that I have become a liability to Berewa. Look at you! What do you know about how Berewa is doing or thinking?

If I am a liability to VP Berewa, he'll tell me first before tell you. He won't tell you to tell me at all.
Lastly, please read the report by Mr. Bailor M. Jalloh on the February 17, 2005 edition of The Independent Observer at All-Africa.com.

In that edition of that paper, Mr. Jalloh wrote as follows:

"The ex-ambassador also refuted the allegation that he said the current Vice President, Solomon Berewa, was not fit to be president of the country. He said, 'Berewa is a handsome man and academically qualified for a position of trust.' He however questioned the indictment of Hinga Norman and others..................."

Even the above is not completely accurate.
Mr. Jalloh misinterpreted my descr1ption of Mr. Berewa as "a fine gentleman" to mean that I said he was a "handsome man".

There are numerous occasions when our journalists do not always correctly interpret American idioms, similes, colloquialisms, etc. They just do not have the exposure.

Please next time, don't rush to conclusions like your other conclusion that I always call everyone foolumunkus. This is not true. I call only some moniker abusers attacking me without any rational basis for the attacks - and their principals - such names as: mumbo-tombo-dumbos (MTDs), munkus, foolumunkus and phoolumukus, drop-outs, dunces, alphabet-soup, peggy boy ..... - but only some of them and only those who invite such names.

And I have never once called you any such names despite the fact that we do not agree on anything.
Lastly, please allow me to withdraw from this forum.

Thank you. JL

Subject: Re: FOR Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara
From: Moijue
To: All
Date Posted: 18:54:03 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 89.243.186.11

Message:
JEL was also responsible for the indictment of Norman and co.He was pretending all this while.He did not even attend the FUNERAL of Norman though he was in Salone

Subject: Re: FOR Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara
From: J. U. Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 17:21:02 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: jetty4ya@yahoo.com
Entered From: c-69-143-53-43.hsd1.va.comcast.net at 69.143.53.43

Message:
I couldn't believe how ego-centric Mr. Leigh is becoming. I thought he has a basic understanding about good governance amidst to residing in a civilized nation like the United States. I was expecting Mr. John Leigh to be an intellectual person with critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, he is like any other "Arata" residing in a ground-nut farm in Freetown. Mr. Leigh, what superiority does Berewa have over you, me, Koroma, Margai or any other Sierra Leonean? It's a shame for a former Ambassador of Sierra Leone to say such an inconceivable statement about Berewa. Please try to think a bit about Sierra Leone, don't be self centered. Don't beguile our people for your self interest of being compensated with a governmental post by Berewa. Please be rational!

Subject: Re: FOR Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara
From: SLPP
To: All
Date Posted: 15:49:12 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
"When did I ever say or write that Berewa is unfit to be president?"

Leigh, here is it, you lying, corrupt, flip-flopping coward:

What Leigh wrote about Berewa in the past:

"LACKS ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS TRAINING

Berewa’s attitude regarding the development of our country is most discouraging. His reasoning as to how a country like Sierra Leone is going to develop reminds me of someone not schooled or experienced in either economics or international affairs but who has, instead, been isolated in a cultural wasteland for much too long. Yet, this same misguided individual is been touted in certain quarters as the next president of Sierra Leone!

How can such an individual, lacking in understanding of how nations become developed, ever hope to successfully construct social and economic institutions that would help our country advance from last place position and make Sierra Leone into a place like Britain and the United States?"

Subject: Re: FOR Mr. Alie Formeh Kamara
From: boli
To: All
Date Posted: 15:34:56 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: boli@yahoo.com
Entered From: 80-44-149-1.dynamic.dsl.as9105.com at 80.44.149.1

Message:
"Lastly, please allow me to withdraw from this forum."

Permission granted.....leave the forum.........LOSER

Subject: SLPP Endemic Corruption-Scoop from Standard Times
From: Joseph Sherman
To: All
Date Posted: 12:59:27 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: pool-70-108-186-218.washdc.east.verizon.net at 70.108.186.218

Message:
Britain Halts £15 Million in Aid : Sierra Leone Loses the Money Due to Endemic Corruption 'From the President's Office to the Cleaner'.
Posted by Alex Duval Smith on Jun 10, 2007, 12:24

Britain is about to freeze a £15m payment to Sierra Leone amid evidence of endemic corruption that has seen millions of pounds in aid line the pockets of dishonest officials while ordinary people struggle in conditions of poverty that have reached catastrophic levels.

Five years after a brutal 11-year war was ended with British military help, Tony Blair's government stands accused of ignoring corruption in Sierra Leone so as to maintain the former colony's image as a flagship of the Prime Minister's foreign policy record.

Britain, as the single largest donor country, gives the small West African nation more than £50m a year, including £12m for its armed forces and the £15m direct payment to the treasury which is due in July to cover public servants' salaries. A Foreign Office source confirmed that the July payment will not be released, but the Department for International Development (Dfid) claimed the matter was still under discussion.

Ten days ago Blair visited the country on his farewell Africa tour and said things were 'a darn sight better' than five years ago. But people in Freetown were disappointed that he did not travel to the decrepit capital, opting instead to limit his six-hour visit to the area around the international airport at Lungi.

Morlai Kamara, a good-governance campaigner with the Network Movement for Justice and Development in Freetown, said corruption was widespread. 'It permeates every level from the office of the President lawyer to the cleaner. It takes the form of people embezzling funds, appointing people they know and abusing resources. Endemic corruption was one of the main reasons for the war: the government could no longer meet its side of the social contract. Now we are back at pre-war levels.'

In the past few years, chiefly thanks to British lobbying, Sierra Leone has benefited from more international concern than almost any other country. Towards the end of the war it had the world's biggest UN peacekeeping presence - more than 17,000 troops. Britain's high-profile military engagement involved the Paras, Navy, Gurkhas and the SAS and, at the time, was the most expensive British military campaign since the Falklands. Later millions of pounds were pledged to create an army and police force and see through disarmament programs for 56,000 combatants, including children.

Yet Freetown remains a metropolitan slum, without electricity or drinking water, where living conditions are worse for many than they were during the war. Promised plans by the government - for which aid was paid - to kick-start agriculture in the interior of the country have not materialized. Next month's planned presidential and parliamentary elections have been delayed until August and the reason given - the expected weather - has failed to convince the people.

In the diamond-rich Kono district, miners are still sifting river beds for elusive gems. Diamond exports are now taxed but the revenue is not, as was promised, being spent on building schools and clinics.

Just as before and during the war, Sierra Leone has the worst children's and maternal mortality figures in the world. Life expectancy stands at 41.

Val Collier, former commissioner of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission, said Britain and other aid donors were hypocritical: 'When money is given, checks and balances should be imposed. A large share of the money is spent on sending foreign consultants here to write reports; they come with their laptops in their slingbags, like intellectual mercenaries. Such spending does not put food in the bellies of the people of Sierra Leone.'

The new commissioner, Henry Joko-Smart, is seen as government-friendly and his work has proved timid. A Dfid report on the commission last month found that, of 64 cases examined in 2006, 15 were pursued, including a case against a hospital payroll officer and another against a headmaster. Corruption at other levels was ignored.

A Foreign Office official confirmed the freeze on Dfid's £15m payment, due next month, to the Sierra Leone government's 'consolidated fund', which pays public servants' salaries. 'We want accountability,' said one source. But a Dfid spokesman would only confirm that the matter was under discussion.

Subject: This is the mentallity of the current goverment
From: Tszyu
To: All
Date Posted: 11:55:52 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-rtc-ae10.proxy.aol.com at 152.163.101.14

Message:
Where else in the world will our learders of tommorow stand up in the rain to welcome another man? Sierra Leone. Food for thought.

Subject: AFRICAN/COLONIAL/BACKWARD Mentality
From: Save The Children
To: All
Date Posted: 12:47:14 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: almamysi@hotmail.com
Entered From: steve.accord-ne.org at 156.111.18.242

Message:
I think Tony Blair would do something about this photo. I mean address problems of children in SL.
It may not be deliberate as African Elders eat(the best) before children eat

Subject: Re: This is the mentallity of the current goverment
From: patriot
To: All
Date Posted: 12:29:41 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Why are you surprised? Remember, this is the same Kabbah who ran away to safety in Guinea when the rebels he had been warned against attacked Freetown, and he abandoned Sierra Leoneans to their fate at the hands of the rebels.

The same Sierra vLeoneans whose security he swore to protect when he took the oath of office.

So, why should the selfish coeard now care that school children will catch a cold in the rain while he protects himself and his friend, Blair, from the elements?

Subject: Re: This is the mentallity of the current goverment
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 14:44:08 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
why you nor bin stay wae de rebel den cam? Oh unless if you were one of them like Victor Foh.

Subject: Re: This is the mentallity of the current goverment
From: patriot
To: All
Date Posted: 15:43:02 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
You SLPP traitors are worse than the rebels. You were pretending to protect the people of Freetown. But when the time cam eto prove it, you asll took to your heels, from your President Coward Kabbah down.

Subject: WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE SLPP
From: CADMUS
To: All
Date Posted: 11:41:28 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 82.198.250.9

Message:
Hot on the heels of the US government heaping and showering praises on the successes of th SLPP Government, now comes DFID:..who says under the title 'Reducing poverty in Africa'..."Governance in Sierra Leone, there are signs of improvement with Laws and systems to improve financial management and procurement..."

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER, so why Change?

Subject: Re: WHAT A BUNCH OF BLIND SLPP APOLOGISTS
From: DUMB
To: All
Date Posted: 12:49:38 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
CADMUS:

It is true people say about you blind SLPP apologists like John Leigh, Edmund Koker and yourself -- you never understand anything you read (or write)!

Your fellow incorrigible, Edmund Koker, was earlier today corrected when he displayed a similar lack of understanding of the US embassy's statement.

Try to see if you can understand the following correction of your misunderstanding:

Posted by Colonial Mentality on June 11, 2007 at 10:32:05:

In Reply to: Re: Here is your answer- the Americans don't think so posted by APC on June 11, 2007 at 08:38:26:

Oh ya, Koker, when will you ever understand anything you read? You too fool!

Don't you know that the Americans control the World Bank and through it, the IMF, the two instutitions which wrote the PRSP?

Would you expect such collabarators in the IMF's rape of salone to condemn the PRSP? Even trhough your notorious inability to understand anything you read prevented you from seeing it, the Americvans did NOT praise the corrupt SLPP govt. They merely "expressed hope that the Government of Sierra Leone will "apply the savings from this debt relief to its Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP)."

Bo, Edmund Koker, you too fool!

Subject: Re: WHAT A BUNCH OF BLIND SLPP APOLOGISTS
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 13:40:38 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
the Amnericans did praise the government. You guys will see white and call it green. That is how low you go to tarnish the good IMAGE of the SLPP.
But guess what, we do not owe you anything since our policies are not framed on what your QUACK economic policies.

Subject: Re: WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE SLPP
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 12:09:32 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
CADMUS:

Change to what?

(i) The gang of Victor Tiff-Tiff Tey-Tey Vouchergate?

Or to

(ii) The "ar go do dis; ar go do dat wenn ar ween" gang of junior tribal cult blockheads under alphabet soup under-achieving flunkey leadership who gave government contracts to wives, relatives and friends?

No matter how much one criticizes the current SLPP Administration, it has done a lot in seven years of peace way out of proportion to the credible complaints of corruption harped upon daily by a few individuals in cyberspace.

And the Berewa Administration is going to be an improvement over the current SLPP ADministration. Berewa's presidential mentorship means past mistakes are known and will be avoided; successful policies and practices are known and ready for replication while unsuccessful policies and practices will be avoided.

The Shahid Jamil and the Foolunumku groups, if ever given a chance each, will have no good record to grow on. They will just be making corrupt foolumunku decisions all over again.

I believe the incoming SLPP ADministration will work on replacing the APC bequeated culture of corruption. Thank you. - JL

Subject: Re: WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE SLPP
From: kroobaymom
To: All
Date Posted: 12:50:58 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: kroobaymom@hayoo.com
Entered From: at 206.113.148.2

Message:
JL, you seem to know so much about the efficiency of this government that we we’ll appreciate if you can throw some light on the concessions given to Koidu Holdings and their links to reinstating Kabbah in power. You mean Government can only get $100,000 a month in royalties for a concession worth billions of dollars?

Are you surprised that the people of Kono despise the SLPP for its continued advocacy support for the environmental degradation and pollution they face at the hands of a mining company that has reneged on all its promises?

When last did you ever go out to see where your driver or your house maid and their families live? ONE BAG RES NAR $75,000; PAMAI NAR Le1,000 FOR TAMATIS CUP; OSE RENT NAR IN DOLLARS; Le. 5,000 FOR ONE RUBBER WATA; From the comfort of your home, there is very little of the other side that you are aware of. CAM DON THE TINTED JEEP AND OPEN YOU YAI.

Subject: For A . Iscandri : Should J Leigh recant
From: silent majority
To: All
Date Posted: 11:36:34 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 195.54.227.249

Message:
Readers will have to come to their own conclusions in the light of our exchanges. -Silent majority
I HAVE COME TO A CONCLUSION DO YOU WANT TO HEAR IT? A Iscandri.
-----------------------------------------------------

Counsellor Iscandri,

As declared APC supporter and one who has recently accused JL of defamation I am sure you will agree that your opinion on the facts of JL's case could not avoid the appearance of bias, even though i trust that you would be capable of setting those issues aside.

So what would truly be valuable is if you could put on your 'attorney's hat'and declare your opinion on the matter of principle that i set out below:

Is it POSSIBLE for a SL voter to vote for a candidate for president that he believes to be unfit for the leadership on the basis although the candidate is unfit and remains unfit he is nevertherless the fittest of all the available candidates. And can this voter do so with his candour and honour intact?

YES or NO counsellor?

This principle could be looked at in a completely different environment so for example:

If I say "Tom is dumb" and then I say say "Tom is not dumb"; these are opposing views and i must recant one of them.

If i say "Tom is dumb" and then I say "Tom is smart"; these are opposing views and i must recant one of them.

But if i say "Tom is dumb" and then i then say "Tom is smarter than Dumbo the elephant (a particularly stupid character in childrens stories); then i would submit that the two statements are not contradictory. They stand independently. I do not need to recant one for the other to stand. I can hold those two views with complete honesty. Tom would be misleading others if having heard me say he was smarter than Dumbo he then went around telling people that i said that he was smart.

Do you agree Counsellor?

Subject: Re: For A . Iscandri : Should J Leigh recant
From: Albert Kallon
To: All
Date Posted: 11:49:56 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-142-2-137.range86-142.btcentralplus.com at 86.142.2.137

Message:
i think Bra leigh should have the courage to recant one of his statements because they contadicts each other based on the reasons and evidence presented by Mr Jalloh. that does not demean your integrity in any shape of form as far as i am concerned. i still have great respect for you Bra Leigh and this forum is not going to change that. Thank you

Subject: Lungi airport
From: Please Hel[
To: All
Date Posted: 09:23:19 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-151-3-82.range86-151.btcentralplus.com at 86.151.3.82

Message:
I am going to Freetown next week, and I just learnt that Helicopter services are grounded, and ferry does not work.Under such circumstances, how does one reach Freetown???Should I use a Pampa, or is there any safer way??

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: Please Help
To: All
Date Posted: 12:04:56 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-151-3-82.range86-151.btcentralplus.com at 86.151.3.82

Message:
I am really distressed, and wanted to know the ways of reaching Freetown.I really, regret that I have, inadvertantly, sparked a political debate, including a Long speech from HE J Leigh, and my friends calling it SLPP ferry.I read on a website (I think Cocorioke), that the ferry stopped in the midseas last night

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: Please help
To: All
Date Posted: 19:39:09 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-143-81-151.range86-143.btcentralplus.com at 86.143.81.151

Message:
I think my trip can wait, till I have a clearer picture.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: ADVICE
To: All
Date Posted: 10:13:33 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
Portloko to freetown is 45 mins or less so grab a cab or if you are been picked up go through portloko. but as far as i am concerned, the ferry is running and it is in good condition.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: M. Alieu Iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 12:37:24 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Port Loko to freetown is NOT 45 minutes away. You obviously have not travelled that road in a long time. Besides the road from Lungi to Port Loko is the WORST road that you have ever travelled on. Its worse than the road from Lumley to Tokeh or the road from Songo to Moyamba, Or Marotoka to Meogerie. Secondly ther are no Cabs plying that route from Lungi to Ro Bakeloko

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: ADVICE
To: All
Date Posted: 13:44:30 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
assume there are no CABS. Someone will pick him/her up and use Portloko. It is not that far of a distance.
Any alternate route?

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: M. Alieu iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 15:42:31 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
assume there are no CABS............ Safe assumption. Further assume that they have no one to pick them up with a vehicle?

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 11:53:15 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
ADVICE:

I agree with you that the ferry is running but in my opinion the management of the entire system needs improvement.

But going by road via Port Loko is problematic.

From Lungi to Port Loko town is at least one hour, probably more. It is a very long unsurfaced road full of potholes. Port Loko to Rogbere is 22 miles and at least 40 minutes. The road is presently being widen and surfaced. Part of that road seems to me as if it is going to be also the new wide road under construction to Guinea.

Rogbere to MaSiaka to Freetown could be up to two hours. The road is an excellent hardtop roadway.

The connection linking Lungi to Freetown needs to be improved but building a bridge is not a viable idea at this time. The money is not there. The business is not there.

Even if the money is there, there are far more sensible things to do with it than invest billions for the use of less than 1,500 air passengers a week who might be tolls and the many local traders who might not want to or can afford it.

But bridging the Rokel is a swank idea but it requires such to be done in planning for a highly successful tourist industry! For the time being, let focus on more useful, less expensive basic infrastructure. - JL

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: M. Alieu Iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 12:44:01 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Your facts are WRONG. The road from Portloko downtown which is from the Falaba Road area throgh Old Port loko to Rogberrie Junction is 11 miles and it is unpaved. The road Rogberie to Masiaka is a mere 18 miles of some of the most beautiful road that the APC was responsible for making and it only takes about 20 minutes. The only hold up on the road is the one lane bridge over the Rokel rivers Magbale bridge where depending n the traffic on the bridge one might have a wat of about 10 to 20 minutes.

The rest of your post I am in concordance with.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: Albert Moinina
To: All
Date Posted: 12:11:12 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ftsniuk8.emirates.net.ae at 213.42.21.85

Message:
I cannot agree more on the idea of "less expensive basic infrastructure" than building a Lungi Bridge.Mr. Leigh when I came back from SL at the beginning of this year and shared my experience and views about the infrastructure of the country, SLPP supporters thought it was all about politics.

Sierra Leone, unfortunately, has a long way to go in infrastructure development.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 13:01:10 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
Mr. Moinina:

If SLPPers view you from a political standpoint, such is not unreasonable at all.

Your party argues that merely because the bridge to Lungi was not built or because SLPP is not 100% perfect, etc., etc. power should be given to Mr. Margai.

Is Mr. Margai perfect? What has he ever achieved in his life for him to ask the voters of SLeone to out the sitting governing party and return his untested one-manic party.

In my view he is substantially inferior to VP Berewa, Ernest Koroma, Dr. Momodu Koroma and myself.

You will never catch me secretly setting up a one-manic party or doublecrossing my loyalists or droping-out of school. Nor will I surround myself with some of the political types you guys tarry with or call someone who has made a positive change in his life a "briefcase carrier, and errand boy and a turncoat".

Nor would I do such for 12 whole years without ever realizing such is wholely stupid and contrary to my san san boys' claims or my 'positive change'pledge.

Thank you. - JL

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: M. Aleieu Iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 12:46:27 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Mr. Moinina as much as members of the slpp whine and gripe about what their party has brought to sierra leone, Most of the infrastructure in sierra leone today was built by the APC under siaka Probyn Stevens

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: scaff
To: All
Date Posted: 10:23:58 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
"but as far as i am concerned, the ferry is running and it is in good condition."

Koker, like someone told you today, it looks like you know nothing about Freetown.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: ADVICE
To: All
Date Posted: 10:39:06 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
koker again bo. how you deaf?

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: scaff
To: All
Date Posted: 10:56:10 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Obviously, it is you, Koker. No one but you can be that ignorant while thinking he knows what he is talking about -- the deplorable safety condition of the corrupt and incompetent SLPP's ferries to Lungi.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear you next say that the helicopter service to and from Lungi is safe, "as far as you know!"

Like someone told you, you fool bad, Koker!

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: CADMUS
To: All
Date Posted: 11:17:01 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 82.198.250.9

Message:
So now it is the .......'SLPP FERRIES.' well, I never!
By attacking 'Koker' you only end up exposing your short-comings.

Subject: Re: Lungi airport
From: BIG BOSS MAN
To: All
Date Posted: 12:52:29 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
No It is not only the slpp ferries, it is the "slpp "Used" ferries given to that government by the libyan government as repartions for their role in training and providing arms and ammunition to the rebels (RUF) supported by the slpp to oust the APC which is why the slpp does not have the intestinal fortitude and scrotal sacs to bring an international legal action against Libya for its role in c collaboration wth the slpp to bring death and destruction to our people'

I hope you get the picture boss man

Subject: BEST ADVICE OF THE WEEK
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 07:38:57 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
Posted by Advice on June 11, 2007 at 01:51:54:

In Reply to: SHERMAN APPEARS TO BE A SEMI-LITERATE DUNCE posted by John E. Leigh on June 10, 2007 at 16:55:16:

John Leigh, your writing is unfocused, dim-witted and ungrammatical. For that reason, it is at least ten times longer than it should be. It is also full of lies.

Apparently, like most poor qwriters, you try to make up with long writings what you lack in focus. So, your wqriting becomes an example of how not to write.

Please stop reposting such garbage. You are disgracing yourself by doing so more than you have been disgraced by the sharp intellect of the far better writers on this forum including Sherman.

Subject: Re: BEST ADVICE OF THE WEEK
From: Alieu Ceesay
To: All
Date Posted: 10:22:03 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Like throwing water on a duck's back, your sound advice will likely fell on JL's deaf ears. Cocorioko will be the worse off for having to suffer from reading JL's communist manifesto-length rants.

Subject: Where is Annie Lansana?
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 03:42:43 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 225-65-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.65.225

Message:
She used to be at the forefront of taking British money and the International Community help to areas in Sierra Leone purporting that the SLPP aims to improve the lifes of people.
She will go with paid Journalists and losers to fool the people everywhere. She will launched projects by NACSA and say that his Father Solomon Berewa is an all conquering king to rule.
Where is Annie Lansana. I hardly see her on the SLPP awarenesstimes newspaper.
Has the British called on the Kabbah government to put its house in order after the total deception of Annie Lansana nee Berewa who was going everywhere to fool the ignorant people.
PMDC/APC where are you when the people need to know about the deception of the SLPP. Go out and tell the people that Kabbah/Berewa/Leigh/UNS Jah/JJ Saffa are bent on sucking everything they have.
Where is Annie Lansana, SLPP apologists?

Subject: Re: Where is Annie Lansana?
From: FORMULA SCIENTIST
To: All
Date Posted: 07:28:01 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-074-228-219-218.sip.asm.bellsouth.net at 74.228.219.218

Message:
Listen NEWS,if you do not leave my wife alone,I will tell my FATHER-IN-LAW to BAN and EXILE you from SALONE,so that we can continue stealing money from your country.You know my wife had just finished building a FOUR STOREY MANSION,so what else do you want? Monies my FATHER-IN-LAW had stoling from the Salone peole?

Subject: Re: Where is Annie Lansana?
From: Jiga
To: All
Date Posted: 16:19:41 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ool-4573708c.dyn.optonline.net at 69.115.112.140

Message:
Hey Anie is in Bed...we had a wonderful nite.Stop asking for my babe like that
Jiga

Subject: “So who benefits from the revival of legal mining?
From: kroobaymom
To: All
Date Posted: 19:16:31 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: kroobaymom@yahoo.com
Entered From: at 65.117.246.251

Message:
"So who benefits from the revival of legal mining in Sierra leone? What are President Kabbah and Vice President Berewa’s interest in the mercenary ‘slash-and-burn’ mining company Koidu Holdings? “Government revenues are small. Government dealings with the larger-scale sector are not well publicized and include significant tax concessions. According to DIAR 2006, government revenue from Koidu Holdings in 2005 was only around $100,000 a month.

Exactly who gains how much is far from clear because the industry lacks transparency and competition”. Brian Thomson Sierra Leone: Reform or Relapse? Conflict and Governance Reform

“The six properties/concessions that the company DiamondWorks2 admitted to owning in Sierra Leone in 1997, include diamond resources of almost 6,5 million carats in the proven, probable, or inferred category of resources. At an average price of US $300 per carat, this translates into US $2 billion to be gained from these concessions alone.

Kabbah had arranged for funding for the Sandline operation through Rakesh Saxena, a banker and Indian national wanted for embezzlement in Thailand. Private military companies in Sierra Leone own diamond operations in Sierra Leone and was promised that, in return for his financial assistance, a restored government would grant him certain concessions. Ian Douglas, Fighting for diamonds –Private military companies in Sierra Leone.

Subject: HOW DFID AID IS SPENT IN SALONE
From: DFID
To: All
Date Posted: 17:09:07 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Sierra Leone
In the past 3 years Sierra Leone has received approximately £91 million in aid from DFID. In the coming financial year (07/08) DFID will provide a further £40 million.

Making aid effective
In the absence of domestic revenue DFID (supported by the other donors – the European Commission, the World Bank and African Development Bank) provided budget support in recognition of the need to pay public sector workers and start delivery of basic services to citizens. This was critical to stabilizing the country and establishing economic stability.

In 2006/2007 DFID’s bilateral country programme amounted to £40 million of which £12.5 million has gone on budget support through Government systems. Release of funds has been conditional on progress on certain agreed benchmarks with government, including on public financial management reforms and tackling corruption.

As part of the drive for donor harmonisation DFID and the European Commission have in 2006 developed a new joint country strategy. Over the next 5 years (2007 – 2012) DFID will continue to build on the gains in the security and governance sectors but will do more to stimulate and sustain economic growth, improve infrastructure and improve basic service delivery to poor people.

Governance
Poor governance is a cause of poverty. People suffer when governments don’t allow participation in political life, provide access to justice, deliver adequate public services or control corruption. Despite existing problems with

DFID: Reducing poverty in Africa
governance in Sierra Leone there are signs of improvement with new laws and systems to improve
governance in Sierra Leone there are signs of improvement with new laws and systems to improve financial management and procurement being introduced.

Through its work with the Sierra Leone Government
• DFID is helping to tackle corruption through a multi-pronged approach including support to the Anti-Corruption Commission, Auditor-General, public financial management reform, civil service reform, and strengthening greater citizen ‘demand’ for accountability through decentralization, support to civil society and the media.

• DFID is supporting improved communication and accountability between civil society and national and local government through the £7.5m ENCISS (Enhancing the Interaction and Interface between Civil Society and the State to Improve Poor Peoples lives) programme which seeks to increase the capacity of civil society to participate in, influence, contribute to and monitor the Poverty Reduction Strategy and local government policy, planning and implementation.

Under the £2.5m PIVOT (Promoting Information and Voice for Transparency on Elections) programme, DFID is strengthening civil society and the media to support greater participation in electoral processes, particularly by marginalized groups, through civic education and improved provision of information. DFID also supports NGOs to implement programmes to support youth empowerment including Student Partnership Worldwide and Conciliation Resources.

• DFID is providing £4m to support a civil service reform programme carrying out management and functional reviews of ministries and working with Government to improve the effectiveness of Government.

• DFID is also providing £8m to support a joint DFID/WB/EC decentralisation programme to improve the capacity of local government.

Health

FID has committed £1.3m to a malaria prevention initiative over two years (until December 2008). This is delivered through Care International and focuses on combating Malaria through the distribution of bed nets.

As part of its Country Strategy for 2007-12 DFID is planning to substantially increase its contribution in the health sector, focusing on sexual, reproductive and child health.

Education
Since the end of the conflict DFID has not provided support directly to the education sector, but a proportion of DFID budget support paid through the Government has however provided for the provision of education services, including the payment of teachers salaries.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children
DFID is providing UNICEF with £1.3 million over 2 years (2006-08) to implement a programme to empower children, families and communities to provide care and protection for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in 6 Districts in Sierra Leone. This programme aims to improve the well-being of the children in relation to health, education, and livelihoods, as well as reducing violence and increasing their participation.

Subject: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: ABK
To: All
Date Posted: 17:07:34 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-69-140-42-143.hsd1.md.comcast.net at 69.140.42.143

Message:
Click on the link below to read how thw SLPP led Government succeeded in ttransforming Sierra Leone to a drug transit center.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 03:35:31 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 225-65-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.65.225

Message:
Thank you MR ABK to bring this news here. Last week, I wrote about how the SLPP governmnet and its party supporters with government jobs are allowing Nigerians and other crooks to use the airport to smuggle drugs into Europe.
I even said that when Sierra Leonean travellers will be exposed to strip searched, we will be the first to say that the British are racists.
This needs to be said that the SLPP leadership with a Guinean background has betrayed Sierra Leone. It is high time, we process ttrue Sierra Leoneans from those who have half parents from neighbouring Countries.
Sierra Leone will soon be blacklisted. Shame on all those who are behind this nasty deal to stain our Countyry;s image and its good citizens.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: Half Parent
To: All
Date Posted: 18:20:55 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cpc1-lewi7-0-0-cust758.bmly.cable.ntl.com at 86.1.106.247

Message:
News, What do you mean by saying 'True Sierra Leoneans' from those who have half parent from.......'

You must be a SLAVE........You Toilet Cleaner. WHEN ARE YOU GOING BACK TO SIERRA LEONE? FUCKING WANKKA!!!!!!!

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: boli
To: All
Date Posted: 15:21:54 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: boli@yahoo.com
Entered From: 80-44-149-1.dynamic.dsl.as9105.com at 80.44.149.1

Message:
Could you please tell me where you live now? Are you in Sierra Leone? If you are not, you must be ashamed of yourself. You are a bigot and a fool

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: MM
To: All
Date Posted: 04:31:52 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-wan-217-154-29-181.mistral.co.uk at 217.154.29.181

Message:
"It is high time, we process ttrue Sierra Leoneans from those who have half parents from neighbouring Countries." -------- news

You dont know what you are talking about, BTW are you Sierra Leonean? you must be an IDIOT, TRIBALISTIC BASTARD.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 09:36:27 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ip4da2899b.direct-adsl.nl at 77.162.137.155

Message:
MM, I will not surprise you slapped your Mother and share the same woman with your Father. Someone like you has no blessing and because you have molested yopur Parents and allow your sisters to slepp with the highest bidder, you will not mind to curse.
You can pull a man from the bush, but you cannot take the bush out of the man.
Go and swear to your Parents

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: MM
To: All
Date Posted: 10:05:31 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-wan-217-154-29-181.mistral.co.uk at 217.154.29.181

Message:
news,

You are wrong, actually I FUCK your MUM with means I share the same Tart with your DAD. How about that. I dont mind fucking you and your DAD as well, Up the ASS and see if it FIT.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: foday mansaray
To: All
Date Posted: 10:26:04 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: fmansaray@aol.com
Entered From: at 74.8.30.110

Message:
you guys have to be ashamed of yourselves.You cannot even agree to disagree on anything without using unacceptable means of communication.

This is so gross that your mothers will be rolling on their graves.If they are alive ,Please go to your mothers and ask for some good prayers. You need that before coming back to the forum.

Enough respect and peace.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: Hammer
To: All
Date Posted: 11:15:42 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-69-140-42-143.hsd1.md.comcast.net at 69.140.42.143

Message:
I would advice that the moderator reintroduce IP nos.so that we can identify who these cyber hooligans are.They can't even have an honest debate without using curse words,that just shows you what their characters is like.

Subject: Re: SLPP SUCCESSES:SIERRA LEONE A DRUG TRANSIT CENTER
From: MM
To: All
Date Posted: 04:26:50 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-wan-217-154-29-181.mistral.co.uk at 217.154.29.181

Message:

"It is high time, we process ttrue Sierra Leoneans from those who have half parents from neighbouring Countries." -------- news

You dont know what you are talking about, BTW are you Sierra Leonean? you must be an IDIOT, TRABALISTIC BASTARD.

Subject: Liberia's Corruption Mess: NSA Eyeing Top Officials in Sirle
From: Rodney D. Sieh
To: All
Date Posted: 16:36:25 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Liberia's Corruption Mess: NSA Eyeing Top Officials in Sirleaf’s Govt, Source Says
06/07/07 - Rodney D. Sieh, rsieh@FrontPageAfrica.com






The National Security Agency is seriously looking into concrete evidence involving financial dealings of some senior officials in the administration of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an Executive Mansion source told FrontPageAfrica Thursday.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf meets with members of her Cabinet during a recent session.
“The focus of the probe is targeted at people that a lot of alarm is being raised on. The NSA is working very hard. But she (President Sirleaf) wants evidence on a lot of the cases that have been cited", the source confided. Asked who the top tier officials subject to probe were, the source declined to name names for fear of upsetting the investigation.

FPA has gathered that one name being seriously eyed is Agriculture Minister Dr. Chris Toe. “That is one Ministry being closely monitored, big time", the source confirmed. It is not clear why the NSA and not the Justice Ministry or General Audit Commission is handling the probe, but it is believed that some senior ministers have been depositing huge sums of monies in foreign bank accounts.

During her inauguration, Sirleaf pledged to end corruption and require all of her ministers to declare their assets. While most did declare in the first year, observers say in the wake of recent reports of widespread corruption in the administration, Sirleaf needs to revisit the pledge and have ministers declare again.

Documents (including memos and reports) in the possession of FPA reveal damaging acts of corruption at several ministries and agencies. At the Ministry of Agriculture, Toe reportedly operates with an inverted chain of command. “The directors, personnel, procurement, Finance, Asset Management, Communication, training an General Audit report directly to the Minister. The directors are closely supervised by the Assistant Minister for Administration, who also reports directly to the Minister, especially in connection to finance and the procurement of goods and services,” according to a copy of a report obtained from the Ministry.

Shortchanged at CARI

Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Chris Toe
The sources who provided the documents to FPA begged that it not be published as a supporting document to protect their identity. However, FPA has chosen to provide a glimpse into the report to support a case for a cleanup of the corrupt system in Liberia at a risk of alienating some of our sources, but hopefully for the good of Liberia – this needs to be told and investigated.

For example, at the Central Agriculture Institute, a vital organ to the overall development of agriculture, FPA has learned that the director general (designate) and other staff members are specialized and highly trained but do not enjoy the autonomy and flexibility generally associated with research work. "The resources of the organ are being manipulated by the Minister. For example the total quantity of gasoline/fuel given to the CARI leadership up to now is only worth $US7,822, but the total amount used from CARI funds by the end of February totals $23,664.00, leaving a balance of more than $15,000 to be accounted for," according to the documents.

One CARI official informed FPA that “the allowances of CARI staff are sometimes diverted, sometimes to pay some of the newly hired associates of the Minister, who in technical terms are illegal employees since they are not yet on government payroll. FPA gathered that recently, when the director of CARI requested his allowance arrears be paid, the minister agreed to pay him two-months allowance totaling $2,000 but in two installments. The first installment of $1,000 (a net pay of $804.00) was provided in check and is now requesting to be paid in cash instead because there was no money in the account and the check bounced”.

The report further states that employment of personnel is done by the Minister, generally without interview or scrutiny. “If the Minister approves a list of persons to be employed, the list is given to the Director of Personnel who writes the letter of employment that is approved by the Minister. A PAN (Personnel Action Notice) is generally prepared and sent to the Civil Service Agency while the individual immediately resumes work. These new employees are paid monthly allowances, pending the placement of their names on the government payroll.

The minister is also accused of being fond of giving away contracts for the purchase of fuel, repair of equipment, especially computers. In one instance, a recruit was brought in for an interview conducted by independent consultant. Even though the recruit passed the interview and carried out maintenance of the Ministry’s computers, his hiring did not stop the Minister from allocating funds for computer maintenance to another firm of their choice. “However, although the maintenance of the Ministry's computers has been carried out by technicians employed by the ministry, the minister chooses to pay the company he hired,” according to the documents.

Flawed Financial System

One senior official at the Ministry informed FPA that the goal has been to ensure that an acceptable financial control mechanism was put in place to keep track of the Ministry’s account which would have included a system of electronic management of financial and human resource management. “We had earlier told our financial managers that any system whereby only two persons were involved in approving and signing checks was risky. And if the approving signatory were the boss, then there could be no accountability. This fell on deaf ears,” said the official.

The official continues: “We also advised that withdrawals from our account at the National Bank should only be done through approved vouchers stating the reason for withdrawal. We wanted to ensure that at least three or more signatures were mandatory on such vouchers yet to be designed and printed. To our surprise, a large volume of printed voucher forms were acquired with signatures of only the controller and the Minister required. Since then, withdrawals of all sorts continue to take place. By the way, all funds in the Ministry of Agriculture account are simply discretional and private to Dr. J.Chris Toe’s account.”

The official said all contract, all purchases are unilaterally controlled by Toe. “This is why a $45,000 Nissan Patrol Trooper, slated to be bought for the minister, was easily changed to a sixty thousand US Toyota Land Cruiser. Friends are given contracts that pay lavishly, even if they cannot deliver. Recently, two computer organizations have benefited from contracts totaling more that $US25,000.000 Their joint output can hardly be put at $US6,000. A business entity called West African Industries Inc. (WAI), has already received the amount of US $149,440.00 for the purchase of four tractors and associated equipment. They are yet to deliver the items.”

The documents reveal that the Minister’s handpicked directors and assistants have failed to yield to scrutiny and with the minister’s backing rejected pleas to become more transparent. “The Assistant Minister of Administration is the only one to supervise and probe activities of directors and report to the Minister. She also distributes gas/fuel and scratch cards after approval of over all allocat1on by the Minister even when it comes to the details of distribution. However, up to the end of February 2007, about U.S. $121,030 was expended on gas and fuel, but not more than $US90, 000.00 worth of fuel had been consumed. This means that no less than US$30,000 should be accounted for.”

The official pleaded with Sirleaf to set up systems of checks and balances within the Ministries and Agencies. “Government should not leave this task solely to organizational heads. Policies regarding employment, procurement of goods and services and financial management should be designed and enforced with the various Ministries without exception. While it is important to have competent and reliable leaders, it is even more important to have reliable systems and procedures.”

Sensing the total usurpation of administrative functions by the Minister, FPA has been informed that a senior official at the ministry prepared a memo to all department heads, with copy to the Minister on March 27, 2006, detailing the functions of the Department of Administration. However, shortly thereafter, the minister and an official were involved in a heated exchange following which the Minister insisted that he had to personally approve each and every employment.

When a motorbike was assigned to the Bureau of National Fisheries, which at the time, despite its economic importance did not have a bike, the Minister reportedly became jittery. “He prepared a memo for the bulletin stating that effective as of that moment June 12, 2006, “no transfers (i.e. assignment, distribution, contracting, lending etc) of the Ministry’s asset, or resource (tangible or intangible, physical or economic), regardless of value can be made without the written authorization of the Minister of Agriculture” Since then, the Minister reportedly runs the Ministry of Agriculture single-handedly. He has employed a network of relatives and friends purportedly to improved the administrative output. A network of friends and relatives who take prime instructions from the Minister. He employs, transfers and dismisses at will without respect for Civil Service regulations. He must personally approve all vouchers and checks," according to the documents.

Prince’s $2.1M shortchanged housing project

LPRC MD Harry Greaves

A lot of questions have been raised over the distribution of funds donated by Saudi Prince Alwaleed for this project along the Robertsfield Highway.
Meanwhile FPA has learned that a key reason why sub-standard homes were built in the “Rural Shelter Assistance Pilot Project” at the Mamba Karba District site along the Robertsfield Highway, Margibi County, is due to the misdirection of much of the funds.

A senior official confided to FPA late Wednesday that he believes only a third of the funds were used for the project which could explain the substandard conditions of the homes built.

In 2005, the National Transitional Government of Liberia established the Liberian Charitable Gift Fund (LCGF) and a five-member committee was established to supervise and coordinate the implementation of the projects headed by Mr. Harry Greaves, now Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC). The four projects included the rehabilitation of delivery rooms, labs and operating theaters in eight rural counties; the distribution of textbooks to elementary school students; the construction of basic housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs), and the purchase and distribution of drugs and medical supplies to public health facilities. Funding allocated for each of the four projects was as follows: Renovation of labs, delivery rooms and operating theaters in eight rural health care facilities – US$640,000; Textbooks for primary schools – US$500,000; Housing of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) – US$538,000; Purchase of drugs and medical supplies – US$360,000.

The committee’s implementing partners were the ministries of Health, Education and the Liberia Repatriation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Commission (LRRRC).

The Administrative Officer of the Liberian Charitable Gift Fund Secretariat admitted to FPA recently that the housing project was far below standard and did not meet the expectation of the Liberian President who recently turned down an invitation to dedicate the facility.

The official wondered the Chairman of the Board of LCGF, Mr. Harry Greaves would be making stringent efforts and lobbying with goodwill partners and philanthropists to muster some funds to make some modification on the units, when the first batch of funds were not utilized properly.

Greaves is reportedly seeking more money to modify an inside toilet, kitchen facilities as well as eight additional wells for the community

Subject: Re: Liberia's Corruption Mess: NSA Eyeing Top Officials in Sirle
From: ABK
To: All
Date Posted: 14:38:07 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-69-140-42-143.hsd1.md.comcast.net at 69.140.42.143

Message:
What do you expect when a man leaves a $300,000 a year job as president of a university, for a cabinet position in Liberia.

Subject: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 16:36:14 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
ALieu sesay,the kamajor fighter,the blood of the innocent will haunt you and your family till the rest of your life.Do you know that Kabbah's brief case was stolen with thousands of dollars in it?some few years ago in France.From top to bottom,it is a disease in the slpp.Misusing state funds.How much money was spent for you to stay in the us?At present,you are desperate and in a state of dilema,because you are confuse what to do after the removal of your scoundrel from office.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 18:13:48 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
None. Unlike you and your elks, I have no blood on my hands, never been a kamajor although i whole heartedly support them, i am not in this country on anyone's financial support, i have met Kabba once and i like the GUY, i am an SLPP to the CORE.

What has Kabba's Briefcase got to do with me or any discussion we are having on this forum?

Oh by the way If Victor FOH comes to this country, the FBI will have to know.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 05:59:33 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Are you justifying the barbaric, cannibalistic and tribalistic acts of the kamajors? AS for kabbah,while the country was in need of foreign currency namely dollars,his brief case was stolen in France with huge amount of dollars.Is it politically or morally correct,as a head of state travelling with such a big amount of cash?Where was he taking that money?Who was the owner of the cash?This is my concern pa Alieu just as many Sierra-Leoneans at that time did.Should we give deaf ears and blind eyes to leaders,simply because of tribal,party,regional affiliation or just for the sake of likeness as you have indicated?In politics,leaders are obliged to serve the society.If they fail,then leadership should be relinquised morally or constitutionally.In most cases,especially in the African politics,where leaders lack the moral consciousness will instead remain to strip all human dignity from the people by their misrule.Pa Alieu,you can support any party you tend to,it is your constitutional right,but the question remains: are we supporting a party for reasons I have indicated earlier above,or for the betterment for our societies and our people?I will never applaud any murderous act in any form by anybody or a group of people as you do.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 07:17:30 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
"I will never applaud any murderous act in any form by anybody or a group of people as you do."

when your brothers the SOBELS and the AFRC where busy killing our people what did you do? Where were you when your Kit and Kins where killing and maiming innocent people? where were you when the APC thugs were busy killing anyone who does not agree with them?
What did you say when the masses were standing in line for everything from food to gas, where were you?
where were you when the likes of Agba setani were roaming the south and east killing other tribes?
Where were you when your Sec Gen Victor Foh joined the AFRC/RUF and help killing innocent students?
What did you say? Nothing .
Look and search your soul and ask God for forgiveness for what you and your tribes-men have done to the people of Sierra Leone.
I will be forever thankful to the KAMAJORS and ECOMOG for making sure IDIOTS like you did not succeed in the total distruction of our country.
When you talk to VICTOR FOH tell him the FBI might want to have a word with him.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 08:08:52 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Pa Alieu,this is the equation:
NDOGBORWUSU-KAI KAI COUP-REBEL-KAMAJOR-SLPP.By the way most of the alleged apc thugs you are talking about are the main stream of your ahlaki slpp party.You hate Mr Victor,because for you it is unusual for a southerner especially a mende to be part of the civilized APC people.APC thugs as you have alleged have never kill and ate a Sierra-Leonean.Under the APC,I was having at least a meal in school,FBC students had allowances,Light and water supply was there,althought it was not 24hours etc.Now under your incompetent party people hardly get a meal a day,forget about water and electricity,unpaid teachers and lecturers etc.When last did you visit Sierra-Leone?Pa Alieu dont remain to be an idiot and ignorant.You claim to be educated as your kabbah and berewa,yet we are the poorest on earth.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY WAS SPONSORED BY THE SLPP-KAMAJOR
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 09:04:11 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
You call the APC civilized? Hehehehehe heh heh heheh. What the h is wrong with you?
I do not hate Victor Foh, what i do not like is a Rebel and that is what he is. An RUF/AFRC spokesman.
Now you have him as your Secretary general. High Barb is an albertros around your neck. The selection of Victor Foh as Sec gen by APC was a sad mistake, a political miscalculation. Una go sufer for dat.
Thank you APC. I bet you guys are probably kicking yourselves in the ASS right now for that stupid move.

Subject: Sierra Leone: Reform or relapse? - Conflict and governance r
From: Brian Thomson
To: All
Date Posted: 16:26:07 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Source: Chatham House

Date: 04 Jun 2007
Sierra Leone: Reform or relapse? - Conflict and governance reform
Brian Thomson A Chatham House Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sierra Leone is a success story of international intervention to put an end to a brutal civil war. Yet there is considerable disillusionment in many quarters at the lack of progress in tackling the issues that caused the war, such as corruption and the exclusion of many from access to resources and public services. This report describes the collaboration between the international community and the Sierra Leone government in building and reforming state institutions during the civil war and its aftermath. It assesses the progress made, draws conclusions about the achievements and suggests lessons for donors that may be applicable more widely.

It is over five years since the end of the civil war and, at this distance in time, it is easy to play down what has been achieved since the dark days of 1999 and 2000. That would be a mistake. The collaboration between the government and the international community successfully stabilized the security situation and put an end to widespread violence and fear. The government’s presence has been re-established throughout the country. Many refugees and displaced people have returned and the economy has begun to recover. However, Sierra Leone remains stubbornly at the bottom of the UN Human Development Index and recent improvements may not be sustainable unless other dimensions of governance improve too. Reestablishing institutions carries with it the risk that old abuses will return.

The government has made good progress in reforming the armed forces and police. Another strength was the government’s effective management of the economy as a whole. The diamond industry is much better regulated than during the chaos of the civil war period but it is far from fully transparent and the working conditions of alluvial miners remain a source of festering grievances. The government’s attempts to tackle widespread corruption through the judicial process have made little impact. Better systems have been introduced to manage public money but implementation is at an early stage. Consequently, it is too soon to say that opportunities for corruption have been reduced on a sustainable basis.

Establishing the district councils was a major achievement. However, the rivalry with the chiefdoms means that it is far from clear that decentralization will succeed in promoting stronger citizen participation and better service delivery. Traditional rural elites remain very powerful. Further reform is needed, including reform of the chieftaincy.

The 2002 elections at the end of the war were judged a success, in spite of significant irregularities. However, the 2004 local government poll was problematic and this is a challenging background to the 2007 national elections. So far, little progress has been made in reforming the judicial system and civil service, or in developing credible checks on executive power through parliament, the media and civil society.

In general terms, progress was greater when reforms were supported by a coalition of interests which included both internal and external (donor) actors. Good examples are the security sector, police and local government reform. The government and donors also shared an interest in making the diamond industry respectable under the Kimberley process and safeguarding the flow of aid by tackling corruption and improving financial management. However, local commitment in those areas was tempered by resistance from vested interests and reform has not made much headway. Consequently, making institutions effective has proved much more difficult than setting them up.

Traditionally, the source of political power in Sierra Leone is in patronage networks and it seems that the old patterns are emerging again. This does not mean that good development outcomes are beyond reach or that violent conflict will return. However, further progress will depend on building appropriate coalitions of interests and taking opportunities for reform as they arise. The international community can be part of such coalitions but only if it is willing to make a long-term commitment and develop a thorough understanding of local needs and interests.

Subject: SLPP IS FIGHTING A LOST BATTLE
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 16:19:48 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Your days are over and time to pack up and leave.You failed the nation,due to your incompetence,greed,selfishness,corruption,tribalism and above all,lack of love for the mother land.

Subject: Judgement Day- for Berewa- Cry Freetown -time is up
From: foday mansaray
To: All
Date Posted: 22:57:15 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: fmansaray@aol.com
Entered From: host-24-225-160-74.patmedia.net at 24.225.160.74

Message:
It is my sincere hope that the international Community and stakeholder start the process of transition
before it is too late.

Solomon Berewa has been buying time by hanging on to any loop-hole he can find in our constitution.From walking on a thing-line of the end of parliament to maximizing and utilizing every last minutes of Kabba's Term in office which actuallly ends on may 12th 2007.
Here comes the last 90 days which brings us to August 11, 2007 election day.The only way Elections cannot take place on august 11th 2007, if there is a state of emergency and we are under serious political crisis and unrest.What is this Govt. trying to do ? We are already in trouble by not allowing enough time for transition and Berewa plans to rule by decree without a state of emergency.

This elections could have been done smoothly and long time ago if Berewa knows he was going to win.

Please international community and stakeholders- open you eyes and see THat the very old lawyer is actually praticing his defense skills all in the name of buying votes with funds set aside for infrastructural development just like liberia.

Liberia is another subject by itself.Outstanding commitment is not the word for Liberian President.What she did in 150 days SLPP did not do in 10 years.

If Berewa have his own money to campaign why don't he call for the closure of parlament and why don't he be a man like all the other candidates, then we are going know the gba-kie from the a-to-ku .

Subject: Judgement Day- for Berewa- Cry Freetown -time is up
From: foday mansaray
To: All
Date Posted: 22:49:07 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: fmansaray@aol.com
Entered From: host-24-225-160-74.patmedia.net at 24.225.160.74

Message:
It is my sincere hope that the international Community and stakeholder start the process of transition
before it is too late.

Solomon Berewa has been buying time by hanging on to any loop-hole he can find in our constitution.From walking on a thing-line of the end of parliament to maximizing and utilizing every last minutes of Kabba's Term in office which actuallly ends on may 12th 2007.
Here comes the last 90 days which brings us to August 11, 2007 election day.The only way Elections cannot take place on august 11th 2007, if there is a state of emergency and we are under serious political crisis and unrest.What is this Govt. trying to do ? We are already in trouble by not allowing enough time for transition and Berewa plans to rule by decree without a state of emergency.

This elections could have been done smoothly and long time ago if Berewa knows he was going to win.

Please international community and stakeholders- open you eyes and see THat the very old lawyer is actually praticing his defense skills all in the name of buying votes with funds set aside for infrastructural development just like liberia.

Liberia is another subject by itself.Outstanding commitment is not the word for Liberian President.What she did in 150 days SLPP did not do in 10 years.

If Berewa have his own money to campaign why don't he call for the closure of parlament and why don't he be a man like all the other candidates, then we are going know the gba-kie from the a-to-ku .

Subject: Re: SLPP IS FIGHTING A LOST BATTLE
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 17:05:12 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
Which party would your prefer to run things?

Subject: Re: SLPP IS FIGHTING A LOST BATTLE
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 06:05:56 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
It can be the APC or PMDC,but not the present party that has left our nation in misery and stripped all human dignity from our people.

Subject: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: san san boy
To: All
Date Posted: 15:30:23 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
In the past few years, chiefly thanks to British lobbying, Sierra Leone has benefited from more international concern than almost any other country. Towards the end of the war it had the world's biggest UN peacekeeping presence - more than 17,000 troops. Britain's high-profile military engagement involved the Paras, Navy, Gurkhas and the SAS and, at the time, was the most expensive British military campaign since the Falklands. Later millions of pounds were pledged to create an army and police force and see through disarmament programs for 56,000 combatants, including children.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: Observer No 2
To: All
Date Posted: 03:45:13 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-151-3-82.range86-151.btcentralplus.com at 86.151.3.82

Message:
You question is inaccurate and unfair.By his utterances, JL is pushing people away from SLPP.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 03:57:05 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 225-65-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.65.225

Message:
Observer2, where did you learn english?
Please, go back to your school master and asks him to interprete my question;look here, it says "John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP"?
In other words, I was simply saying that John Leigh is waging a fruitless campaign to make SLPP a good party.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: NATO
To: All
Date Posted: 16:06:37 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
What was Britain's contribution to NATO in ousting Milosovich? Britaimn spent hundreds of millions ogf pounds(if not billions) to support that operation. And this was before British troops went to salone.The writer should check his history books again.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: san san boy
To: All
Date Posted: 16:21:06 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
You damn lie. An ordinary m,an like you. Your only influence is to walk at the corridor of Kabbah's State house, America foot if not almost of the expenditure to deter Serb troops. I wonder if you suscribed to any magazine or newspaper.
The Fench, Germans,Italian were all part of that campaiggn. Unlike, the paid SLPP journalists in Sierra Leone, the writer did his homework very good. Remember, he writes for one of Britain best newspapers.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 16:12:10 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
SLPP, does not have any valid reason to defend its maladministration and reckless handling of the money it has got from the UK.
How dare you to come and write trash. What has Britain role in fighting elsewhere has to do with the rampant corruption of SLPP rogues.
Please, do your homwork properly and try not to distort the truth. SLPP has milked from the people too muc now it is time to expose your thievery ways.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: SCRATCH
To: All
Date Posted: 15:55:13 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
"Britain's high-profile military engagement involved the Paras, Navy, Gurkhas and the SAS and, at the time, was the most expensive British military campaign since the Falklands"

This is definitely untrue, and I am strating to doubt the credibility of the writer. Britain sent less than 100 soldiers in salone, and majority of them left in less than a month.

" Next month's planned presidential and parliamentary elections have been delayed until August and the reason given - the expected weather - has failed to convince the people."

This is another lie. We all know why the elections were postponed, and the weather was not one of the reasons.Does the writer have a clue about what he is writing?

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: SCRATCH
To: All
Date Posted: 15:57:33 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
I meant less than 1000 soldiers.

Subject: Re: John Leigh is your campaign fair to keep SLPP?
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 16:16:15 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
That number is adequately good. We are talking about trained SAS and well equipped developed army. You should be ashamed of yourself to argue that Britain's support was minimal.
Ungrateful SLPP, you wll pay a heavy price in August for failing to be honest.

Subject: PMDC?APC this is a good PR scoop. Use radio to tell
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 15:27:36 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
Senior sources in Sierra Leone believe Britain is about to freeze a £15m payment to the West African nation amid evidence of endemic corruption that has seen millions of pounds in aid line the pockets of dishonest officials while ordinary people struggle in conditions of catastrophic poverty .
Britain, as the single largest donor country, gives the small country more than £50m a year, including £12m for its armed forces and the £15m direct payment to the Treasury, which is due in July to cover public servants' salaries.

Subject: Re: PMDC?APC this is a good PR scoop. Use radio to tell
From: VAL COLLIER
To: All
Date Posted: 16:01:41 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Val Collier, former commissioner of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission, said Britain and other aid donors were hypocritical: 'When money is given, checks and balances should be imposed. A large share of the money is spent on sending foreign consultants here to write reports; they come with their laptops in their slingbags, like intellectual mercenaries. Such spending does not put food in the bellies of the people of Sierra Leone.'

Subject: Re: PMDC?APC this is a good PR scoop. Use radio to tell
From: DFID
To: All
Date Posted: 16:00:42 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
But a source for the Department for International Development (Dfid) disputed this last night, insisting the 'payment will be released' but admitted that some concerns remain about the ability of the Sierra Leone government to meet certain requirements such as accounting for the aid they receive and reaching certain benchmarks.

Subject: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: Dr. C. CURTIS-THOMAS
To: All
Date Posted: 13:26:46 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 198.24.31.125

Message:
THE SLPP WILL ACCOUNT FOR EMBEZZLED FUNDS AFTER ELECTIONS
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Cocorioko Forum ] [ FAQ ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by MUSA KAMARA on June 10, 2007 at 05:22:02:

No stone would be left untouch immediately after the elections.From the slpmb crook, down to his least man in the failed slpp party and government, must account for the millions of dollars donated to the nation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by APC on June 10, 2007 at 11:09:57:

In Reply to: THE SLPP WILL ACCOUNT FOR EMBEZZLED FUNDS AFTER ELECTIONS posted by MUSA KAMARA on June 10, 2007 at 05:22:02:

After your Daddy and Uncle pay back the monies they stole from our country. Remember your POPs owe the government 100million leones.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

so...whose father and uncle are we talking about here?

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 22:50:23 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
The man calling himself Musa Kamara

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: KONGOSAH TIMES
To: All
Date Posted: 04:09:36 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
THE MAN CALLING HIMSELF MUSA KAMARA MAY NOT BE WHO YOU THINK THAT HE IS. YOU ARE REALLY SEEING SHADOWS OF THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BUT TOO GUN SHY TO NAME BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU DARE CALL HIM BY HIS NAME YOUR ASS WILLBE ALL OVER THE PLACE. GO AHEAD CALL THE NAME PUNK ITS NOT MUSA KAMARA YOU WANT TO CALL IT IS THE OTHER PERSON WHOSE NAME SHALL NOT BE CALLED. GO AHEAD SENGBE PUNK GO AHEAD AND CALL IT.

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 07:20:41 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
everybody is SHENGBE. You are the PUNK for not knowing what to say and when to say it.
APC has a lot of thieves and Musa Kamara knows what i am talking about unless if MUSA is.....

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: Boto bata detector
To: All
Date Posted: 07:26:38 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
unless if MUSA is...

Your punk ass thieving fada from slpmb?

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 07:57:44 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
so you are the one whose dad owe the sa lone people? MUSA

Subject: Re: SO...WHOSE FATHER OWES SIERRA LEONE MONEY AND WHY?
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 08:33:28 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
nor men dem nar fen plaba den dae fen plaba. Just ignore dem.

Subject: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Dr. C. CURTIS-THOMAS
To: All
Date Posted: 12:39:22 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: RNMDTWO@YAHOO.COM
Entered From: at 198.24.31.125

Message:
MOST MEMBERS OF SLPP ELECTORAL COLLEGE MORE INTERESTED IN MONEY---BUFFY BAILOR

By Joseph Kamanda

A former Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP ) parliamentary aspirant, Buffy Bailor, who lost the party's symbol to opponent, Victor Lewis, of Constituency One-hundred-and-eleven in the Western Area, has reacted to his defeat during a press conference held at Percival Street, Freetown.

Mr. Bailor , who claimed to be the fittest candidate in the primary elections, blamed his defeat on the Electoral College but said that he will soldier on to ensure that the SLPP wins the elections. He alleged that most members of the Electoral College were interested in money instead of the caliber of candidate that will be representing Constituency One-hundred-and-eleven in parliament.

Mr. Bailor said that there are certain weaknesses in the Electoral College which need to be address as the college comprises of people that determine who should represent the interest of Constituency One-hundred-and-eleven in the legislature.
He called on the SLPP party executive to set criteria for the selection of delegates to the Electoral College. (COCORIOKO NEWSPAPER )

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: CONCORD TIMES
To: All
Date Posted: 14:24:24 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Bailor said, "These things need to be corrected urgently because these delegates would be deciding the fate of our beloved country. They would be choosing the people who would represent us in parliament." He, however, congratulated Victor Lewis for emerging as the victor while he maintained that the process of casting votes was done in an open and transparent manner. ----CONCORD TIMES

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 13:00:19 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
It is wise not to cry wolf when your party members deny you a symbol. Your turn will come - strengthen the fold - maybe you have something else in store for you. Buffy take heart and respect the verdict. there are opportunistic elements waiting to take advantage of everyword you utter. Victor will do well in the community - he is a man of the people. He is not too reserved - he feels and knows his people. Let him have his chance to serve them.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Dreg of society
To: All
Date Posted: 15:23:29 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 4-64-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.64.4

Message:
As far as I know, the Buffy Bailor I know is a conservative. He rub shoulder with the well to do. His days at the Albert Academy and Grammar school tell it all. I think he is a nice guy, but I do not know him as a man who wants to lie down with the dregs of society.
Though, I am not an SLPP apologist, I think those who elect the other guy have foresight.
I hope in August, the majority of our people will vote out those who are responsible for their suffering and come out in the streets widly if, any rigging takes place.I think our people have got a good vision to shun those who hardly identify with the poor.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Dr. C. CURTIS-THOMAS
To: All
Date Posted: 13:17:42 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 198.24.31.125

Message:
"He alleged that most members of the Electoral College were interested in money instead of the caliber of candidate that will be representing Constituency One-hundred-and-eleven in parliament" (cocorioko newspaper).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Buffy take heart and respect the verdict. there are opportunistic elements waiting to take advantage of everyword you utter"(Chez Winakabs Europe).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The comment by Buffy Bailor means that there were people within the "electoral College" that are/were prone to accepting bribes. In other words, the SLPP SYMBOLS ARE BEING SOLD!(Dr. Curtis-Thomas)

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Chez winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 13:27:43 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
Sir Curtis, (may I call you by so)? The version below carries no mention of bribes or the intention to solicit such. i trust Buffy will not accuse the Electoral College of having asked him for money or anything to give him s symbol.. Victor is a people's boy and the people love him. in the last ten years he has worked so much to help improve transportation and helped in the creation of jobs for the unemployed and unskilled. he also help set up media houses that he has, through hardwork, funded to help create jobs for those unemployed. He is what you will call a social engineer. He knows his terrain - no bribery Sir Curtis.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP PARTY "SYMBOLS"; ARE THEY REALLY FOR SALE?
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 17:37:31 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
Another clear picture giving us another version of events - no mention of bribes.

Subject: Britain Halts £15M in Aid to Sierra Leone Due to Corruption
From: www.standardtimespress.net
To: All
Date Posted: 12:36:17 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: s01060013d43c6994.wp.shawcable.net at 24.77.242.159

Message:
Britain Halts £15 Million in Aid : Sierra Leone Loses the Money Due to Endemic Corruption 'From the President's Office to the Cleaner'.

Posted by Standard Times on Jun 10, 2007, 12:24

Britain is about to freeze a £15m payment to Sierra Leone amid evidence of endemic corruption that has seen millions of pounds in aid line the pockets of dishonest officials while ordinary people struggle in conditions of poverty that have reached catastrophic levels.

Five years after a brutal 11-year war was ended with British military help, Tony Blair's government stands accused of ignoring corruption in Sierra Leone so as to maintain the former colony's image as a flagship of the Prime Minister's foreign policy record.

Britain, as the single largest donor country, gives the small West African nation more than £50m a year, including £12m for its armed forces and the £15m direct payment to the treasury which is due in July to cover public servants' salaries. A Foreign Office source confirmed that the July payment will not be released, but the Department for International Development (Dfid) claimed the matter was still under discussion.

Ten days ago Blair visited the country on his farewell Africa tour and said things were 'a darn sight better' than five years ago. But people in Freetown were disappointed that he did not travel to the decrepit capital, opting instead to limit his six-hour visit to the area around the international airport at Lungi.

Morlai Kamara, a good-governance campaigner with the Network Movement for Justice and Development in Freetown, said corruption was widespread. 'It permeates every level from the office of the President lawyer to the cleaner. It takes the form of people embezzling funds, appointing people they know and abusing resources. Endemic corruption was one of the main reasons for the war: the government could no longer meet its side of the social contract. Now we are back at pre-war levels.'

In the past few years, chiefly thanks to British lobbying, Sierra Leone has benefited from more international concern than almost any other country. Towards the end of the war it had the world's biggest UN peacekeeping presence - more than 17,000 troops. Britain's high-profile military engagement involved the Paras, Navy, Gurkhas and the SAS and, at the time, was the most expensive British military campaign since the Falklands. Later millions of pounds were pledged to create an army and police force and see through disarmament programs for 56,000 combatants, including children.

Yet Freetown remains a metropolitan slum, without electricity or drinking water, where living conditions are worse for many than they were during the war. Promised plans by the government - for which aid was paid - to kick-start agriculture in the interior of the country have not materialized. Next month's planned presidential and parliamentary elections have been delayed until August and the reason given - the expected weather - has failed to convince the people.

In the diamond-rich Kono district, miners are still sifting river beds for elusive gems. Diamond exports are now taxed but the revenue is not, as was promised, being spent on building schools and clinics.

Just as before and during the war, Sierra Leone has the worst children's and maternal mortality figures in the world. Life expectancy stands at 41.

Val Collier, former commissioner of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission, said Britain and other aid donors were hypocritical: 'When money is given, checks and balances should be imposed. A large share of the money is spent on sending foreign consultants here to write reports; they come with their laptops in their slingbags, like intellectual mercenaries. Such spending does not put food in the bellies of the people of Sierra Leone.'

The new commissioner, Henry Joko-Smart, is seen as government-friendly and his work has proved timid. A Dfid report on the commission last month found that, of 64 cases examined in 2006, 15 were pursued, including a case against a hospital payroll officer and another against a headmaster. Corruption at other levels was ignored.

A Foreign Office official confirmed the freeze on Dfid's £15m payment, due next month, to the Sierra Leone government's 'consolidated fund', which pays public servants' salaries. 'We want accountability,' said one source. But a Dfid spokesman would only confirm that the matter was under discussion.

www.standardtimespress.net

Subject: Sierra Leone:Corruption A Threat To Aid
From: ABK
To: All
Date Posted: 12:33:57 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-69-140-42-143.hsd1.md.comcast.net at 69.140.42.143

Message:
The Successes of the SLPP Government-making corruption the status quo.Click on link.

Subject: Re: Sierra Leone:Corruption A Threat To Aid
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 13:16:04 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
Great idea to hold on to the funds until we curb the corruption. I do believe britain will release the funds once all healthy mechanisms are in place for the delivery stages. to stop corruption now is to bring sanity in our society.

Subject: KABS, THIS STORY IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT
From: KING LOGGY
To: All
Date Posted: 12:02:00 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 144.226.173.69

Message:
This is a cheap propaganda from Karamoh Kabba that is not worth anyone's time except SLPP haters.
----------------------------------------

MURZUK FERRY SAID TO BE STRANDED AT SEA WITH PASSENGERS

By Karamoh Kabba

Freetown , Sierra Leone , June 9, 2007: An anxious passenger onboard a Lungi airport-bound ferry, the Murzuk, called to tell me today that their ferry is stranded at sea, that the engine went out suddenly and the ferry is smoking.The passenger who is a government official requested for his name not to be mentioned fearing that he may be fired from his job if the SLPP-led government officials find out he supplied information about

Subject: Re: KABS, THIS STORY IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 12:54:45 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-209-22.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.209.22

Message:
KL, indeed cheap. I do not understand and refuse to believe that the passenger even said thisas stated by Karamoh Kabba "...The passenger who is a government official requested for his name not to be mentioned fearing that he may be fired from his job if the SLPP-led government officials find out he supplied information about". Karamoh, my advise as a Sierra Leonean to you is to adopt responsible reporting. You are a fine writer, but trying to fine tune and twist facts will dent your virtuous side. I believe a reporter or journalist should adopt responsible and objective reporting. How independent is your reporting? Your statement that Alhajie Swarray Deen is travelling to the UK on official business is not correct - you may have been misinformed or you misplaced the actual word needed.

If the future of independent reporting is to be assured and the next generation of journalists are to be given the chance to demonstrate their ability then this issue will need to be addressed, not just at SLAJ, but in academic institutions in the country.

Subject: Re: KABS, THIS STORY IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT
From: NEW COMPANY
To: All
Date Posted: 14:23:02 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
CHECK US OUT

Subject: well said, my friend; well said!
From: CHIEF IN EXILE
To: All
Date Posted: 13:01:41 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 198.24.31.125

Message:
WELL SAID, BIG GUY.

Subject: Charles Taylor and the APC. The real deal.
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 11:55:38 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Kabba says:
"6. The rebel war in neighbouring Liberia had commenced in 1989 with the express objective of removing President Samuel Doe from office in that country. Charles Taylor, the current President of Liberia had come to Sierra Leone with the view of using this country as a springboard for staging a rebellion against Doe. The APC first received him and even encouraged him to do so. This initial encouragement for Charles Taylor, we are told, was as a result of some financial consideration paid by him to the higher echelons of the APC regime. The APC Government then failed to keep to its own part of the bargain. It had a change of heart and had Charles Taylor arrested, incarcerated at the Pademba Road Prisons for a while and then expelled from the country. This conduct by the APC regime is a factor that might have provoked the hostility of Charles Taylor and his active participation in the rebel war in Sierra Leone. He is known to have organized and sponsored the initial invasion into Sierra Leone by arming and directing the invaders and his support for them remained active all throughout the rebel war."

Subject: Sierra Leone: 'I Missed an Opportunity' - Says Defeated SLPP
From: ASPIRANT
To: All
Date Posted: 11:55:15 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Sierra Leone: 'I Missed an Opportunity' - Says Defeated SLPP Aspirant

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Concord Times (Freetown)

8 June 2007
Posted to the web 8 June 2007

Sahr Morris Jr.
Freetown

Defeated Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) parliamentary aspirant, Buffy Bailor Thursday told a press conference that his defeat in the party's primaries was an opportunity lost.

"My knowledge, qualification, skills, experience and expertise would have been harnessed as a parliamentarian in the best interest of my constituency.

Bailor who lost the SLPP ticket to Victor Lewis in constituency 111, West of Freetown said he owes this reaction to his people who supported him from the start, the entire people of this country and in the bets interest of our fledgling democracy.

Bailor maintained that there are certain weaknesses in the electoral college system which needs to be addressed as an issue of priority.

He said, "The make up of people in the electoral college should be addressed. The system is a good one in itself but certain criteria should be set aside so that people chosen as delegates can be screened." He revealed that during their campaign period leading up to the day of the primary elections, a good number of the delegates were only interested in money and self needs instead of the general good of the people.

Bailor said, "These things need to be corrected urgently because these delegates would be deciding the fate of our beloved country. They would be choosing the people who would represent us in parliament." He, however, congratulated Victor Lewis for emerging as the victor while he maintained that the process of casting votes was done in an open and transparent manner.

He maintained that despite having lost the primaries he is left with many options as to what next he would do for the constituency and the country

Subject: DID APC SEC- GEN SELL KONO FOR $200mil?
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 11:38:20 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
According to Kabba's TRC report, Victor Bockarie High Barb Foh together with his friend, mortgaged our mines for a very hugh some and with the intention of pocketing a percentage of that Benjamin.
Oh APC: Monkey nor dae lef im black han.

Subject: Re: GRAVE YARD BLUES
From: YOUR MOTHA
To: All
Date Posted: 07:32:38 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Aye me pekin dem go cam cuss me for me rarray becos of you mot. ar nor able for rest nar me grave becos of way you day leh people dem cuss me nar grave. ar wan for tell you say norto chief born you. You papa im nem start wit L. nar so normor ar go lef am fos.
ME ONLY ALBISE TO YOU NAR FOR LEF DIS KINE LIE LIE PAN ORDA PEOPLE DEM YA AFTERALL SOME OF DEM NAR YOU BRADDA DEM.

Subject: Mr Sherman says it all about reckless Leigh
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 11:36:08 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: j245031.upc-j.chello.nl at 24.132.245.31

Message:
consider Mr. John Leigh’s dying minute rhetoric and cheap propaganda of gaining recognition within the failed party of the SLPP as political opportunism because his model of evading the truth about the problems of Sierra Leone explains the robustness of his political failure and the deception of truth –speaking about the real problems in the country.

It is the habit that numerous individuals often continue to hold their political views even when contrary reality stares them in the face as in the cases of the SLPP and supporters who have made Sierra Leone an international laughing stock in spite of massive investment made in cash and kind to various sectors of the country by the international community. In-experienced self-styled politician like Mr. Leigh refuse to abandon the failures, treachery, and disgrace that the SLPP has slumped Sierra Leone when information about failure, rampant corruption, unaccountability, and poverty to the highest degree have engulfed the country. He is rationalizing his fake commitment to the status quo by imputing that the opposition is incapable of solving the problems of Sierra Leone as the SLPP is doing.

Subject: SHERMAN APPEARS TO BE A SEMI-LITERATE DUNCE
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 16:55:16 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
SLPP BUILDS, APC WRECKS, MARGAI YAP-YAPS

“It was APC Siaka Stevens who planted the seed of our culture of corruption and nurtured it to bountiful fruition. This luxuriant corruption which emanated from that poisonous tree is exactly what we Sierra Leoneans are today experiencing.

“Dieman, vouchergate, Victor tiff-tiff tey-tey, double-cross, deceit, deception, duplicity, duping, broke balancing, hold-up, lying, stealing, tiffing, tiff-tiff lawyering, fraud, put-for-me, yuki-yuki and kalo-kalo, etc. became the poisonous fruits of Siaka Stevens’ husbandry of the poisonous tree of corruption. The above practices are still today the everyday tricks used by many people to survive, even prosper, in a developing but wounded and poverty stricken society. But under Stevens, Sierra Leone was much worse from APC’S unrelenting marginalization, hegemonistic oppression and little or zero development. And it was Siaka Stevens who gave the official go-ahead for the routine acceptance of the above despicable, corrupt practices.” - JL

“No secret that the AFRC was a product of the Binkolo Ekutay hegemony. Sierra Leone has had its days with APC, and one must be very naive to think they can ever win an election again.

“The coming election is going to be about telling the APC that they had their days and they did nothing [good] with the opportunity they had [In fact, APC abused their governance authority]. I know not about SLPP because there was no SLPP during my time in Sa Lone.

“All I remember is ISU, Ekutay, bribery, Jamil Said, Highway, the murder of Sam Bangura, corruption, fuel shortage, blackout, inflation, Haja Dankay Kabia, put for me, Suck air, and every kind of social malaise when I think of APC.” - Sidonluk

[JL NOTES: “ISU” is the Internal Security Unit - a notorious political police with the APC regime recruited mostly from APC’s hegemonistic tribal support base and put on the public payroll to keep opponents in line.

“Put-for-me” was a persistent extortionate request for bribes by authority figures.

“Suck air” is going to bed on an empty stomach as in “we will be sucking breeze for dinner tonight”.

“Suck air” was a very common form of suffering due to the general absence of food security when the masses were marginalized by APC’S hegemonistic KDDA and punished by Ekutay poverty spreaders while the corrupt APC leaders frolicked in Binkolo.

Binkolo is the home village of such APC bigwigs as ex-President Momoh, Johnny Paul Koroma, Brigadier Hassan Conteh and M.A. Koroma, etc. The latter was Johnny Paul’s brother and the AFRC/RUF Resident Minister for the North.]

TABLE 1: SLPP BUILDS

Despite its short tenure of peace, SLPP’s record of achievements vis-à-vis the competition is impressive. SLPP’s achievements during the most recent seven years of peace include the following priceless developments:

1. Teaching the Military that coups are obsolete and wrong and that civilians can and will reverse coups if forced to do so to protect democracy.
2. Notified the interloper states that though poor, we are able to defend our national Independence and sovereignty.
3. Systematically restoring the Rule of Law following APC’s civilian dictatorship and after AFRC’S depravity and catastrophic destruction.
4. Encouraging political freedom to flourish in our country and expanding the opportunities for women to fully participate in public life as never before.
5. Professionalizing and equipping the Military and Police Forces and creating a relationship for them with their UK counterparts following their politicization by the APC. No more hegemonistic parking of the military and police forces with tribal favorites.
6. Patiently restoring civil administration nationwide from the catastrophic mess that the APC, RUF and AFRC left behind.
7. Negotiating the Lome Accords and securing humanitarian aid.
8. Ended the RUF/AFRC/RUF wars. Disarmed, demobilized and re-integrated nearly 75,000 ex-combatants into civil society and thus securing the peace.
9. Labored to establish an International Regime known as the Kimberly Process for oversight of the international rough diamond trade to contain the Blood Diamond abuses.
10. Restoring the close diplomatic relationship between the UK & Europe and SLeone that existed before APC severely damaged it with counter-productive fake socialist comrade politics.
11. Making ample supplies of foreign exchange available in the open marketplace for travelers and importers in contrast to the APC government monopolization of foreign exchange reserves during most of its tenure that gravely hurt many businesses and people.
12. Expanding FOOD SECURITY.
13. Rebuilding and refurbishing the Colonial Secretariat building and Bank of Sierra Leone building and repairing and refurbishing the other public buildings such as the Law Courts that AFRC/RUF badly damaged or destroyed.
14. Rebuilt the Pademba Road Prisons after AFRC/RUF destruction in their successful attempt to free Momoh, coupligans and their collaborators.
15. Renovating and re-equipping all hospitals in the country.
16. DECENTRALIZATION: Re-established the District Councils that the APC wantonly abolished 32 years ago and thereafter centralized decision-making in Freetown. The devolution of local government powers continues systematically.
17. Protecting the Freedom of the press.
18. Securing the forgiveness of $1.6 Billion in international debts incurred by corrupt, incompetent and hegemonistic governments.
19. Rebuilt daily public bus services linking the capital with the provinces.
20. Re-equipping the Civil Service.
21. Renovating and re-equipping Lungi International Airport
22. Restoring water works and pipe-borne water in the provinces and increasing water supply in the densely populated Western Area.
23. Introduced an electronically readable passport under tight inventory control.
24. Commenced work of systematically modernizing the national road network beginning with the widening and surfacing of the MaSiaka-Makeni Highway.
25. Reduced the corruption of consular fees at embassies by introducing a numbered visa system. This is a successful beginning on addressing the corruption problem.
26. Establish the principle that EDUCATION is a right, not just a privilege. Abolished school fees and examination fees; put 2,300 students on grants-in-aid and opened 4,000 new and/or rebuilt primary schools nation-wide.
27. Provide for the proper development of our children, especially the Girl Child.
28. Established the Anti-Corruption Commission but more need to be done here.
29. International investors have begun to return to Sierra Leone as the current SLPP Administration sheds our country’s APC image of egregious corruption, gross incompetence and “slow-witted” leadership.
30. The current SLPP Administration has conducted free and fair national and local elections.

Subject: Re: SHERMAN APPEARS TO BE A SEMI-LITERATE DUNCE
From: Joseph Sherman
To: All
Date Posted: 08:38:11 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: pool-70-108-186-218.washdc.east.verizon.net at 70.108.186.218

Message:
John Leigh,

It is sad to say that you need to be diagnosed for imminent insanity. I challenge your credentials of intellectualism and accademic achievements and least to say your honesty, patriotism and love for the people of Sierra Leone. I respect Coccorioko freedom of expression of its forumites if not you are the worst scribbler of words and expressions in this forum. You make up for your low inntellect by injecting confused, ungrammatical innuendos in this forum. By the way where did you receive you law degree? However, not all lawyers are good writers but with logic and sound reasonig which I suppose youn read should have made you a better communicator. Since you belong to the category of shameless folks that are seeking "gravy" or "peanuts" for survival in the SLPP government that doesn't know whether you are still alive, it is better to start thinking constructively to reshape your life.

Subject: Re: LEIGH, THIS IS GARBAGE
From: Advice
To: All
Date Posted: 01:51:54 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
John Leigh, your writing is unfocused, dim-witted and ungrammatical. For that reason, it is at least ten times longer than it should be. It is also full of lies.

Apparently, like most poor qwriters, you try to make up with long writings what you lack in focus. So, your wqriting becomes an example of how not to write.

Please stop reposting such garbage. You are disgracing yourself by doing so more than you have been disgraced by the sharp intellect of the far better writers on this forum including Sherman.

Subject: THE SLPP WILL ACCOUNT FOR EMBEZZLED FUNDS AFTER ELECTIONS
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 05:22:02 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
No stone would be left untouch immediately after the elections.From the slpmb crook, down to his least man in the failed slpp party and government, must account for the millions of dollars donated to the nation.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP WILL ACCOUNT FOR EMBEZZLED FUNDS AFTER ELECTIONS
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 11:09:57 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
After your Daddy and Uncle pay back the monies the stole from our country. Remember your POPs owe the government 100million leones.

Subject: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: Independent Observer
To: All
Date Posted: 02:49:47 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
By Nick Tattersall
1 June 2007
10:33 GMT
Reuters News

FREETOWN, June 1 (Reuters) -- Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid, leaving its most vulnerable citizens as destitute as they were before its civil war ended five years ago, experts say.

Since the guns fell silent after more than a decade of conflict, the former British colony -- a country of just 5 million people, rich in diamonds, iron ore and gold -- remains one of the poorest nations on earth.
...
Britain alone has spent 91 million pounds ($180 million) on non-military aid over the past three years and will provide a further 40 million this year. But endemic corruption has gone largely unchecked, analysts say.

"Things are as bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991. And Tony Blair's government bears a lot of responsibility for facilitating this state of affairs, precisely because they did not hold the government to account," said Mike McGovern, former West Africa d! irector for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"Whatever British diplomats and development specialists in Freetown might have wanted to do, their hands were tied because Sierra Leone had already been declared a success in London, almost from the beginning," he told Reuters.

"(Sierra Leone's) government ... was able to read these signs just as clearly as if they had been delivered from 10 Downing Street by registered mail: there would be no accountability, no scrutiny, everything was permitted."

POWERFUL GO UNPUNISHED

A report for the British government's development arm, DFID, gave a scathing review in April of the progress made by Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission, a British-funded body set up to prosecute high-profile offenders.

Last year the commission made 12 convictions. They included the caterer at a mental hospital, the headmaster of a primary school and the accounts officer of a library, all accused of embezzling small amounts of state money.

There were no lasting high-profile convictions. Former Transport Minister Momoh Pujeh was sent to jail in 2003 for the illegal possession of diamonds but later won an appeal against his conviction in the high court.

Given such a poor track record, the DFID review recommended funding of the commission be stopped.

But Sierra Leone's government said it had made progress.

"This is a country where you never had an anti-corruption commission before and now we have one," Information Minister Septimus Kaikai told Reuters. He added the government was considering toughening anti-corruption legislation.

Mains electricity and piped water are rare even in the sprawling shanty towns that make up the capital Freetown. There are few paved roads in the rest of the country, and 70 percent of the population survive on less than $1 a day.

"Before the war we were living fine, but every day prices keep going up," said Isatu Kamara, a 50-year-old grandmother who sells cigarettes a! nd biscu its at a busy Freetown junction.

High-level corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor threatens to erase the hard-won gains that came with Britain's military intervention.

"Endemic corruption was a central factor that produced the dire conditions that made civil war inevitable," the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report after the end of the fighting.

"Sierra Leone remains in the grip of pervasive corruption, which, if not arrested, will sap the country of its life force and lay the ground for further conflict," it said.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: MUSA KAMRA
To: All
Date Posted: 04:51:22 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
It is no more of a secret.Every born child in the country knows that slpp (na ahlaki party) and even the international community,especially Britain is just waiting for the final days of this incompetent and failed party to evacuate the political scenery of Sieer-Leone.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: slpp
To: All
Date Posted: 09:00:49 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Musa, that is why the corrupt SLPP and its corrupt lackeys on this forum like the rambling John Leigh, who can't even write properly, Cadmus, Edmund Koker, are fighting to remain in power.

But they will 'faint late."

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 11:19:23 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
We have nothing to fear unlike you and your failed party. Under your APC party, corruption was endemic, if you oppose them, you are locked up, etc, ect.

Here is an excerpt from Kabba's TRC statement about a conversation amongst APC executive:

"Speaker CC:
Let us address ourselves seriously to the formation of interim government. You are bound by law to include opposition members in policy-making cabinet. They would want to know how much we have got for the war and how much spent. The country's budget must be known. These are the monies we depend on to rig the elections and to make anything necessary to bring victory. How can we do these effectively if we have these oppositions among us?"

APC=THUGS

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: slpp
To: All
Date Posted: 01:38:06 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
The SLPP president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah is just the most corrupt president of the most corrupt govet. in Salone's history.

No other president in our country has headed a goverment that has received $100 million dollars every year for the past 5 years and plunged our country into a modern slum -- no water, no light, no sanitation.

For such a corrupt and unpatriotic failure to be accusing others as corrupt is like a pot calling a cube of sugar black.

You are a traitor to salone for not talking about that.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 07:24:04 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
as far as i know Sierra Leone is better now than it was when the APC was in Power.
The carnage from the APC/RUF corporation had dug a big hole for any President to bring the country from.
So my friend the people will decide yah not you.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: slpp
To: All
Date Posted: 08:02:46 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
"as far as i know Sierra Leone is better now than it was when the APC was in Power."

Clearly, you know very little about Sierra Leone. Hopefully, you can understand what little you read. Here is a test:

By Nick Tattersall
1 June 2007
10:33 GMT
Reuters News

FREETOWN, June 1 (Reuters) -- Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid, leaving its most vulnerable citizens as destitute as they were before its civil war ended five years ago, experts say.

Since the guns fell silent after more than a decade of conflict, the former British colony -- a country of just 5 million people, rich in diamonds, iron ore and gold -- remains one of the poorest nations on earth.
...
Britain alone has spent 91 million pounds ($180 million) on non-military aid over the past three years and will provide a further 40 million this year. But endemic corruption has gone largely unchecked, analysts say.

"Things are as bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991. And Tony Blair's government bears a lot of responsibility for facilitating this state of affairs, precisely because they did not hold the government to account," said Mike McGovern, former West Africa d! irector for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"Whatever British diplomats and development specialists in Freetown might have wanted to do, their hands were tied because Sierra Leone had already been declared a success in London, almost from the beginning," he told Reuters.

"(Sierra Leone's) government ... was able to read these signs just as clearly as if they had been delivered from 10 Downing Street by registered mail: there would be no accountability, no scrutiny, everything was permitted."

POWERFUL GO UNPUNISHED

A report for the British government's development arm, DFID, gave a scathing review in April of the progress made by Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission, a British-funded body set up to prosecute high-profile offenders.

Last year the commission made 12 convictions. They included the caterer at a mental hospital, the headmaster of a primary school and the accounts officer of a library, all accused of embezzling small amounts of state money.

There were no lasting high-profile convictions. Former Transport Minister Momoh Pujeh was sent to jail in 2003 for the illegal possession of diamonds but later won an appeal against his conviction in the high court.

Given such a poor track record, the DFID review recommended funding of the commission be stopped.

But Sierra Leone's government said it had made progress.

"This is a country where you never had an anti-corruption commission before and now we have one," Information Minister Septimus Kaikai told Reuters. He added the government was considering toughening anti-corruption legislation.

Mains electricity and piped water are rare even in the sprawling shanty towns that make up the capital Freetown. There are few paved roads in the rest of the country, and 70 percent of the population survive on less than $1 a day.

"Before the war we were living fine, but every day prices keep going up," said Isatu Kamara, a 50-year-old grandmother who sells cigarettes a! nd biscu its at a busy Freetown junction.

High-level corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor threatens to erase the hard-won gains that came with Britain's military intervention.

"Endemic corruption was a central factor that produced the dire conditions that made civil war inevitable," the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report after the end of the fighting.

"Sierra Leone remains in the grip of pervasive corruption, which, if not arrested, will sap the country of its life force and lay the ground for further conflict," it said.

Subject: Re: Here is your answer- the Americans don't think so
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 08:38:26 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
From Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown

NEWS
United States Praises Sierra Leone’s Financial Management: Excellent Progress!
By Sayoh Kamara
Jun 8, 2007, 20:50

The Government of the United States of America has yesterday asserted that Sierra Leone under the financial guidance of the Kabbah led SLPP Government has, "under its programme of economic reform overseen by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)", Sierra Leone, "made excellent progress in reducing poverty and enhancing macroeconomic stability,"

This was revealed by the US Embassy at the signing of a bilateral debt relief agreement to cancel US$ 58.3 million of debt amounting to 100% of Sierra Leone’s eligible debt to the Government of the United States. The United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Thomas N. Hull and the Minister of Finance, John Oponjo Benjamin signed the agreement.

According to the press release from the Embassy of the United States of America in Freetown, dated 7th June 2007, the agreement implements the multilateral accord signed by the Government of Sierra Leone with the Paris Club of creditors nations on January 24, 2007 and reflects Sierra Leone’s "successful completion of economic reforms under the Enhanced Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

The release notes that through the HIPC Initiative, the United States and its partners in the international community seek to help the most heavily indebted poor countries relieve their unsustainable debt burdens. The points out that this final phase of debt relief frees additional resources that will enable the Government of Sierra Leone to make further progress on these objectives.

Speaking to the Minister of Finance, John Benjamin yesterday shortly after he signed the agreement, he stated that the US debt cancellation is a further indication of the confidence international donor partners have in Sierra Leone’s macroeconomic management.

"This is a pointer to the growing confidence and trust our international partners have in this Government’s monetary and fiscal management policy," Mr. Benjamin stated.

The United State Government through the US Freetown Embassy release had even more praises for the Government of Sierra Leone.

"As the country recovers from the civil war that ended only in 2002, the United States proudly supports Sierra Leone’s efforts in consolidating peace, restoring and reforming government, and stimulating economic growth." The Americans stated.

The United States Government through its Freetown Embassy therefore expressed hope that the Government of Sierra Leone will "apply the savings from this debt relief to its Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP)."

Following the signing of the agreement, the United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone observed thus: "this agreement creates a significant opportunity for the Government of Sierra Leone to make economic, social, and political progress" the release concludes.

It will be recalled that there were recent concerns raised by members of the public over the state of the nation’s finances. This was as a result of a published Press Release which called upon the country’s donor partners to honour their financial pledges to the country.

The glowing praises by the Americans even as they honoured their debt relief pledge will surely go a long way to cushion the hard concerns that had been expressed.

© Copyright 2005, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: Colonial Mentality
To: All
Date Posted: 10:32:05 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Oh ya, Koker, when will you ever understand anything you read? You too fool!

Don't you know that the Americans control the World Bank and through it, the IMF, the two instutitions which wrote the PRSP?

Would you expect such collabarators in the IMF's rape of salone to condemn the PRSP? Even trhough your notorious inability to understand anything you read prevented you from seeing it, the Americvans did NOT praise the corrupt SLPP govt. They merely "expressed hope that the Government of Sierra Leone will "apply the savings from this debt relief to its Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP)."

Bo, Edmund Koker, you too fool!

and the World Bank

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 10:42:28 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
yeah cut en past what you want us to believe. Whatever happened to the whole story? you do not like the fact that others agree with the success of the SLPP government. Oh yah you go die quick falla the SLPP.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: Colonial Mentality
To: All
Date Posted: 11:01:45 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
You are welcome to add what you think is missing -- you are the one who doesn't know the meaning of relevance. I quoted the relevant part of the story.

As for your prediction, the only death that is imminent is that of the corrupt SLPP. But because you are its blind supporter, you will never realize it.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 13:47:16 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
When (ever) you come to your senses, you will realise that what you have ben saying is Gebrish.

Subject: Re: THE SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE
From: Colonial Mentality
To: All
Date Posted: 15:51:56 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
How would you know when you never understand anything you read or write, Koker?

Subject: Why Victor Foh did not want Kabba Back in Freetown.
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 02:05:50 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
This is why according to KABBA in his TRC speech.

28a. Incidentally, before I leave the AFRC, I need to give a brief account of some of the reckless manner in which that regime dealt with the assets of this country. Some of the associates of the junta had no restraint in causing further havoc on the country.

At the request of Mr. Victor Foh, a gentleman, Mr. Michael Hart Jones, purporting to belong to a company named Africa Trade Link Ltd. entered into an arrangement with the AFRC junta whereby the unused mining and mineral reserves of this country were to be used as collateral for a loan that the junta was determined to obtain.

In this connection in a faxed message sent to Mr. Foh, dated 24th September 1997, Mr. Hart-Jones purported to have secured one billion dollars for the project. The project was to involve the Government giving four securities to the tune of $200 million and the mining concessions were to be the collateral. The funds to be raised by this arrangement were alleged to be intended to be utilized partly on the services of the AFRC junta.

The scheme was to be effected as follows:-

A company named Commercial African Development Ltd. (CARD) was re-registered in Sierra Leone on the 19th day of December 1997. This Company was made to enter into a joint partnership with the junta and the mining concessions in respect of the richest mining areas in the country were given to the joint venture. Four Bank Guarantees of $50 million each dated 12th November 1997, in favour of CARD for the $200 million secured were then issued by the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone and the Minister of Finance, both appointees of the junta.

If the AFRC had not been ousted in February 1998, thereby aborting the scheme, the effect on Sierra Leone and its economy as a result of this arrangement would have been -

Laundered money would have been brought into this country undetected and this would have had serious adverse effect on the economy for a very long time. In the fax message in question, it was made clear that the one billion dollars which was said to have been earmarked to be brought to the country would have been brought stealthily and under cover.

The Bank of Sierra Leone and the Government would have been encumbered with an obligation to discharge the security of $200 million as a result of a scheme that would not have benefited the people and Government of Sierra Leone, and in any case, only members of the junta and their associates like Victor Foh would have been the beneficiaries of that arrangement.

The worst aspect of that scheme was that the richest and most profitable mining areas in this country were given as collateral under that arrangement and those areas were available to be mined without restriction and the proceeds from them taken away without any account given. The areas to be affected were carefully identified and mapped out.

The documents involved in this transaction are available here for the Commission's perusal.

The account of this transaction needs to be brought to the notice of the Commission merely for the purpose of further illustrating the reckless manner in which regimes, which were unaccountable, schemed to wreck the economy and destroy the mineral assets of this country.

Subject: Re: Why Victor Foh did not want Kabba Back in Freetown.
From: High Barb
To: All
Date Posted: 02:27:27 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
No wonder he was so much against Kabba's re-instatement.
What do you expect from a vouchergate, die-man, crook?

Subject: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 01:33:02 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
We have been hearing about how the APC is different from the APC that wrecked our country after twenty four and half years.
The only thing different in the APC is the fact that they are ashamed to run on their record, they have no testicular fortitude to tell the salone people what they did for/to us while in power for so long.
Instead we have corrupt politicians and thieves running the party,like VICTOR Vouchergate FOH, as SEC GEN. No wonder there is no plan and or agenda for the coming elections.
My advice to the Executive of APC is to get rid of Vouchergate, die-man pan payroll, rebel, FOH. He is an albertros around your neck. The longer he stays as SEC GEN the harder it becomes to sell your party to the deaf , dumb and blind in salone. And that is 5 million people.

Just and Advice.

Subject: Re: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: Jesse Jones
To: All
Date Posted: 01:35:20 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Nor worry da OKOBO go post dem boring manifesto jes nor.

Subject: Re: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 01:41:02 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
That is the only party that is selling symbols to aspiring politicians and paliamentarians to be.
lek we kin say nar Salone" den dae sell space to the highest bidder"

Subject: Re: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: SCAFF
To: All
Date Posted: 02:38:30 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
"lek we kin say nar Salone" den dae sell space to the highest bidder"

Tae now you dae learn for talk Krio, Koker?

And try to stop talking to yourself. Stop being a coward. Don't hide behind false names. You will always expose yourself if you try to write, because you nor sabi english, en you nor sabi talk Krio.

Subject: Re: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 11:21:06 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Did victor FOH sell KONO for $200million when he was Adviser to the AFRC?

Subject: Re: Victor B. Foh APC's old wine in new bottle
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 11:33:35 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Yes he did, that is the reason why he was sooooo against Kabba's return.

Subject: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 19:09:20 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
From the Haftarah SHELACH for this Sabbath, I learn (note on page 1184 of the Stone Chumash) that “To the degree that one trusts in God’s help, one receives it.”

I have not yet phoned the police or a private detective etc. Keep on talking. I’m going to give you some more rope with which to hang yourself. You don’t know me. I have a good idea of who you are. Most probably Mende. I could ask Kabs for your IP number. Of course, if you were so sure of yourself or confident about who your father is, you’d have a name.

What have all you haughty rumi-nations about me, have to do with Sierra Leone? Should the position or status that you assign to me, lessen the truthfulness or relevance of what I can contribute to Sierra Leone or to any of the discussions at hand? Do you say all these things about me because you want to feel better about your nameless self or because you are black in complexion and have a complex about that too?

When you start saying unsavoury things about my country (Sweden) or me, there are certain people who keep an eye on you. As I said, you don’t know me. “Outdebate “ me? About what, little man, your deepest thoughts? Bankole Marke’s poetry? Your shorti stories? Your medicinal advice? Your political philosophy? Your great heights achieved and still rising?

I talked to Deensie, Regina Daramy and Michael Kamara and wife today. Michael (London) has told me some good things about PMDC. He also spoke to my wife.

RE- http://www.hwforums.com/2179/messages/30385.html#postfp

Have you checked out the meaning of SINAT CHINAM?

Me a “pathetic pariah and victim of the very circumstances some of us (you) are thriving in.”? Good luck to you. You’ll probably wind up in a safe place in the cemetery if you are lucky. In the meantime,

I’m having a great time. The people I know, the places I go!!!!
As Sly Stone sang

“ Oh ooooooooooooooooh, if I could do it all over again, I’d be in the same skin I’m in.”

http://www.google.se/search?rlz=1T4ADBR_enSE222SE222&hl=en&q=Sly+%26+the+Family+Stone%3A+FRESH

Apart from me, how many other people are in the position that you imagine I am in?

So some of you are thriving whilst I am WHAT? A victim? I do not have a victimology mentality. Nor do I think that this wonderful country is a "racist country" as you were trying to mislead the public the other day. If Sweden is a racist country then, why are you here? To look down on those who you think are less fortunate than you are? We are less blessed?

Have I been begging you for some money? That’s what happens with some of you guys who didn’t have any. When you get some, you start looking down on those who you think that you are better than. Instead of trying to help your poor & illiterate people in Sierra Leone, you want to tell them that you Mr. No Name are living better than Cornelius Hamelberg, (which means you’ve come up in this world and would like to suggest that I’ve gone down to somewhere under your shoes – as pariah etc? My wife, family and friends do not think so.

In two postings, you’ve mentioned Descartes, Confucius, Muhammad (S.A.W.) and now Rousseau; I suppose to give yourself some veneer of intellectual pedigree when talking to me. How well do you know those guys? I know them quite well.

I speak of moral, intellectual, and spiritual riches, not poverty. Materially there is nothing that I lack or that I have lacked. It’s possible that you are the richest man in Sierra Leone, so what? I talked to one of your octogenarians and he says that when he becomes ambassador I’ll be his number tow man. Me? I want time to grow my own riches and not to represent anyone that I do not believe in.

Do you know what post-modernism is?

Do you know anything about the following?

Hans Kellner
Peter Burke
Georg G Iggers
Hayden White

Onliner, I live - and have always lived better than you do. That’s an incontestable fact – and I did not walk barefoot to school either. I spoke Dutch when I was seven years old – and you are still busy whining on this Forum, about my Swedish, which is better than your written and spoken English. My wife is Swedish (her English is better than your English (University of Washington, Seattle) and so is her French, Spanish, and Italian (where she is cum laude). She is an excellent Swedish teacher and one of the best translators from English to Swedish. I could work professionally translating from Swedish to English which is my mother tongue. I work professionally with matters that are more sophisticated and even more demanding than that. In my profession, I am humble. Not every fool can cope. Not every fool is prepared to wear jeans with holes in them. I have a friend who says he could put you “six feet deep”.

What did you study? Polish?

Onliner, dilemma is not spelled “dilema.”

Even your English - with which you are "thriving”, is not that great. You can bet your grandmother's " coal pot " that I am much more intelligent than you would like to be - and if you were anything you'd write under the name that your parents gave you, we’d know how great you really are.

You call me a “pariah” and “outcast”.

I have some good friends within the Jewish community in Stockholm.
I have some good friends from a cross section of what you may call the Stockholm Community. Modesty prevents me from naming names.

My wife’s family and friends are not that. I’ve told you that she is the youngest daughter of Karl and Martha Kilbom. Karl Kilbom was leader of the Swedish communist party and as I told you before , after his meeting with Stalin,( we have a recording of him talking about it) he quit that line, became a Social Democrat and was a member of the Swedish Parliament for seventeen years – and a leader of the Folkets Hus movement. He was a big newspaper man. He also started “Folket i Bild”. His portrait, one of many (a real work of art) is over my desk and he is looking at me as I write this, in our computer room. Check out the link below. My wife’s sister was an Emeritus professor of Medicine, previously married to another doctor (psychiatrist) whose grandfather was mayor of Stockholm. ( Osman Lahai was at her daughter’s birthday party, the evening he arrived. Ask him if there were any outcasts or pariahs there. ) Her son Karl was recently a representative in the culture board of the ruling conservative party (free theatre tickets for me – if I so desired) – my first residence was Strandvagen 57, where they lived in Stockholm. Not exactly pariah was it?

How could I be pariah, outcast, and not some others like me?

None of my wife’s family or friends is an outcast or pariah in Sweden and other places where they live. Some have held and continue to hold important positions in this society, with links and connections that you cannot even dream of.

Your problem is that you don’t know how this country is run or who runs what.

Finally, I’d like to inform you that I was not a pariah or outcast in Sierra Leone either. Were you? Give us some details about that too.

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Onliner
To: All
Date Posted: 13:32:21 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-66-141-186-66.dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net at 66.141.186.66

Message:
You can bet your grandma's fufu pot that I don't have time for lunatics. Adios forum clown!

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 04:54:55 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Whether I am a lunatic or clown or idiot/ fulumuku( flunkey/san-san boy/drunkard/social welfareman/"jewboy" or Krioman/

Now if we were having a philosophical argument and you call me all the things that I've been called in this life (including nigger, nigger Jew etc that would not prove you right.

Some things that one human says to another are funny, that's all

If you are a Sierra Leonean, you are still my brother. You may be a good or bad brother to me, but a brother nonetheless and should it come to pass that I happen upon a scene in which some skinhead is trying to whip your ess, I won't hesitate to try and put things right.

(I’ve been called KAFIR and worse, well, on hearing bad news we say "DAYAN HA EMET”).

Since respect begets respect, we should try to abide by
the rules of this forum contained in the DISCLAIMER

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 18:13:43 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
I have never seen you or seen you being serious Kotoh.

This is not a place for me to get heavy. To impress who? Posing and answering your own question(s) or the question is an essential feature of discourse and instead of writing one long posting, I do it instalmentally. That’s how whole novels get written. It’s not a craseman talking to himself even as dramatic monologue……

There are other forums for that kind of chat.
There’s a time for even love talk. Are you good at that too?

Try to be nice. It's easy.

As my Californian friend John (a Mullah Nasrudin expert) joked today on being asked if he was to be called John or Yaya, “You can call me anything, but just don't call me to dinner.”

Patience.

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 19:25:06 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
My friend Schalom says its called "giving oxygen to the dead"

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 22:17:02 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Surely, onliner, making a complete ass of yourself cannot be considered an attack on me, no matter how reassuring that could be for your cowering personality, a personality which acquires some bravery under cover of anonymity in which you can be what you want to be?
Answer this and I’ll start telling you who you really are, how ugly and how puny your physical stature really is (as you know).

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: DR. ABDUL NAHIM
To: All
Date Posted: 22:19:44 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
You need to check in to the nearest crase man facility before its too late. This crazy old man needs help. You have lost it. You are the only one who posts and replies to himself.(Ok, you and Bambay). Are you guys related? Have you been taking your meds lately? You are such an idle mind parading and clugging this forum with useless info.

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 22:53:24 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
I'm signing off now, till you see me again.
Please take time to read the DISCLAIMER at the top of this page.
Bye.

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 22:30:24 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
I posted the sad news of the passing away of Fathia Nkrumah .....
and also of Erica Powell ( personal secretary to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and later on secretary to to Siaka P. Stevens.
You rejected my posting as "spam" Shame on you "Dr. Nahim"

My posting is available at Leonenet, which is quite a sane place to be.

Subject: Re: Questions for onliner
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 22:22:26 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Chapter three cannot be a reply to myself.
You are surely mentally deficient to think so.

Subject: THE US PRAISES THE SLPP GOVERNMENT
From: CADMUS
To: All
Date Posted: 19:07:49 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host217-44-249-219.range217-44.btcentralplus.com at 217.44.249.219

Message:
ALIEU ISCANDRI.............APC
MOIJUE......................PMDC
CORNIE......................Floating voter

The United States Official in announcing the cancellation of 58 million dollars of Sa Lone Debt said........'The international community is very pleased with the African Nation's effort in streamlining Government procedures and improve the use of Donor funds in a Country still recovering from its brutal 1991-2001 war....'

Which ever way you look at this, it is an endorsement of thr SLPP Government and the people of Sa Lone should be pleased.

Have a Blessed week-end guys...

Subject: Re: THE US PRAISES THE SLPP GOVERNMENT
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 06:18:39 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
SO the voice of the white man is important and durable than the people affected,I mean the Sierre-Leoneans?Slavery and colonialism became successful to the whiteman,because of people like you.GREED,SELFISH AND INFERIORITY COMPLEX is your problem.

Subject: Re: THE US PRAISES, so what is the average man saying?
From: Albert Moinina
To: All
Date Posted: 23:20:29 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ftsniuk8.emirates.net.ae at 213.42.21.85

Message:
What is the average man saying?

Subject: APC & PMDC MOTTO
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 14:21:59 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
WE GO DO THIS, WE GO DO DAT
WE GO BUILD SCHOOLS, WE GO BUILD HOSPITALS, WE GO MAKE THE GROUND TURN TO GOLD,........

Question to APC & PMDC:
But how are you going to do this and that??????
Answer from APC & PMDC: THE HOW DOES NOT MATTER. JUST KNOW SAY WE GO DO DIS EN DO DAT.

APC NAR LIE LIE PARTY
APC NAR THIEF MAN PARTY
APC NAR POVERTY SPREADING PARTY
APC NOR GET ANY BETTEH PLAN FOR SA LONE
APC NAR TRIBALISTIC PARTY
APC NAR DEM BRING WAR PAN WE PEOPLE DEM
APC NAR DEM INTRODUCE CORRUPTION EN SANCTION AM NAR SA LONE
APC NAR DEM SIGN 99 YEARS DIAMOND DEAL WITH FOREIGN COMPANY NAR SA LONE. DEAL WAY NOR BENEFIT SA LONE
APC NAR DEM DREB ALL THE GOOD COMPANIES DEM NAR SA LONE

PMDC NAR FOOL MAN PARTY
PMDC NAR DICTATORSHIP DAY DAY
PMDC NAR CROOKS DEN DAY DAY
PMDC NAR FAILED SA LONE PEOPLE DEN ABROAD DAY DAY: DEN DAY TRY FOR GO THIEF SA LONE RESOURCES, AFTER DEN DON FAIL NAR DE WEST
PMDC NOR GET ANY SERIOUS PLAN FOR SA LONE

Subject: Re: APC & PMDC MOTTO
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 15:16:15 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
By having Victor V-Gate Foh- RUF/AFRC Spokesman as the minister of thieves.

Subject: Dorty Olu/just Olu - the "truthsayer" (Re: appealing for...
From: Thats immaterial
To: All
Date Posted: 11:32:13 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: salone_4me_n_u@yahoo.com
Entered From: at 89.241.151.20

Message:
I have just read the thread entitled - Re: appealing for information

I am appalled and ashamed of my own people.

The problem with our country is we don't like to hear the truth being told. I know that sometime Olu Gordon touches close to the bone on some of his reporting but don’t we see that daily in the papers in the west? Don’t we criticise our parliamentarians and government?

Then if your answer to the above question is YES, then tell me why not let him be the voice of truth and "spill the beans" of those who have continuously hampered progress and development in Sierra Leone for the longest while.

Kids today don’t know anything but the corrupt administration of those who reap our country of any good for self.

I say to Olu Gordon - go on my friend speak the truth. If I get a position of power and you think i am not doing my job right or there is gap for improvement - say it loud in the media - at least that way there is transparency and people would know - and me too - that my management style is "scrap".

And for those who don’t know you and condemn you - they are the ones that we should never allow to get into power - they are the thieves and pilferers of our society and beloved Sierra Leone.

I'd like to see them running the "show" and "put their money where their mouth is".

Lonta!

Subject: Dorty Olu/just Olu - the "truthsayer" - I REPEAT
From: Thats immaterial
To: All
Date Posted: 11:02:26 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: salone_4me_n_u@yahoo.com
Entered From: at 206.132.236.97

Message:
I have just read the thread entitled - Re: appealing for information

I am appalled and ashamed of my own people.

The problem with our country is we don't like to hear the truth being told. I know that sometime Olu Gordon touches close to the bone on some of his reporting but don’t we see that daily in the papers in the west? Don’t we criticise our parliamentarians and government?

Then if your answer to the above question is YES, then tell me why not let him be the voice of truth and "spill the beans" of those who have continuously hampered progress and development in Sierra Leone for the longest while.

Kids today don’t know anything but the corrupt administration of those who reap our country of any good but for self.

I say to Olu Gordon - go on my friend speak the truth. If I get a position of power and you think I am not doing my job right or there is gap for improvement - say it loud in the media - at least that way there is transparency and people would know - and me too - that my management style is "scrap".

And for those who don’t know you and condemn you - they are the ones that we should never allow to get into power - they are the thieves and pilferers of our society and beloved Sierra Leone.

I'd like to see them running the "show" and "put their money where their mouth is".

Lonta!

Subject: VICTOR BOCKARIE FOH IS A CROOK
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 11:00:57 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
BaBy Toe Victor Foh of vouchergate fame is one of the APC's leaders. What a damn shame.
How can you claim to have a new party, and new leadership, when old crooks like Victor High Barb FoH are the leaders?????????????

Subject: Re: VICTOR BOCKARIE FOH IS A CROOK
From: All peoples Congress
To: All
Date Posted: 12:11:13 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Bo Blow bo dem norr do you bra. Mek ar show you wan exercise for do. lay dong nar de gron, open you foot wide, now take you hade put am between you open legs dem en say AHHHH. You smell anyting? Norto you baksie smell so oh nar you EM OO TEE. Go was you dorty mot JORKOO

Subject: Re: VICTOR BOCKARIE FOH IS A CROOK
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 13:26:03 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Nar dar exercise dae you and you fambul dem bin dae do nar town? So you don face am cam nar the West enh???
Nor wonder this forum kin smell anytem way you cam on line.
Dorty Colombo

Subject: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 10:54:15 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
POLITICAL PLATITUDES CAN’T CURE OUR CULTURE OF CORRUPTION

© John E. Leigh

INTRODUCTION

Since the day APC President Dr. Siaka Stevens overthrew Dr. Davidson Nicole from his pedestal as our national role model and imposed Bailor Barrie as the APC role model for Sierra Leone, corruption has become for many people, a major way of securing life’s necessities, cope with daily hardships, support dependent extended families, obtain the means to gain social respectability as well as political power. This means that no matter which political party or regime is in power in our country, corruption continues.

The corruption issue for the August 11 election then is: what is the most effective way to go about peacefully containing corruption in a stable, developing Sierra Leone and which political party and presidential candidate are best suited to be entrusted with such a delicate responsibility?

It is my conclusion after having lived in Sierra Leone prior to the assumption of power by the APC as well as frequently visiting our country during APC’s misrule, that the SLPP and its presidential candidate, Solomon Berewa, are the ones most capable of both developing our country peacefully and systematically while deliberately but cautiously taking the appropriate measures to cure Sierra Leone’s corrosive culture of corruption. I am not saying SLPP and Berewa are 100% perfect. I am saying that what I know of them and their counterparts, they are the ones likely to perform the best by a wide margin. As we shall see, APC’s record is terrible and PMDC simply is much too immature and confused to be trusted with anything.

SLPP PRACTICES PROPORTIONALITY

And as the wide-ranging attacks against the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and its presidential candidate, Vice President Solomon Berewa, continue to flounder, falter and fail on the shoals of irrelevance, the exposure of APC’s heinous nation-wrecking record and the public’s understanding of PMDC’s one-manic dynastic flunkeyism born in lies and double-cross corruption, political platitudes to solve our nation’s corruption problem are fast multiplying in cyberspace, on national radio, in the local print media, local eateries and at watering holes, etc.

But even with corruption as a much-touted election issue, the opposition won’t make much headway in their campaign to threaten SLPP’s incumbency. Voters know that despite credible allegations of corruption against the administration generally, the current SLPP Administration has accomplished a lot in the brief span of seven years of peace it has governed and because people understand that corruption is a national cultural problem not peculiar to our present government.

Summarized in Table 1 below are the key achievements by the current SLPP Administration that in the long run should help modify the culture of corruption gratuitously bequeathed unto us by His APC Highness, President Siaka Stevens.

SLPP BUILDS, APC WRECKS, MARGAI YAP-YAPS
TABLE 1: SLPP BUILDS
Despite its short tenure of peace, SLPP’s record of achievements vis-à-vis the competition is impressive. SLPP’s achievements during the last seven years of peace include the following priceless developments:
1. Teaching the Military that coups are obsolete and wrong and that civilians can and will reverse coups if forced to do so to protect democracy.
2. Notified the interloper states that though poor we are able to defend our national Independence and sovereignty.
3. Systematically restoring the Rule of Law after AFRC depravity and destruction.
4. Encouraging political freedom to flourish in our country and expanding the opportunities for women to fully participate in public life.
5. Professionalizing and equipping the Military and Police Forces and creating a relationship for them with their UK counterparts following their politicization by the APC.
6. Patiently restoring civil administration from the catastrophic mess that the RUF and AFRC left behind.
7. Negotiating the Lome Accords and securing humanitarian aid.
8. Ended the RUF/AFRC/RUF wars, disarmed, demobilized and re-integrated nearly 75,000 ex-combatants into civil society and thus securing the peace.
9. Labored to establish an International Regime known as the Kimberly Process for oversight of the international rough diamond trade to contain the Blood Diamond trade.
10. Restoring the close diplomatic relationship between the UK & Europe and SLeone that existed before APC severely damaged it with counter-productive fake comrade politics.
11. Making ample supplies of foreign exchange available in the open marketplace for travelers and importers in contrast to the APC government monopolization of foreign exchange reserves during most of its tenure.
12. Expanding FOOD SECURITY.
13. Rebuilding and refurbishing the Colonial Secretariat building and Bank of Sierra Leone building and repairing and refurbishing the other public buildings such as the Law Courts that AFRC/RUF badly damaged.
14. Rebuilt the Pademba Road Prisons after AFRC/RUF destruction in their successful attempt to free Momoh, coupligans and their collaborators.
15. Renovating and re-equipping all hospitals in the country.
16. DECENTRALIZATION: Re-established the District Councils that the APC wantonly abolished 32 years ago and thereafter centralized decision-making in Freetown.
17. Protecting the Freedom of the press
18. Securing the forgiveness of $1.6 Billion in international debts incurred by corrupt, hegemonistic governments.
19. Rebuilt public Bus service linking the capital with the provinces.
20. Re-equipping the Civil Service.
21. Renovating and re-equipping Lungi International Airport
22. Restoring water works and pipe-borne water in the provinces and increasing water supply in the densely populated Western Area.
23. Introduced an electronically readable passport under tight inventory control.
24. Commenced work of systematically modernizing the national road network beginning with the widening and surfacing of the MaSiaka-Makeni Highway.
25. Reduced the corruption of consular fees at embassies by introducing a numbered visa system. Introduced Electronic readable passports under tight numbered Inventory control. This is a successful beginning on addressing the corruption problem.
26. Establish the principle that EDUCATION is a right, not just a privilege; Abolished School fees and Examination Fees; put 2,300 students on grants-in-aid and opened 4,000 new and/or rebuilt primary schools nation-wide.
27. Established the Anti-Corruption Commission.

SLPP HAS SLOWLY BEGUN TO ADDRESS THE CORRUPTION PROBLEM
Moreover, the current SLPP Administration has begun to address the corrosive corruption problem by establishing an Anti-Corruption Commission as well as instituting anti-corruption technology in our embassies re the issuance of visas as well as a highly secured inventory control for Sierra Leone’s new electronically readable passports (see items 23 & 25 above). True, the performance of the Anti-Corruption Commission has been heavily criticized by many, including yours truly, but APC never attempted any such innovation. If anything, they arrogantly flaunted nation-wrecking corrupt practices.
Further, it is clear from Table 1 above that the proportionality between the progresses achieved by SLPP during barely seven years of peace, despite cries of corruption, is heavily weighted in favor of systematic nation-building, rather than in the negativism of nation-wrecking corruption practiced by the APC as TABLE 2 below will later show.

Lastly, curing Sierra Leone of our debilitating culture of corruption is not merely a legal issue as some inexperienced, opportunistic, personalities are boasting (“Ar go do dis. Ar go do dat, wenn ar ween!). While speaking Latin to humble villagers may sway the impressionable in the short-term, merely orchestrating the jailing of each and every alleged corruptor by another set of culturally corrupt personalities wielding political power is not a viable long-term corruption solution to a problem that threatens our national security. Creativity and skill, not mere fahlahmahkahtah tactics and arrogant talk, must be brought to bear on this corrosive problem.

CORRUPTION IS A VERY SERIOUS CULTURAL PROBLEM

Yes, yes! Corruption is indeed a very serious issue for our nation’s future but to be sensible and realistic it cannot be a genuine election issue because corruption is not uniquely an SLPP government phenomenon. It is, instead, a major national tragedy permeating vast areas of society, SLPP or no SLPP. It is a most damaging, debilitating corrosive national cancer that should be confronted with management expertise and technology, backed by legal force, rather than the age-old reliance on cheap and deceitful political rhetoric, silly platitudes and vainglorious promises utterly incapable of fulfillment.

Yet, over-ambitious political mental juveniles such as APC’s Mr. Francis Pa Santhikie Bangura, who proudly bills himself as Acting Secretary-General of All Peoples Congress – USA, in his recent broadside in Cocorioko Front Page unloaded this inaccurate invective: “it is deceitful” [of JL] to have attributed nation-wrecking “corruption to the APC in the face of the biggest day light robbery taking place under the SLPP’s watch” today.

There is certainly the usual mid-level corruption going on in Sierra Leone today but nothing that can be truthfully described as “the biggest day light robbery ever” is occurring anywhere in our country. No one has ever alleged, or can credibly allege, that President Kabbah is himself involved in the on-going corrupt practices in our country. President Siaka Stevens on the other hand, is reported by intelligence services as having stolen $500 million from the nation’s coffers during his 17-year tenure.

CORRUPT PRACTICES WERE DEFINITELY WORSE UNDER THE APC

Pa Santhikie and his APC superiors at home and abroad thus know or should know that the deep corruption during APC’s 24 years in power was so egregious and so extensive that our country’s once modern culture of integrity and fairness that the British left behind was severely degraded into virtually wall-to-wall crookedness in virtually all spheres of human endeavor. Crookedness became commonplace at home, in the office, in schools and colleges, at the ports, in public matters, in private matters, in political matters, at the ferry terminal, in government business and in commercial relations regardless of which group is in power and be it civilian or military, democratic or coupliganistic. Pointing opposition fingers at the SLPP is thus a self-serving, foolish approach to the cancer of corruption in today’s Sierra Leone.

I

It was Siaka Stevens who planted the seed of our culture of corruption and nurtured it to bountiful fruition. This luxuriant corruption which emanated from that poisonous tree is exactly what we Sierra Leoneans are today experiencing.

Dieman, vouchergate, double-cross, deceit, deception, duplicity, duping, broke balancing, hold-up, lying, stealing, tiffing, tiff-tiff lawyering, fraud, put-for-me, yuki-yuki and kalo-kalo, etc. became the poisonous fruits of Siaka Stevens’ husbandry of the poisonous tree of corruption. The above tricks are still today the everyday tricks needed by many people to survive, even prosper, in a developing but poverty stricken society. But under Stevens, Sierra Leone was much worse by unrelenting marginalization, hegemonistic oppression and little or zero development. And it was Siaka Stevens who gave the official go-ahead for the routine acceptance of the above despicable corrupt practices.

APC’S ABUSED STEWARDSHIP GAVE US MASS CORRUPTION AND WAR

Life during the APC 24-years in power that led to wars, the AFRC/RUF regime and more wars was extreme discouraging. It was a dog-eat-dog situation outside the elite. Here is what a young Sierra Leonean now living abroad and writing anonymously in the Cocorioko Forum under the moniker “Sidonluk” had to say about our country while growing up in Sierra Leone under APC’s hegemonistic, kleptocratic culture of corruption, decadence and mass poverty and no economic development:
“No secret that the AFRC was a product of the Binkolo Ekutay hegemony. Sierra Leone has had its days with APC, and one must be very naive to think they can ever win an election again.

“The coming election is going to be about telling the APC that they had their days and they did nothing [good] with the opportunity they had [In fact, APC abused their governance authority]. I know not about SLPP because there was no SLPP during my time in Sa Lone.
“All I remember is ISU, Ekutay, bribery, Jamil Said, Highway, the murder of Sam Bangura, corruption, fuel shortage, blackout, inflation, Haja Dankay Kabia, put for me, Suck air, and every kind of social malaise when I think of APC.”
[NOTES: “ISU” is the Internal Security Unit - a notorious political police with the APC regime recruited from APC’s hegemonistic tribal support base and put on the public payroll to keep opponents in line. “Put-for-me” was a persistent extortionate request for bribes by authority figures. “Suck air” is going to bed on an empty stomach as in “we will be sucking breeze for dinner tonight”. “Suck air” was the general lack of food security that was suffered by the masses marginalized by hegemonistic KDDA and punished by Ekutay poverty spreaders while the corrupt APC leaders frolicked in Binkolo. Binkolo is the home village of such APC bigwigs as ex-President Momoh, Johnny Paul Koroma, Brigadier Hassan Conteh and M.A. Koroma, etc. The latter was Johnny Paul’s brother and the AFRC/RUF Resident Minister for the North.]

APC PROMOTED OUR CULTURE OF WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION

The above-described situation is a far cry from the situation when I grew up under the British Colonial Administration and the SLPP-led Administration of Sir Milton Margai. Then, our national culture for probity, reliability and integrity made Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans so likeable that it ultimately helped us defeat the coupligans, the RUF and Charles Taylor. Our then good culture once blessed and benefited Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. Hence, our capital was once referred to as the Athens of West Africa.

For example, during my 5-year stint in Nigeria as a business executive, I found the people of that country very respectable towards us Sierra Leoneans because of the decent record left behind by our ancestors who served there under the British. And when I was struggling in Washington, DC to get world assistance to end the catastrophic ARFC/RUF/NPFL occupation of Sierra Leone, the Nigerian Government, through its Ambassador in Washington assured our government that Nigeria will come to our aid conclusively because our people once beneficently helped them immensely.

In his speech in Lungi last week, Sierra Leone’s great friend in Europe, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and now the Bai Shebora N'Torfla of Mahera, stated that his favorable opinion of Sierra Leoneans (which probably motivated him to bail us out from under the coupligans) as being a very good and friendly people came from his father who was a law professor at Fourah Bay College in and about 1960.

At that time the then culture of Sierra Leone can be truthfully said to be reflected in the model of Dr. Davidson Nicole, the Sierra Leone-born Principal of Fourah Bay College. Dr. Davidson Nicole was a highly educated, upright man (i.e. no kapu-kapu, no yuki-yuki, no kalo-kalo, no dahbahru, no lie-lie, no corrupt money, etc.); a man of integrity, of intelligence merit and world class finesse who strove diligently under the rules of modern civilization to make Sierra Leone a better place for us all.

APC's Siaka Stevens changed our Davidson Nicole model as our cultural ideal and substituted the model of Bailor Barrie, instead. Mr. Barrie was a monied but semi-educated wheeler-dealer in Freetown known for his unscrupulous business practices but great wealth and some “generosity”. Getting rich at all cost soon became our national aspirations! Crooked cleverness became a much desirable character trait. APC Stevens put the last nail on the coffin of our cultural degradation from integrity to rabid corruption this way:

"You say Davidson Nicole. Ah say, Bailor Barrie!"

Again, the APC-imposed new model for our people thus became: ‘Get rich by any means possible, regardless of right or wrong. Solid education, integrity and world class success are a waste of time. Steal what you can without getting caught, if possible. If caught, bluff, opencall and/or bribe your way out of trouble.’

And so it came to pass that a new decadent creed elevating corruption as acceptable behavior and modus operandi for our people came to be established in our country under the APC. “Ooh sye den tie cow, nar dey ee go eat grass” (i.e. public office is for private gain”, (i.e. “steal whatever you want from the government and others”) became the common creed for success in Sierra Leone. This new self-defeating creed is in stark contrast to the law-and-order creed of civilization that was the norm when APC came into power. Under the British and Sir Milton, “cows” must bring their own “grass” to “eat” and no “cow” could lawfully “eat” the “grass” belonging to another. PERIOD!

I and many others never bought into the Siaka Stevens’ model. In fact, we completely rejected it. But “Ooh sye den tie cow, nar dey ee go eat grass” creed was the song-and-dance culture of corruption that I was confronted with at the Washington Embassy when I arrived there in the fall of ’96. This degrading creed was not easy to clean up. But I did clean up the embassy’s corruption despite bitter resistance and an anger that has lasted to this day. Today, the current SLPP Administration has successfully devised a solution that appears to have contained most embassy corruption. (See items 23 & 25 in TABLE 1 above). In short, the appropriate war on corruption has begun.

CORRUPTION IS SOCIETAL REGARDLESS OF THE REGIME IN POWER

This APC-dictated Cow-and-Grass culture is still the culture we have in today’s Sierra Leone among certain classes of people as evidenced by the widespread kapu-kapu, yuki-yuki, kalo-kalo, tiff-tiff, commercial hold-ups, broke balance, passport theft and sale, greed, double-cross, dahbahru, ahrahmu, deceit, deception, duplicity, duping, gongorlee journalism, etc. conduct prevalent is vast strata of our society today – regardless of which regime is in power.

You send money home to do business and in many cases nothing will come out of it except excuses for failure or the disappearance of your resident counterpart or his deliberate avoidance of you. You ask someone deemed reliable to deliver cash or valuables to someone at home, you may end up disappointed many times over. You want your vehicle serviced, you can easily end up with humongous bills and shoddy workmanship, using fake parts, or secretly re-using known defective parts and unconscionable broke balancing. You pay to clear the garbage the money-taker runs away. You put a deposit down on a seemingly legitimate transaction and the receiver disappears. Land is sold and resold several times illicitly; fraudulent conveyances are said to be commonplace. You wonder why females are usually not thrown in detention! Sex-for-freedom may be the answer and so on.

Since politicians, business persons and government personnel are recruited from this same population pool that has come to rely on the tactics of the notorious cow-and-grass creed, corrupt practices can be expected to be present in large areas of society for some time to come – regardless of the party or regime in power. To address this problem, therefore, modern management and education solutions are what are needed, rather than heaping unjustified blame on the governing party as Siaka Stevens successfully did in 1966 to the utter regret of many people.

APC GAINED POWER BY FALSELY PROMISING TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

Thus, merely because the political opposition accusers claim that the government is corrupt does not mean that the accusers are or will do any better in fighting corruption if put in charge of the government. To gain power, Siaka Stevens persistently and credibly accused the then Sir Albert Margai-led SLPP government of being corrupt. Stevens promised that if elected, the APC will fight corruption. But when he assumed power, Stevens acted exceedingly corrupt.

Martin Meredith, in his recent 50 years’ retrospective look at independent African states titled: The Fate of Africa, reported from international intelligence sources that the same anti-corruption campaigner, Siaka Stevens, stole $500 million from our poor country during his 17-year reign. In contrast, not even the complainers within the British Government, Transparency International, International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, Global Witness, etc. have ever accused President Kabbah of stealing one cent of government or humanitarian money. But it is reasonable to assume that some middle and lower echelon officers in the public services in collusion with outsiders are likely doing corruption.

Likewise, the RUF became corrupt despite its persistent propaganda of intended righteousness! Foday Sankoh repeatedly said he was fighting to end corruption but he and his colleagues corrupted their own very revolution and turned SLeone into a living hell in his search for fraudulent wealth and power. Additionally, AFRC Johnny Paul Koroma made the same anti-corruption pledge only to ruin the country dastardly.

Let’s face it: our reigning role model, given to us by APC and Siaka Stevens is not a good one. Our culture is corrupt regardless of which party is in power. We have to work our way back to the morality of the days of Sir Milton and only the SLPP can give us that – and they have started. However, miracles should not be expected for it has to be a slow, deliberate and careful process in the interest of peace and stability.

APC CAN’T FIGHT CORRUPTION BECAUSE ITS LEADERS WERE NURTURED IN AND INURED TO CORRUPT PRACTICES

APC’S reputation for corruption is so deep and so degrading it is now in the process of remaking itself into the so-called NEW APC to shed off its real evil image. But the NEW APC is still the end product of Stevens’, Momoh’s, Shahid Jamil’s handiwork and the AFRC/RUF’S. Ernest Koroma was mentored by Jamil, DIMINCO’S wrecker, and Momoh, the King of Ekutay poverty spreaders. He appears to be profiting from Jamil’s old insurance business.

Mr. Victor Voucher Gate is up to his scalp with APRC/RUF’S insatiable corrupt tendencies. The so-called “NEW” APC characters are thus the same old, same old characters nurtured in deep corruption and are thus no good for our country. They will be more corrupt than anyone party – just as Stevens turned out to be far more corrupt than Sir Albert despite his persistent promises to fight corruption if given power.

Linking APC to the AFRC/RUF coupligans are such personalities as Momoh, Johnny Paul Koroma and Mr. Victor Voucher Gate. The latter is a top opposition authority figure vainly attacking the SLPP despite his public persona as the King of Korruption. He was such a notorious APC corruptor who was so insatiably kleptocratic that the late APC President, Siaka Stevens remarked in despair thus:

“You tiff tey-tey, you nor go tiff pass Victor [Vouchergate]”.

Now this notorious corruptor and AFRC/RUF champion is leading the APC electoral corruption fight against SLPP’s alleged corruption and promising everyday to fight corruption upon victory. Clearly, Victor Vouchergate’s presence and power in today’s APC are inconsistent with any so-called NEW APC. APC’S leadership is simply not serious about cleaning up the corruption it bequeathed us.

And with such an attitude, how can the people of Sierra Leone ever trust APC with power again after it wrecked our country when in power as set forth in TABLE 2 herein?

TABLE 2: APC IS A CERTIFIED NATION-WRECKER
Summarized below are some indicia of nation-wrecking policies and practices by APC regime during their 24 years in power.
1. APC destroyed our multi-party democratic system and imposed a one-party monopoly dictatorship for nearly 20 years.
2. APC under Siaka Stevens changed the national cultural and social standard based upon the DAVIDSON NICOLE model to the BAILOR BARRY model of immoral accumulations. Our country long descent thus began into a: “Ooh sye den tie cow, nar dey ee go eat grass” national mentality of nation-wrecking corruption.
3. APC constructively expelled virtually all the three dozen European corporations doing business, employing our people and paying taxes to our government – from Bata Shoe Company (Bata) to French Company (CFAO) to Paterson & Zochonis (PZ) all the way to the United African Company (UAC). The end result is extremely painful to our country to this day: mass unemployment, the extensive spread of poverty, poor government tax revenues and worse of all, a daunting, negative international reputation of our country as a place full of corrupt business practices and governmental policies and practices.
4. The APC government disbanded all district councils and concentrated power in Freetown under the APC president for selfish hegemonistic practices.
5. The railway was shut down and sold for scrap by Stevens and Shahid Jamil. ASPC then constructed sub-standards roads at huge cost and failed to maintain them.
6. APC shut down the iron ore mines in Marampa, Port Loko District. DIMINCO was looted. Diamond exports dried up. Jail and Stevens became millionaires.
7. Missionaries and Europeans fled the country. Ready-made first-hand goods gave way to Belgium second hand goods and pure junks.
8. Water works, Road Transport and electric power stations collapsed from poor or zero maintenance and aggressive corruption under the APC.
9. APC ruined the SLPMB thus impoverishing once proud and financially independent producers. Sierra Leone thus lost its international market for cacao, coffee, piassava, kola nuts, pepper, etc.
10. Under the APC, economic crimes became rampart as poverty was endemic. Interred bodies in cemeteries were dug up, stripped of sellable valuables and left exposed to the elements for the heart-broken, bereaved families to again rebury.
11. APC’s provoked a ruinous war through its prolonged, one-party mal-governance practices such as KDDA’s marginalization, Ekutay poverty spreading, Binkolo Frolicking, Nepotism, Favoritism and Mass Discrimination against non-Northerners as well as Northern genuine opponents of mal-governance, some of whom APC hanged in cold blood such as Dr. Mohamed Fornah, Alhaji Ibrahim Tarqui of Matotoka and Paramount Chief N’Silk of Makeni, etc.
12. APC gave us the AFRC/RUF coupligan junta by packing the army with hegemonistic tribesmen and fronting for them as collaborators.
13. APC degraded the National Currency, reducing its exchange value and rendering it inconvertible. Under the APC, it was a nightmare to travel out of Sierra Leone during APC days because of the criminal lack of all foreign currencies such as US dollars and the UK pound sterling. Sierra Leoneans would arrive in London with only a few pounds in their pockets.
14. The APC regime leadership had a PASS-AH-DIE policy towards incumbency whereby they were determined to keep power until death or until overthrown - regardless of the electorate’s choice. Siaka Stevens was in power for 17 years. Momoh was overthrown. Elections were massive fraudulent affairs including the pre-registration arrest of would be candidates to prevent contests against favored one-party official candidates or jailing parliamentarians and declaring their seats vacant for absenteeism.
15. APC’s mal-governance severely deteriorated social and economic conditions so much so that mass emigration resulted. Most Sierra Leoneans abroad today first left the country beginning with the days after the APC came into power. Now there is a legend among Sierra Leoneans abroad that even in the South Pole, you will today find Sierra Leonean teachers, doctors, attorneys, nurses and accountants, etc.
16. The APC wants to change its image into the NEW APC but without ever acknowledging its gross mistakes and abuses or replace the guilty elite around Koroma that help ruined Sierra Leone and thus invited war and/or backed the AFRC/RUF disaster regime such as AFRC/RUF Victor Vouchergate, a prime amnesty beneficiary.
17. The current APC leader, Mr. Ernest Koroma, was mentored by Shahid Jamil who despoiled the diamond industry, and by ex-President Joseph Momoh who was overthrown in 1992 amidst dancing in the streets and joyousness nationwide and who stood squarely behind the AFRC/RUF coup junta of barbarians.
18. APC cancelled school Kondoh in all government secondary schools.
19. APC cancelled pocket money allowances to form six pupils and college students.
20. Under the APC regimes, brand new school text books were unobtainable.
21. APC viewed education as a privilege. Schools were allowed to deteriorate and remain primitive. On the other hand, SLPP deems education as a birthright of every single Sierra Leonean.

22. APC disrespected teachers and chopped aid money from Canada meant for teacher financial assistance. The teachers then went on a debilitating strike.

23. APC severely reduced the budget for Fourah Bay College and other tertiary institutions in order to punish lecturers and students. The 1977 student strike during the height of APC power resulted in the flight of many students to Libya for revolutionary training (and elsewhere for sanctuary) which training later metamorphosized into a devastating rebel war.

24. APC, AFRC and the RUF cared nothing about food security. Vast numbers of people sucked air or breeze for dinner under their nation-wrecking regime.

25. APC was quick to marginalize and execute in cold blood some of Sierra Leone’s best brains (i.e. Dr. Mohamed Fornah and Alhaji Ibrahim Tarqui) merely because such decent people pushed for nation-building and opposed nation-wrecking policies. Gov. Samuel Bangura of the Bank of Sierra Leone was brutally murdered in mysterious circumstances in his own home.

26. Freedom of the Press was abrogated under the APC. The execution of the Minister of Imformation and a once-famous editor (We Yone), Hon. Ibrahim Tarqui, sent chills down the spine of newspaper editors and proprietors.

PMDC IS ALL YAY-YAP TALK & IMMATURE DECISION-MAKING.

Any talk by the PMDC leadership that it will address the corruption issue is nothing but empty bluffing. That party is poorly led by opportunistic dynastic types who are out only for themselves and seeking to gain undeserved power by exploiting problems they believe the people can be fooled with. But the people know that PMDC is a one-manic, privately owned political party that was established in secrecy to avoid at all costs the glare of transparency and public participation at the organizational stage solely to insure one man’s presidential candidacy. This PMDC appears to me to rely heavily on fahlahmahkahtah, cuss-cuss and crookish tactics in its flattering campaign.

Some of the leading personalities in PMDC are not of good characters either. They originate from the same APC-bred opportunistic population pool from which corruptors are recruited. PMDC is thus populated by leaders who awarded government contracts to wives, relatives and friends. Others in PMDC’s top echelons include the likes of bangucrooks, tiff-tiff lawyer, frog doctor, and avaricious alphabet-soup political opportunists looking for their turn to participate in feasting crookedly on public funds.

Moreover, PMDC’S incompetent and wasteful political operations are mainly funded by two or so businessmen. These financiers would definitely want their money back should the PMDC win. Official corruption may therefore be unavoidable and unmanageable
under the over-promised PMDC regime.

CONCLUSION - CLEANING CORRUPTION IS NO CHILD’S PLAY

Reforming an entrenched profitable culture of corruption in a poverty-stricken country with insufficient economic opportunities for honest, genuine financial independence and with a communal life-style is exceedingly difficult and requires an abundance of leadership skills, knowledge, patience, hard work, time, luck and realism. Arrogance, haughtiness and brainlessness won’t cut it. Containing corruption also requires that those purporting to do the reform are people of genuine integrity and reliability and while such reforms are in progress important areas of human endeavor are not neglected but must be pressed further ahead.

The SLPP Administration has already begun work in this important area but much need to be done. As the record of Siaka Stevens’ APC has established, repeatedly crying wolf about corruption does no mean that opposition attackers will ever get the job done of controlling corruption if given the opportunity or even whether they are genuinely interested in containing corruption and merely looking for the opportunity to once again loot our resources.

Again, Solomon Berewa and the SLPP are the proper choices for our country come August 11. Thank you. JL 6/7/07

Subject: Re: SLPP IS THE MOST CORRUPT GOVT. IN SALONE
From: True
To: All
Date Posted: 02:53:36 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
By Nick Tattersall
1 June 2007
10:33 GMT
Reuters News

FREETOWN, June 1 (Reuters) -- Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid, leaving its most vulnerable citizens as destitute as they were before its civil war ended five years ago, experts say.

Since the guns fell silent after more than a decade of conflict, the former British colony -- a country of just 5 million people, rich in diamonds, iron ore and gold -- remains one of the poorest nations on earth.
...
Britain alone has spent 91 million pounds ($180 million) on non-military aid over the past three years and will provide a further 40 million this year. But endemic corruption has gone largely unchecked, analysts say.

"Things are as bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991. And Tony Blair's government bears a lot of responsibility for facilitating this state of affairs, precisely because they did not hold the government to account," said Mike McGovern, former West Africa d! irector for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"Whatever British diplomats and development specialists in Freetown might have wanted to do, their hands were tied because Sierra Leone had already been declared a success in London, almost from the beginning," he told Reuters.

"(Sierra Leone's) government ... was able to read these signs just as clearly as if they had been delivered from 10 Downing Street by registered mail: there would be no accountability, no scrutiny, everything was permitted."

POWERFUL GO UNPUNISHED

A report for the British government's development arm, DFID, gave a scathing review in April of the progress made by Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission, a British-funded body set up to prosecute high-profile offenders.

Last year the commission made 12 convictions. They included the caterer at a mental hospital, the headmaster of a primary school and the accounts officer of a library, all accused of embezzling small amounts of state money.

There were no lasting high-profile convictions. Former Transport Minister Momoh Pujeh was sent to jail in 2003 for the illegal possession of diamonds but later won an appeal against his conviction in the high court.

Given such a poor track record, the DFID review recommended funding of the commission be stopped.

But Sierra Leone's government said it had made progress.

"This is a country where you never had an anti-corruption commission before and now we have one," Information Minister Septimus Kaikai told Reuters. He added the government was considering toughening anti-corruption legislation.

Mains electricity and piped water are rare even in the sprawling shanty towns that make up the capital Freetown. There are few paved roads in the rest of the country, and 70 percent of the population survive on less than $1 a day.

"Before the war we were living fine, but every day prices keep going up," said Isatu Kamara, a 50-year-old grandmother who sells cigarettes a! nd biscu its at a busy Freetown junction.

High-level corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor threatens to erase the hard-won gains that came with Britain's military intervention.

"Endemic corruption was a central factor that produced the dire conditions that made civil war inevitable," the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report after the end of the fighting.

"Sierra Leone remains in the grip of pervasive corruption, which, if not arrested, will sap the country of its life force and lay the ground for further conflict," it said.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: slpp
To: All
Date Posted: 13:56:03 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
From the very opening sentence of this ungrammatical, rambling garbage, John Leigh exposes his lack of knowledge of Salone's recent history. The least of his errors is that he can't even get his spellings right.

This very boring nonsensical patch-work of untrue propanda by the corrupt Leigh can be dismissed in a single sentence:

The SLPP has received more foreign aid than all the other Salone govts combined, yet it has brought the worst poverty to Salone -- no light, no water, no jobs, the worst infant mortality in the world, no jobs and no hope.

That is why the SLPP must be kicked out after 10 years of the worst performance of any govt. in the history of Salone. But don't expect the very corrupt SLPP- and Berewa-boolicker John Leigh to admit that.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 12:08:46 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
I-Man:

My 'Culture of Corruption' piece has truly riled a lot of chops-licking crooks. Juxaposing SLPP's huge successes in barely seven years of peace against APC's 24 years of nation-wrecking demolitions has left foolumunkus even dumber.

I will be demolishing Mr. Joseph S. Sherman's rubbish, phoolumunku piece by mid-next week. - JL.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 18:31:24 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ws-lib235.lib.csus.edu at 130.86.14.79

Message:
Greetings my brothers and sisters. It is only prudent that I thank Mr. Cornelius Hamelberg for his responses to my previous posting on Racism and especially, for the links he provided to further shed light on the issue. Majority of the time, as the issue of race is disturbing and confusing, so is the diversity and damaging it has taken root globally. As such, the topic becomes an untouchable or rather scary topic to discuss because the idea behind racism is generalization, mono-political manipulation and or personalization without conceptualization irradiated in misconceived understanding or views of the real. It is the biggest hypocrisy being that most of these views are not belieed but a caricature for self-aggrandizement with a manipulative tool to be perceived as rather being.

Haven said that let me move on to say that until Sierra Leoneans start believing in themselves, take the necessary steps to take charge for change by changing what is wrong in us, we shall never bring any government to change let alone effect change. We have to be truthful to ourselves that we want the change by leading the way in serving as examples of change.

This morning I was reading the book of Luke chapters 3, 4 and 5. Particularly chapter 5, Jesus in His bid to get Peter and the other disciples to join Him, He went to their place of work, started with what they knew: fishing and asked them catch fish. He asked them to let out a net for a catch but they haven been at sea whole day, tentatively doubted but obeyed any way. Jesus did not promise them heaven immediately he encountered them but showed them that He will give them heaven by assuring them that if where He is leading them does not work, which he was sure will work yet, He is sure to have them do their current job even better. This tells me that examples are better than precepts.

Your Excellency Ambassador Leigh, as a man I respect and have said this time again, yet, it will not sound well to lead us, in your condemnation of the A.P.C. and P.M.D.C. by not being sincere to yourself. Please permit me the pain to veil your refusal to clear your name in the accusation that you are the one who wrote under another acronym "(Independent Man,)" in your verge to discredit the sincerity of the above-mentioned parties. As an advocate of the S.L.P.P. it will only make most of us to want to re-think that the sincerity of your party is unveiled here and that is what you are bringing to the core by the "deceptive" utterance demonstrated in the said guise: writing under another acronym rather than the one you have been identified by all the while.

By and large, as I do not wish to delve into Sierra Leonean party-politics, at least not at the present moment yet, I would honestly say that Sierra Leone will not be changed by the government, this present one nor any future government if we the people particularly, those who have not been corrupted don't jump-in and lead in the right right direction.

Most of the issues that you have claimed as the hard work of any of our politicians, I hesitate, is completely incorrect. The certification scheme for the diamond industry was a proposal made by a Canadian congressman (The Canadian government) in 1998-1999 when our war was ragging, an issue also discussed at the U.S. Congress about the same period of time, aired by major T.V. and Radio networks, getting the blessings of celebrities and other International agencies. The U.S. Congress and Senate debated the issue and passed a resolution to stop the illicit sale of diamonds especially in America. This aired in major T.V. net works such as NBC, ABC, CNN and FOX in the 90's.

On 28 September 1999 it was reported that "British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook proposed Tuesday the imposition of international controls on the sale of uncut diamonds in order to stop illegal sales which are fuelling conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola. "The diamond market is pretty tight. The places you can sell uncut diamonds are pretty limited," he said. "It should not be beyond our wit to devise an international regime in cooperation with the diamond trade that cuts off that flow of diamonds to those who use them to buy arms and fuel conflicts." Cook added that Britain favoured international controls on the illegal sales of small arms, which had caused three million deaths while international efforts had focused on controlling weapons of mass destruction."

In another related issue "Two United States Congressmen, Rep. Tony Hall of Ohio (pictured left) and Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia (pictured right), called Friday for a United Nations embargo on illicit diamonds mined in Sierra Leone. Hall and Wolf, who visited Sierra Leone this week, said any diamond mined in Sierra Leone not certified by the proposed Commission for the Management of Strategic Resources, National Reconciliation and Development should be sanctioned under international law. "If nothing is done about the black-market trade in diamonds, the peacekeeping troops going into Sierra Leone this month will find a treacherous situation on the ground," Hall said in a press release. "Rebels responsible for the war's atrocities have signed the peace agreement, but some factions continue to mine and sell diamonds - and the unspeakable violence that depends on those revenues is also continuing." Wolf said the world should not stand idly by while revenues from illicit diamond sales were used to kill innocent civilians. "We should do whatever it takes to cut off these revenues before they again tempt armed men to grab power from the democratically elected government in Freetown," he said. "We cannot count on the peace to hold while attacks on civilians continue and funds that could ease their suffering are instead channeled into rebels' vaults." Most illicit diamonds are smuggled out of Sierra Leone through Liberia. Antwerp's High Diamond Council reported buying some 30 million carats of diamonds over the past five years, although the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the Liberian diamond mining industry is capable of producing only about two percent of that amount. The sanctions proposed by Hall and Wolf would be modeled after U.N. Resolution 864, which prohibits the purchase of diamonds from Angola's UNITA rebels. It would affect only black market stones, not those needed by the government to rebuild the country."

With regards to the assistance to Sierra Leone through AID, it was done based purely on humanitarian reasons. As you can see bellow:

"23 September: The Canadian government announced Wednesday Canadian $4.5 million (approximately U.S. $3.1 million) in assistance to support peace efforts and help victims of conflict in Sierra Leone. The announcement was made jointly by Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy (pictured left) and International Cooperation Minister Maria Minna (right), who along with Canada's Special Representative to Sierra Leone, David Pratt (MP for Nepean - Carleton) and Jean Augustine (MP for Etobicoke - Lakeshore) were in New York to discuss the plight of child soldiers and to raise the awareness of the plight of children in war-affected situations. According to a Canadian government press release, the funds will be spent on humanitarian aid for displaced persons and refugees, and on the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme for former combatants. This latest contribution brings to $9 million the amount invested by Canada in Sierra Leone since December 1998. "Far too many children, women and men have suffered physically and emotionally after being forced from their homes during this devastating conflict," Minna said. "We have to act swiftly for the people of Sierra Leone, to sustain peace and prevent further violence and war." The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will provide $2.5 million to the World Bank Trust Fund for Sierra Leone, while another $1.5 million will go to international and Canadian organisations to provide assistance to children affected by war, and to amputees. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, through its Peacebuilding Program, will contribute an additional $500,000 for a variety of peace building efforts, with priority on assisting the demobilisation and reintegration of child soldiers, and supporting other children affected by the conflict. "The effective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, in particular child soldiers, is a human security priority," said Axworthy. "We have to ensure that these people are provided with adequate education and tools to build a new future."

All of the above can be found in the Sierra Leone Webs News. Follow the said days.

Therefore, my view now is, how can we move from here, leaving behind the sad politics of fabricating, pulling each other down to setting a brighter road-map that will redirect our leaders political thinking, a way of helping scrub the disgrace our politicians, some educated or all Sierra Leoneans have caused our beautiful country go through. It is high time we set brighter examples and turn the tide because the disgrace is upon us, the suffering is upon our nation and to lead in the same sad ways by adopting the same politics the country has lead for centuries will only cause us harm. Remember, the International Community is reading. Allowing Reasoning to lead us will help our nation recover from what we are going through. Self interest might only serve us temporarily but even if it does, it will live a sad legacy for the future generation and many more generations to come. Do we want instant or deferred and lasting gratification. The ball is in your court.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 22:23:51 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
Mr. Bambay Kamara:

I am not the individual posting under the moniker Independent Man. I have never posted in this forum using any other name other than my true name.

I hereby authorize you to verify such from the Forum Administrator.

Moreover, please note that I do not open probably 75% of forum postings as much stupidity and rubbish is posted by a few people using multiple monikers.

And after I say my final GOODBYE, I do not open the relevant postings, let alone read them. So do not expect me to reply to the erroneaous trash written by the usual abusers.

Next, the SL Embassy in DC worked with Hall, Wolfe, Senator Durkin, Pratt, Mina, Axeworthy and numerous other US and Canadian legislators, the Diamond Industry, the US & Canadian Administrations, the embassies of diamond producing nations, American and Canadian NGOs, etc. to initiate, negotiate and establish the Kimberly Process regime. I was deeply involved in the process onbehalf of the duly elected SLPP government.

Unbeknown to many people, not only did I serve as SL Amb to the US, I was also concurrently as SL High Commissioner to Canada. I lobbied as hard and successfully in Ottawa, as I did in DC.

Websites only publish news they get. Lets face it, they do not always get everything.

Tony Hall wrote me a very moving goodbye letter in October 2002 which I have on file.

Again, the SLPP has achieved a lot in the seven years of peace it has governed. And it began in war and had to restart after the destruction of the AFRC/RUF from May 26, 1997 through peace in January 2002.

This is in contrast to 1968 when the APC came to power in peace and prosperity. The NRC-junior officers handed Stevens a very lovely country, the second most prosperous country in Anglo West Africa. But when SLPP took over in 1996, SLeone was in last place internationally. APC ruined Sierra Leone completely.

Shown below are the governance records of both the SLPP (nation-building) the APC (nation-wrecking). Thank you. - JL

TABLE 1: SLPP BUILDS

Despite its short tenure of peace, SLPP’s record of achievements vis-à-vis the competition is impressive. SLPP’s achievements during the most recent seven years of peace include the following priceless developments:

1. Teaching the Military that coups are obsolete and wrong and that civilians can and will reverse coups if forced to do so to protect democracy.
2. Notified the interloper states that though poor, we are able to defend our national Independence and sovereignty.
3. Systematically restoring the Rule of Law following APC’s civilian dictatorship and after AFRC’S depravity and catastrophic destruction.
4. Encouraging political freedom to flourish in our country and expanding the opportunities for women to fully participate in public life as never before.
5. Professionalizing and equipping the Military and Police Forces and creating a relationship for them with their UK counterparts following their politicization by the APC. No more hegemonistic parking of the military and police forces with tribal favorites.
6. Patiently restoring civil administration nationwide from the catastrophic mess that the APC, RUF and AFRC left behind.
7. Negotiating the Lome Accords and securing humanitarian aid.
8. Ended the RUF/AFRC/RUF wars. Disarmed, demobilized and re-integrated nearly 75,000 ex-combatants into civil society and thus securing the peace.
9. Labored to establish an International Regime known as the Kimberly Process for oversight of the international rough diamond trade to contain the Blood Diamond abuses.
10. Restoring the close diplomatic relationship between the UK & Europe and SLeone that existed before APC severely damaged it with counter-productive fake socialist comrade politics.
11. Making ample supplies of foreign exchange available in the open marketplace for travelers and importers in contrast to the APC government monopolization of foreign exchange reserves during most of its tenure that gravely hurt many businesses and people.
12. Expanding FOOD SECURITY.
13. Rebuilding and refurbishing the Colonial Secretariat building and Bank of Sierra Leone building and repairing and refurbishing the other public buildings such as the Law Courts that AFRC/RUF badly damaged or destroyed.
14. Rebuilt the Pademba Road Prisons after AFRC/RUF destruction in their successful attempt to free Momoh, coupligans and their collaborators.
15. Renovating and re-equipping all hospitals in the country.
16. DECENTRALIZATION: Re-established the District Councils that the APC wantonly abolished 32 years ago and thereafter centralized decision-making in Freetown. The devolution of local government powers continues systematically.
17. Protecting the Freedom of the press.
18. Securing the forgiveness of $1.6 Billion in international debts incurred by corrupt, incompetent and hegemonistic governments.
19. Rebuilt daily public bus services linking the capital with the provinces.
20. Re-equipping the Civil Service.
21. Renovating and re-equipping Lungi International Airport
22. Restoring water works and pipe-borne water in the provinces and increasing water supply in the densely populated Western Area.
23. Introduced an electronically readable passport under tight inventory control.
24. Commenced work of systematically modernizing the national road network beginning with the widening and surfacing of the MaSiaka-Makeni Highway.
25. Reduced the corruption of consular fees at embassies by introducing a numbered visa system. This is a successful beginning on addressing the corruption problem.
26. Establish the principle that EDUCATION is a right, not just a privilege. Abolished school fees and examination fees; put 2,300 students on grants-in-aid and opened 4,000 new and/or rebuilt primary schools nation-wide.
27. Provide for the proper development of our children, especially the Girl Child.
28. Established the Anti-Corruption Commission but more need to be done here.
29. International investors have begun to return to Sierra Leone as the current SLPP Administration sheds our country’s APC image of egregious corruption, gross incompetence and “slow-witted” leadership.
30. The current SLPP Administration has conducted free and fair national and local elections.

TABLE 2: APC IS A CERTIFIED NATION-WRECKER

Summarized below are some indicia of nation-wrecking policies and practices by APC regime during their 24 years in power.

1. APC destroyed our multi-party democratic system and imposed a one-party monopoly dictatorship for nearly 20 years.
2. APC under Siaka Stevens changed the national cultural and social standard based upon the DAVIDSON NICOLE model to the BAILOR BARRY model of immoral accumulations. Our country long descent thus began into a: “Ooh sye den tie cow, nar dey ee go eat grass” national mentality of nation-wrecking corruption.
3. APC constructively expelled virtually all the three dozen European corporations doing business, employing our people and paying taxes to our government – from Bata Shoe Company (Bata) to French Company (CFAO) to Paterson & Zochonis (PZ) all the way to the United African Company (UAC). The end result is extremely painful to our country to this day: mass unemployment, the extensive spread of poverty, poor government tax revenues and worse of all, a daunting, negative international reputation of our country as a place full of corrupt business practices and governmental policies and practices.
4. The APC government disbanded all district councils and concentrated all local government power in Freetown under the APC president for selfish hegemonistic and corrupt reasons.
5. The railway was shut down and sold for scrap by Stevens and Shahid Jamil. APC then constructed sub-standards roads at huge cost and failed to maintain them.
6. APC shut down the iron ore mines in Marampa, Port Loko District. DIMINCO was looted and shut down. Diamond exports dried up. Jail and Stevens became millionaires.
7. Missionaries and Europeans fled the country. Ready-made first-hand goods gave way to Belgium second hand goods and pure junks.
8. Water works, road transport and electric power stations collapsed from poor or zero maintenance and aggressive corruption under the APC.
9. APC’S corruption ruined the SLPMB thus impoverishing once proud and financially independent producers mostly in the South and East. Sierra Leone thus lost its international market for cacao, coffee, piassava, kola nuts, pepper, etc.
10. Under the APC, economic crimes became rampart as poverty was endemic. Interred bodies in cemeteries were dug up, stripped of sellable valuables and left exposed to the elements for the heart-broken, bereaved families to again rebury.
11. APC’s provoked a ruinous war through its prolonged, one-party mal-governance practices such as KDDA’s marginalization, Ekutay poverty spreading, Binkolo Frolicking, Nepotism, Favoritism and Mass Discrimination against non-Northerners as well as Northern genuine opponents of mal-governance, some of whom APC hanged in cold blood such as Dr. Mohamed Fornah, Alhaji Ibrahim Tarqui of Matotoka and Paramount Chief N’Silk of Makeni, etc.
12. APC gave us the AFRC/RUF coupligan junta by packing the army with hegemonistic tribesmen and fronting for them as collaborators.
13. APC degraded the National Currency by reducing its exchange value and rendering it inconvertible. Under the APC, it was a nightmare to travel out of Sierra Leone during APC days because of the criminal lack of all foreign currencies such as US dollars and the UK pound sterling. Sierra Leoneans would arrive in London with only a few pounds in their pockets.
14. The APC regime leadership had a PASS-AH-DIE policy towards incumbency whereby they were determined to keep power until death or until overthrown - regardless of the electorate’s choice. Siaka Stevens was in power for 17 years. Momoh was overthrown. Elections were massive fraudulent affairs including the pre-registration arrest of would be candidates to prevent contests against favored one-party official candidates or jailing parliamentarians and declaring their seats vacant for absenteeism.
15. APC’s mal-governance severely deteriorated social and economic conditions so much so that mass emigration resulted. Most Sierra Leoneans abroad today first left the country beginning with the days after the APC came into power. Now there is a legend among Sierra Leoneans abroad that even in the South Pole, you will today find Sierra Leonean teachers, doctors, attorneys, nurses and accountants, etc.
16. The APC wants to change its image into the NEW APC but without ever properly acknowledging its gross abuses or replace the guilty elite around Koroma that helped ruin Sierra Leone and thus invited war and/or backed the AFRC/RUF disaster regime such as AFRC/RUF Victor Vouchergate.
17. The current APC leader, Mr. Ernest Koroma, was mentored by Shahid Jamil who despoiled the diamond industry, and by ex-President Joseph Momoh who was overthrown in 1992 amidst dancing in the streets and joyousness nationwide and who stood squarely behind the AFRC/RUF coup junta of barbarians.
18. APC cancelled school Kondoh (lunch) in all government secondary schools.
19. APC cancelled monthly pocket money allowances to form six pupils and college students.
20. Under the APC regimes, brand new school text books were unobtainable.
21. APC viewed education as a privilege. Schools were allowed to deteriorate and remain primitive. Teachers were paid as little as possible. On the other hand, SLPP deems education as a birthright of every single Sierra Leonean.

22. APC disrespected teachers and chopped aid money from Canada meant for teacher financial assistance. The teachers then went on a debilitating strike.

23. APC severely reduced the budget for Fourah Bay College and other tertiary institutions in order to punish lecturers and students. The 1977 student strike during the height of APC power resulted in the flight of many students to Libya for revolutionary training (and elsewhere for sanctuary) which training later metamorphosized into a devastating rebel war.

24. APC, AFRC and the RUF cared nothing about food security. Vast numbers of people sucked air or breeze instead of eating food under their nation-wrecking regimes.

25. APC was quick to marginalize and execute in cold blood some of Sierra Leone’s best brains (i.e. Dr. Mohamed Fornah and Alhaji Ibrahim Tarqui) merely because such decent people pushed for nation-building and opposed nation-wrecking, policies. Gov. Samuel Bangura of the Bank of Sierra Leone was brutally murdered in mysterious circumstances in his own home.

26. Freedom of the Press was abrogated under the APC. The execution of the Minister of Information and a once-famous editor (We Yone), Hon. Ibrahim Tarqui, sent chills down the spine of newspaper editors and proprietors.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: FACT
To: All
Date Posted: 00:16:50 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Mr. Leigh,a lot of what you wrote about the APC is not true. For example, I received a sixth form grant from the ministry of education, under the APC. Also,a lot of what you wrote about the APC has also been done by the SLPP sometimes more that ten times over.Examples: execution of perceived or real opponents, mass disenchantment and disiillusionment, stealing of state resources, attacks on the press, etc, etc. The current SLPP is not different from the old APC and that's a fact. I am not an APC supporter.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 17:29:39 06/10/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
FACT:

You might have been one of the last ones to get a form six grant. APC stopped pupils' monthly allowance shortly after OAU Conference in Freetown. They also canceled scholl lunch (Kondoh)in all government schools.

SLPP has not executed any civilian SLPP member the way APC executed Dr. Fornah and Alhaji Taqui. You might also know that the killing of Gov. Sam Bangura confiscated independent monetary policy making authority from SL Bank Governors until Prez. Kabbah was elected.

Yes there was mass disenchantment and disillusionment under Kabbah but under him things have really improved: no more sucking breeze for dinner; no more ISU; no more Binkolo frolicking, the average life expectancy has increased from 35 years to 41-42 since the war ended; roads are being tarred; companies are beginning to invest in SLeone; population flight has been reduced; no more war; the president does not steal; attacks on the press are less than under APC; elections are free and fair - no more pre-nomination arrest of truly independent candidates plus vote counting is transparent, etc.

The current SLPP government, in my opinion, is far superior to the APC's but people like me are still not very happy but looking forward to a much more appreciated Berewa's SLPP Administration.

If the AFRC/RUF had not destroyed SLeone, things would
have been much better for all of us. - JL

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: FACT
To: All
Date Posted: 09:55:23 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Yes, I got my grant in the 70s. Things really started to go bad in Sierra Leone after the OAU conference when international aid dried up. The execution of Sam Bangura did not help matters. If the APC had the aid being enjoyed by the SLPP today things would have been different and the Sankoh war would have been nipped in the bud.In 1991, the Sierra Leone army had no weapons! The government was totally broke!
Like I told you before, it's the same politicians recycling themselves, the same civil service, the same everything. What we need is a serious and patriotic leader. Full stop.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 12:45:43 06/11/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
FACT:

Why did the APC not get the aid they believed they were entitled to? Because they were crooks and very stupid and the world knew it.

The aid received by the SLPP government was tiny and were only for specific development projects. SLPP did not need budget-support aid because government revenues amounted to around $500 million annually. That was the situation when the APC came to power.

But APC turned out to be crooked and they drove away all the key tax payers - UAC, PZ, Bata Shoe Co, CFAO, SCOA, etc. Those tax payers were from donor nations. So, tax revenues dried up.

SLPMB was corrupted. So exports dried up. So no export duties were dried up too. Foreign exchange was corrupted. So the exchange value of the leone degraded from £1 = Le2.00 to £1 = Le1,200. And after Johnny Paul's violent assault on our people £1 fetches neary Le5,700. Hence poverty and high prices are the other of the day.

It is true that there are many APC transplants in the SLPP. You think all those transplants like me? Not at all. Some hate my guts. They want me to resign and join PMDC or APC so they could use SLPP to ruin SL.

In 2002 at Bo one of them told me to "sit down shut up and go back to America". I went public instead. Today SLPP is having genuine democratic primaries for selecting its parliamentary candidates because the SLPP grassroots want democracy.

Makeni too was not a complete disaster. Two of my biggest APC transplant detractors and the organizers of the conB/Vention were voted out of office. The next party convention should be genuinely democratic.

It must be said, however, that many APC transplants never lost their SLPP ways. They belonged to APC because they had no choice because APC imposed a one-party state. Others are nicely adjusting.

Accordingly, SLPP is unlike the APC. SLPP is set-up to learn from mistakes and correct them.

APC executes dissidents in cold blood such as Dr. Forna, ALhaji Tarqui, etc. I worked for Sam Bangura at the Bank of Sierra Leone and knew him to be an upright man. He killing is still widely believed as political: he resisted the abuse of foreign exchange and dahbahru contracts at the expense of his country.

PMDC is not the answer. Its very existence reflects our culture of corruption: one manic secretiveness, double cross, tiff-tiff lawyer, bangucrooks, harlot politics, junior blockheads and foolumunkus, etc.
Thank you. - JL

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Salonean
To: All
Date Posted: 01:42:10 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
"If the AFRC/RUF had not destroyed SLeone, things would have been much better for all of us. - JL

Wrong, again, John Leigh.

The truth is that if corrupt people like you and the politicians you have bribed -- Kabbah and Berewa -- had not been born, "things would have been much better for all of us."

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 16:57:19 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 216.190.22.151

Message:
Greetings my brothers and sisters. Your Excellency, Ambassador Leigh thank you for your response. The transformation of our socio-economic system to improve our beloved nation is my paramount concern not any individual government or politician. I personally, have no need to defend any political party or persons in Sierra Leone, being that Sierra Leone woefully failed me, whereby, Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad connived with the racist to see into it that I do not become anything but a synick fan-fare though the very reasons for which I was drastically reduced to this sad state is because I stood resolutely on the many forums that I contributed on since 1997 to discuss issues relating to our war, a reason that many who did not understand that the intent of the United Nations Member State was to bring peace to our country. I am confident that any and all attackers had that bold and judicious step I take would have been counted against me and would have been the reason for the constant abuse I underwent and still undergoing. Every government of nations are empowered by their states and International Law to safeguard the Territorial integrity of their nations. Territorial integrity does not only mean the topographical vicinities of those nations but also the human integrity of their nationals regardless of where they reside. You would agree with me that the Territorial integrity of Sierra Leone was castigated and not even the Sierra Leoneans could stand-up to correct such malpractices meted-out to their very national. But as I have said time and again, I stand for the future of Sierra Leone and will see to it that the children of that country do not inherit a legacy of self-defeatism, superiority complex especially when they are right or because their rights are abused. History has taught us that many Africans have died for the very reasons I was dehumanized with the abysmal support of their fellow country men. Slavery would have hardly succeeded has we not contributed to it the same way it is done to me.
In that vein, I am not trying to under rate the effort made by the S.L.P.P. However, mankind has been known to claim responsibility for what other people did, other people's ability, creativity and sacrifice and manipulatively utilized by many for self-aggrandizement. It is with that note that I am cautioning Sierra Leoneans to view the political platform, see the inroad to the same idea of using what sacrifices others have made, noting that such mentality and inability to be creative, focus to design mechanism with or without the assistance rendered to the country by foreign donors as a means of leading Sierra Leone to failure because one day the donors will live the ball to us to play it with the techniques and resources available to us. So the idea of politicians coming-up with success stories from the ideas and resources rendered us is in itself a road to bitter stories in the long run.
Most of what is said about the A.P.C. have been replicated by the S.L.P.P. The journalist Yansaneh was allegedly murdered by an S.L.P.P. member of parliament. Here we see a direct involvement of a government functionary to the fatal death of a Journalist for writing something perceived to be wrong about her. In the A.P.C. era, most Sierra Leoneans were anticipating or rumoring that High Way, a thug had been hired by the government, to which we have no authenticity. But I cannot root-out the blame because had their been an effective judicial system, where the Rule of Law is paramount, a civilian would not have taken the law into his own hand. But thankfully, at the advent of President Momoh, High Way died in prison for a murder. Therefore, it is fare to say that had Momoh been given the chance to stay in power, Democracy would have take it's cause.
Momoh, brought the then One Party System of government to a multy-party system within four years of his leadership. There was a way forward there. Unfortunately, J.S.Momoh was overthrown. Rather than wage war to topple the government that overthrew him, for fear that lives would have been definately destroyed, he let the law take it's cause.
The One Party System of government was an amalgamation of all parties. Current S.L.P.P. members were stunt A.P.C. This FRUGALITY IN POLITICS AND HORRING TO GAIN POWER IS MY CONCERN.
I do not have time to read over, still bleeding from the connivance to reduce me and for what is unknown to every intelligent being.
Thank you for your time.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 17:44:36 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 216.190.22.150

Message:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14565
Your Excellency, bellow are issues that all loving Sierra Leoneans must fight hard to root-out in our political system. We can not continue the blame game. We cannot continue complaining, while we push the dirt under the rug. If Sierra Leone is to be a better nation, we who have not been corrupted should stand rightfully towards a better democratic practices, where the Rule of Law not an individual's power is might. If Sierra Leone is to prosper we should start calling spade a spade otherwise, we are building a bridge that will collapse eventually.
What are the problems Sierra Leone has faced and faces to this moment?
We have all agreed, the U.S.Congress has said that corruption is our problem. Canada, China, United Kingdom and all nations that wish to see us thrive have said corruption must be eradicated to ensure transparency. We might all want power. But why do we want power. Why do we do what we do has to be examined before we can move forward. Wrong can never, I repeat, never succeed. Our parents told us this since we were children. So what is holding us back from trampling on the corrupt practices. I know being without will cause all such of disrespect for an individual. But the reasons for being without is what keeps an individuals sanity. Integrity is superb to all riches.
We must join forces to change Sierra Leone. Whether we have it now or not, our integrity will cause the graceful to see why we do not have it and will listen to every descent man than a crook wealthy fool. Escabah had millions of dollars but is worthy than you who stayed in school, got your education or earned through tenacity? I hope not.
Let a man scorn upon you but deep down in his heart realize and acknowledge that you are worthy. Let a man praise you but deep down knowing that you are a corrupt fool, he has no respect for you.
We are not saints but when our actions cause the lives of people to stagnate, die or become frustrated what are we?
There is a saying, :show me your friend and I will tell you who you are is the same for birds of the same feather flock together. Anyone who joins the corrupt people in the name of building Sierra Leone, now or prior to the war, is liken to the rebels. Because it is the actions of corrupt people that caused massive sufferings creating disgruntlement that led to the killing of forty-seven thousand Sierra Leoneans and maiming tens of thousands.
Have we forgotten so soon.
Blood Diamond means corrupt people that caused thousands of people to be killed. Is any one proud of that; I know I am not.
If the Journalists did not get the story right yet, these pictures tell more stories than the Journalists would have ever explained.
My story is no lie and can explain what we stand for. Some are not even racists they are just immitators and disgruntled rebels who hate the fact that they did not pay attention to important things in life.

Subject: Re: APC INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION IN SA LONE
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 17:58:24 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 216.190.22.150

Message:
Your Excellency, most Sierra Leoneans talk of gold,diamond and so on and so forth as the only way Sierra Leone has been failed. But is that all?. When talks of Sierra Leonean problems arise, we hardly talk of the human potentials. Since 1997 I have been posting the following web site. These people do not sell gold nor diamond, they do not have oil cartels, they do not use corrupt means to get what they have their. They use human potentials and through them the politics of the West or developed countries have transfpormed considerably. They use their potential. Three of most of the people heree have a combined capital that is greater than our entire nation's capital including the donor money that is sent to us.
Instead of people read between the lines to realize that we have to start using the human resources to rebuild Sierra Leone as the natural resources have not benefited us, yet, most people have hate-related derivations that they come-up with. As a nation, we should start thinking of using our God-giving talents both nationally and Internationally to redeem Sierra Leone. Otherwise, the story will remain the same. As I speak to you, I feel like a Slave though I have tallents.

Subject: John Ernest Leigh is not a Patriot
From: SLPP
To: All
Date Posted: 10:17:41 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-142-167-243.range86-142.btcentralplus.com at 86.142.167.243

Message:
Political Failures: Are Sierra Leoneans Insensitive to Years of Misrule and Deception?

By Joseph S. Sherman, Washington, DC

You will never know the deceptiveness of humans until they are entrapped in the web of “survival of the fittest” which has overcome the meritorious system of decency and honesty. Having read Mr. John Leigh’s flip-flopping rhetoric against the APC and PMDC, it is evident that even Mr. Berewah an incumbent whom he purports to portray as redeemer for the ailing problems of Sierra Leone should be aware of him as man in wolves clothing.

I consider Mr. John Leigh’s dying minute rhetoric and cheap propaganda of gaining recognition within the failed party of the SLPP as political opportunism because his model of evading the truth about the problems of Sierra Leone explains the robustness of his political failure and the deception of truth –speaking about the real problems in the country.

It is the habit that numerous individuals often continue to hold their political views even when contrary reality stares them in the face as in the cases of the SLPP and supporters who have made Sierra Leone an international laughing stock in spite of massive investment made in cash and kind to various sectors of the country by the international community. In-experienced self-styled politician like Mr. Leigh refuse to abandon the failures, treachery, and disgrace that the SLPP has slumped Sierra Leone when information about failure, rampant corruption, unaccountability, and poverty to the highest degree have engulfed the country. He is rationalizing his fake commitment to the status quo by imputing that the opposition is incapable of solving the problems of Sierra Leone as the SLPP is doing.

We have seen a variety of instances where political opportunists and deceits like John Leigh do have a relatively high chance of helping to save Sierra Leone from its political and socio- economic doldrums but because of self-conceitedness and dishonesty, he has become a political braggart and sycophant to go with the tide irrespective of the cost it imposes on the suffering masses. In light of all these, Sierra Leoneans should see how John Leigh’s basic mechanism of opportunism and political failure operates. The quest for opportunism, power mongering and lost glory is causing him to mortgage his self-styled integrity by not facing the truth as he sees it.

Because most citizens of Sierra Leone fall short of the normative ideal of being politically knowledgeable, it is important to asses the SLPP government failures since its inception to power ten years ago, so that Mr. John Leigh’s cheap propaganda machinery does not appear to compensate for political ignorance and enabled the uniformed to behave “as if” they were better informed.

After the war, the present government in Sierra Leone draws so much sympathy from the international community. Consequently, consideration of massive support to have the economy, and all sectors of life in the country restored was initiated. However, this is not the case considering the reality that prevails in the country. Many of the international organization monitoring development in Sierra Leone have to come to the conclusion that Sierra Leone under the leadership of President Kabbah is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. There is no freedom of expression for citizens who are not in Kabbah’s political party and for journalists who make constructive criticism of government. Journalists and the family of the late Yansaneh, a journalist murdered in cold blood by member of the SLPP party in parliament awaits the wheels of justice to spin if there is true democracy and respect for human rights in Kabbah’s government.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), life expectancy in Sierra Leone at birth remains at 41 years. Adult mortality is 579 and 497 per 1,000 for males and females respectively. Infant mortality 283/1,000 live births. Maternal mortality remains exceptionally high. Malaria is the first cause of morbidity in the country, accounting for 35 percent of all out patients visits and the main cause of mortality among children under five. Acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, diarrhea diseases, typhoid fever, H.I.V. / AIDS, and tuberculosis are the major causes of morbidity and mortality.

The visionary leadership to tackle these pandemic problems is lacking in the SLPP government. Obviously, the corruption in government constraints government’s ability to fight poverty, disease and illiteracy, which negatively affects economic development, damages social values, and undermines democracy and governance. Because corruption is so endemic and advancing phenomenon in the status quo it is no doubt that President Kabbah deemed it necessary to ask V.P. Berewah to continue the legacy of corruption, ineptitude and injustice if elected to office through rigging of elections.

Sierra Leone cannot afford another failed government through the leadership of V.P. Berewah, any attempt to impose the “Kabbahism,” legacy of corruption, failure, ineptitude, and injustice; it will be great disservice to the country and suicidal for people who for decades have been deprive of their constitutional and God-given rights to live decently and happily. It is high time Mr. Leigh desist from the politics of deception and sycophancy, instead he should put Sierra Leone first. If President Kabbah can’t deliver all the promises while he is in office, what hope does Sierra Leone have on V.P. Berewah a student of the “Kabbahism” theory if entrusted to steer the ship of state which they abandoned in the deep seas.

Subject: APC remain the best party
From: afolabi oluwole
To: All
Date Posted: 10:02:35 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: ernest@ernestkoroma2007.com
Entered From: pix.linkserve.net at 195.166.237.42

Message:

Looking at the website of SLPP, one will know that they don't have any good agenda, they don't have any plan or direction for our nation, log on to www.ernestkoroma2007.com for what we have in stock for our dear Nation

Subject: Re: APC remain the best party
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 13:35:05 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
It is very easy for people to say: Ar go do this, Ar go do dat, etc etc., without saying how they are going to accomplish any of these things.
Empty promises with no substance...That is the motto of APC & PMDC

APC nor dae change.....

Subject: Re: APC remain the best party
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 10:44:53 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
NEW direction, NEW leadership, my ass....
Isn't that what the Freetown Mayor said during his campaign? Just look at how idiotic his ledership has been. The man turned out to be the biggest failure since Joseph Momoh.
You can put nice paint on the surface of the APC, but the inside will always be rotten.
APC nar Thief-Thief party, nar poverty-spreaders.....

Subject: Re: Stress release for Sengbe
From: Cousin Jorkou
To: All
Date Posted: 12:18:52 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Bo Blow bo dem norr do you bra. Mek ar show you wan exercise for do. lay dong nar de gron, open you foot wide, now take you hade put am between you open legs dem en say AHHHH. You smell anyting? Norto you baksie smell so oh nar you EM OO TEE. Go was you dorty mot JORKOO

Subject: Re: Stress release for Sengbe
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 13:23:58 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Nar dae exercise dae you en you family been dae do nar town ehn???
Wodat been dae smell you??? You ...?????
Bloody okobo....

Subject: Re: Stress release for Sengbe
From: cousin Jorkou
To: All
Date Posted: 06:38:21 06/11/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Okobo?

hehehehe ah wan for hab you wef you sister en you mama den we go see udat nar okobs. Dem go cam confirm for you now wedda me nar okobs or not Gbetwa!!!

Subject: Re: Stress release for Sengbe
From: Alieu sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 15:18:09 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Bra you baaaad.

Subject: The Review of the Constitution: What the Report Says and Sho
From: LOTTA TEALE
To: All
Date Posted: 08:43:54 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
The Review of the Constitution: What the Report Says and Should Sierra Leone Make These Changes?
By Lotta Teale, Freetown
May 9, 2007 - 6:32:50 PM

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Since the report of the Constitutional Review Committee was published in April 2007, with proposals for changes to the Constitution of Sierra Leone, there has been considerable discussion about a possible referendum, but there still seems to be very little public knowledge about what changes the report is proposing. This article sets out to clarify some of the confusion and to highlight the main amendments that would be made if the recommended amendments are introduced.

As a background to the report, there has been considerable pressure in recent years to carry out an overall review of the existing Constitution introduced in 1991. Not least, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission made a series of recommendations of changes that should be made to the Constitution, many of which it categorised as ‘imperative recommendations’, meaning that they are required and must be done immediately or as soon as possible. Many organisations concerned with the position of women have also been pressing for the reform of one particular section relating to discrimination against women (section 27(4)).

The Constitutional Review Committee was set up in order to consider such changes. The Committee held meetings in February and March 2007, meeting three times each week for three hours. There were 44 members on the Committee, representing a cross section of government and civil society. It also considered written and oral submissions from other organisations and individuals, but this wider consultation at that stage remained limited. The Committee came up with a series of suggested amendments in their report issued at the end of March. In April, the Committee took their report around the country seeking input, in consultative meetings taking place in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Freetown . The suggestions made have been considered by the Committee who have amended the original report. The Committee is still seeking input and anyone interested is welcome to send letters to the Committee, at the address found below. As such, the amendments set out below were the recommended amendments at the time of going to press, and changes may be made to them in the forthcoming months.

Although at first the Committee hoped to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Review at the same time as the elections, it became clear that considering the complexities of the issues involved, this date was too soon, and it is now envisaged that a referendum will be held on the Constitutional Review some time in 2008, most likely at the time of the local elections.

This article sets out a summary of the main proposed amendments and briefly explains why they have been suggested. There are many additional proposed amendments which are not set out here, and there will be further discussion of each of these main changes in subsequent editions of The Monitor.

1. Constitution to be made the Supreme Law of the Land

Currently the Constitution does not state that it is the supreme law of the land, it is just one among other laws. The changes propose that the Constitution is made the supreme law.

2. A New Senate

Currently Sierra Leone has one legislative chamber, the place in which laws are passed, and that is Parliament. It is entirely elected by the people, except for 12 Paramount chiefs. The Committee proposes that there should be two legislative chambers, one being a Chamber of Representatives (this would entail a simple renaming of what is currently called Parliament) and the other, a Senate (the ‘Second Chamber’).

Many other countries have two Chambers, with different roles and responsibilities. Sierra Leone ’s Senate would be able to review laws proposed by the Chamber of Representatives and suggest changes, but those suggestions would not be binding. If the Senate does not finally agree with Parliament, the law could still be passed. This is unlike the Senate found in the US which has the power to veto laws, and more like the House of Lords found in the UK , which has no veto. Like the House of Lords, the idea of having a Senate in Sierra Leone is to slow the legislative process down so that the issues can be considered more thoroughly, and with more debate and input from respected members of the community. The Senate would be appointed every five years, just after the election of a new government. Its members could be dismissed in the same way as Parliamentarians.

The Committee suggests that the Senate in Sierra Leone should be composed of 44 people. This would include 12 Paramount Chiefs (who would no longer sit in Parliament), and 31 persons appointed by the President. As the draft currently stands, these would include people who had formerly held power, such as a former President, a former Vice President, a former Chief Justice, a former Commander of the Armed Forces, etc etc. Provision for such persons to have seats in the Senate is controversial, especially since given Sierra Leone’s recent history, for some of the posts there are not many candidates to choose from and as such it represents a guaranteed continuation of political power for certain persons. However, other people would also be represented on the Senate, including people who have ‘distinguished themselves in business or politics or in their professions and have made significant contributions to the development of the nation’, and representatives of the major religions. There would also be people nominated by recognised Professional Associations and others nominated by Civil Society Organisations. The Constitutional Review Committee is also proposing that some members of the Senate be chosen by the different political parties.

There is ongoing discussion as to who should be appointed to the Senate and how much power the President should have over the process, and this will need to be made much clearer before any referendum. The system suggested is in many ways similar to that by which members of the House of Lords are currently appointed in the UK . However, there has been much debate recently in the UK as to whether appointment is appropriate in a democratic society, and moves are being made towards having an elected House of Lords, or a combination of the two. What is best for Sierra Leone , and whether any kind of second chamber is necessary, will be discussed in subsequent articles.

3. Citizenship

The 1991 Constitution, unlike the original 1961 Constitution at the time of Independence , contains no mention of citizenship. The Constitutional Review Committee proposes a new section on citizenship, which details the different ways in which people can become citizens. The Committee suggests that the Sierra Leone constitution should provide that people can become full citizens regardless of the colour of their skin or their racial origin and that naturalised citizens should have all the same rights as other citizens, except that they could not become President. It is questionable whether such detail is necessary in the Constitution; the Chief Justice, for example, proposing that Sierra Leone should have a simplified section on citizenship such as is written in the South African Constitution which states merely ‘No citizen may be deprived of citizenship’.

4. Freedom of expression and information

The Committee proposes changes to the section of the Constitution dealing with freedom of expression, and expanding it to include freedom of information.

In terms of freedom of information, the State currently holds a great deal of information which staff members are very reluctant to give to the public, for example about its workings. Although it might harm the State to release some information, for instance information relating to security, other information is harmless or would help people to monitor the effectiveness of state institutions. In most countries, for example South Africa , the public has a right to access such information. The Constitutional Review Committee proposes that everyone should have a right to access information under the Constitution. The government could however, introduce reasonable safeguards, and may introduce ‘reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the State’; for example they may require a small search fee.

In terms of freedom of expression, under the existing Constitution, it is unlawful to establish a television or radio station without authorisation by government or someone authorised by the President. The Committee proposes to reduce the President’s power over the media by requiring that any television or radio station be authorised by government or by the Independent Media Commission (rather than the President).

5. Establishment of Property Compensation Tribunal

Currently when land is taken by the government in the interest of the public (a normal practice throughout the world) they are required to give compensation. However, the procedure for obtaining compensation often takes many months to navigate. The Committee proposes that a special tribunal dealing with property compensation cases be established to fast track the process.

6. End to laws discriminating against women

Currently, although discrimination is mostly prohibited by the Constitution, it is allowed in most cases governing the family, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption. As such, many customary laws which discriminate against women in these areas are still binding. This contravenes the many international conventions that Sierra Leone has signed, under which the government has promised to abolish discriminatory laws. There has been considerable pressure across Sierra Leone to change this section. The Constitutional Review Committee recommends the removal of this section altogether. As such, laws which currently discriminate against women would no longer be lawful.

7. The Death Penalty

Currently the death penalty applies in Sierra Leone for offences such as murder and treason. The Committee proposes that the death penalty should remain. This is controversial in that there is considerable international pressure, and pressure from within Sierra Leone for the death penalty to be abolished altogether. The Committee does suggest that the death penalty be abolished for cases of treason where there is no loss of life. Additionally it suggests that the Constitution should state that Parliament shall review the issue of the death penalty, with a view to abolition, every 5 years.

8. Age of retirement of Judges to Increase

Currently the age of voluntary retirement for Judges is 60, and the compulsory retirement age is 65. Temporary judges can also be appointed when they are older than 65. There is a shortage of experienced Judges in Sierra Leone , contributing to delays in the justice system. Moreover, although experience accrues with age, there is also concern that there should be a certain point at which Judges should be required to retire. The Committee recommends that the Constitution be changed to address these issues by increasing the voluntary retirement age to 65, and the compulsory age to 70, and prohibiting the appointment of temporary Judges beyond the age of 65.

9. All Judges to be approved by Parliament

Currently, if there are not enough Judges, the President is allowed to appoint other Judges without the consent of Parliament. This has been controversial recently with the appointment of temporary Judges. However, with the current shortage of Judges, some flexibility can in practice be useful, as encouraging people to move between private practise, academia and the bench, for the benefit of the judicial system as a whole. The Committee proposes that Judges must all be approved by Parliament, whether they are temporary or permanent. Some argue that Parliamentarians are not experts in judicial practice and thus their power to appoint judges is purely ceremonial and should be abolished.

10. Automatic right of appeal from military courts to the court of appeal

Currently, if someone is convicted by a military court, the rules of procedure are different from ordinary courts and they have no right to appeal to the national courts. Sentence is carried out immediately. The Committee proposes that people convicted by a military court could appeal to the national courts.

11. Prison Service Council to be established

Currently, prisons are badly managed and detainees live in poor conditions, even before they are convicted. The Committee recommends the establishment of a Prison Service Council, with representatives from a cross-section of high level officials interested in prisons, including senior members of the government, the prison service, the judicial system and medical, legal and psychiatric services. It would be responsible for the organisation and maintenance of prisons, prisoner welfare, and improving the Prison Service. Regional Prisons Committees would also be established for each region.

13. Prohibition on Parliamentarians bidding for government contracts

Currently Parliamentarians can bid for government contracts, for their personal financial benefit. There is concern that Parliamentarians may take advantage of this, awarding contracts unfairly for their personal financial gain. The changes propose that Parliamentarians would no longer be allowed to bid for government contracts.

14. Immunity for Ministers

Contrary to certain concerns that have been expressed in the press, the Committee is not proposing to introduce lifetime immunity from prosecution for Ministers. The Committee does suggest the introduction of a clause prohibiting the execution or service of court proceedings on Ministers when they are at work, or on their way to or returning from work. This is merely an expansion of an existing provision under the 1991 Constitution, which states that Parliamentarians, the Speaker and Clerks of Parliament cannot be served with such documents on their way to or returning from work.

Conclusion

Further articles discussing these issues and other prospective changes will appear in subsequent editions of The Monitor. It is still important to consider whether all the detail into which the amendments go are necessary in a Constitution and provide the necessary flexibility, and whether details could instead be introduced through legislation, which can more easily be altered according to circumstance.

Anyone interested in making suggestions to the Constitutional Review Committee, either comments on suggested changes or additional amendments which could be made, should address comments to the Chairman Dr Tucker, at the Offices of the Law Reform Commission.

© Copyright 2007 by SLCMP

Subject: Re: The Review of the Constitution: What the Report Says and Sho
From: THANK YOU
To: All
Date Posted: 08:50:41 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
13. Prohibition on Parliamentarians bidding for government contracts

Currently Parliamentarians can bid for government contracts, for their personal financial benefit. There is concern that Parliamentarians may take advantage of this, awarding contracts unfairly for their personal financial gain. The changes propose that Parliamentarians would no longer be allowed to bid for government contracts.

14. Immunity for Ministers

Contrary to certain concerns that have been expressed in the press, the Committee is not proposing to introduce lifetime immunity from prosecution for Ministers. The Committee does suggest the introduction of a clause prohibiting the execution or service of court proceedings on Ministers when they are at work, or on their way to or returning from work. This is merely an expansion of an existing provision under the 1991 Constitution, which states that Parliamentarians, the Speaker and Clerks of Parliament cannot be served with such documents on their way to or returning from work.

Subject: Will unpatriotic SLPP Ministers do the same?
From: BBC news
To: All
Date Posted: 02:28:33 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 249-67-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.67.249

Message:
Mauritania's leader cuts his pay

It is not clear how much President Abdallahi earns
Mauritania's new President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi and his cabinet have decided to take a 25% pay cut.
Local journalist Hamdi Ould Nohamed el-Hacen told the BBC it has come into effect immediately.

It was prompted by "reduced petroleum revenues", AFP news agency quotes a cabinet statement as saying.

Mr Abdallahi won run-off elections in March to become Mauritania's first democratically elected leader since independence from France in 1960.

The country was under the autocratic rule of Maaouiya Ould Taya for 25 years until a military coup in 2005

One of the world's poorest countries, Mauritania has pinned hopes for future prosperity on the exploitation of its offshore reserves of oil and gas.

Correspondents says oil production in Mauritania is currently around 18,000 barrels a day, compared to the originally anticipated 75,000 bpd.

According to AFP news agency, until Thursday ministers earned a monthly salary of about $3,500, compared to an average civil servants' pay packet of $260.

The president's salary was not reported.

The austerity measure follows last week's government announcement of a $112m budget deficit, the agency reports.

Subject: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 02:25:34 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
The All Peoples Congress will be "SELECTING" candidates for Parliamentary elections starting on Monday June 18, 2007. It is widely believed that symbols will go to the highest bidders.......

APC NOR DAE CHANGE....
NAR SO SO CORRUPT AND UNDEMOCRATIC POLICIES DEN GET
APC NAR THIEF THIEF PARTY

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: That IS A Stupid Statement
To: All
Date Posted: 07:29:04 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 204.84.81.88

Message:
You just made a stupid statement. You are not even privy to the selection committee and yet you come out with this slipshod statement. How dumb!!!

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 10:40:28 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Stupid statement eh???
APC is giving symbols to the highest bidders. Most of the so-called bidders are from abroad.

APC NAR THIEF THIEF PARTY
APC NAR LIE LIE PARTY

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: BUEDU GHOST
To: All
Date Posted: 11:53:40 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
den slpp den dae pan HUMA SACRIFICE EN CANNIBALISM

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 13:25:21 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Den just dae farlla you family tradition for sacrifice human beings den. Nar respect den dae show you family

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: EDMUND KOKER
To: All
Date Posted: 07:48:23 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
dont you that it is our regular dumbass professor from some very small black school in elixzabeth city north carolina who comes up with all this dumb assed shiet.

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: Sengbe
To: All
Date Posted: 13:51:11 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: red_dog.niehs.nih.gov at 157.98.76.127

Message:
No!! alieu, I am NOT the one writing these articles.

BTW, I am very proud to be associated with this "small black school in elixzabeth city north carolina". It is more accommodating than all the schools within the University of Sierra Leone network, and this includes FBC, Njala, etc.

I "cry" all the way to the bank relative to the remuneration I receive from the Great State of NC through this association.

I wonder what large white school you teach at in CA? Are you a Professor at this white school?

I have told you people on numerous ocassions, I do not post as Independent Man, or under any other moniker. I do not wish to be dragged into your foolishness on this forum. Please leave me out of your lunacy.

Mr. Moderator, and Forum Police, please take good note of this outright defamation.

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: M. Alieu Iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 19:57:55 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
I would appreciate it very much Mr. Koker if you would just keep me out of whatever you have going on with other unidentified people on this forum. A word to the wise.

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: For Sengbe
To: All
Date Posted: 14:41:09 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 204.84.81.88

Message:
But Sengbe, how did you know it was Alieu Iscandri? Like you, Alieu do not use monikers in his postings.

Subject: Re: APC TO "SELECT" CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
From: JC
To: All
Date Posted: 09:12:45 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
"But Sengbe, how did you know it was Alieu Iscandri?"

You are asking Koker to think? You must be new to this forum!

Subject: Why have African liberation movements failed to sustain demo
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 02:18:49 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 249-67-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.67.249

Message:
Why have African liberation movements failed to sustain democratic governance when in power?

Across the African continent, constituting democracy has proved elusive for many countries despite the widespread acceptance of democracy worldwide as an alternative to dictatorship and totalitarian regimes. William Gumede, will examine the reasons in the annual Basker Vashee Memorial lecture, drawing on the vivid current example of Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF’s descent into dictatorship which has shattered the dreams of many Zimbabweans.

Gumede, a Senior Associate & Oppenheimer Fellow, at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University and renowned political and media commentator, asks whether there is something inherent in the culture of African political parties and liberation movements that makes it difficult for them to sustain democratic platforms.

For the reality is that liberation movements who valiantly opposed colonial powers, in the name of freedom and democracy, have behaved markedly undemocratic once they assumed power. Political parties who have been in opposition, and came to power after the end of undemocratic regimes have not done much better.

Gumede argues that the reasons for Africa’s democracy deficit are both self-inflicted and imposed from outside. But at the heart of the failure of African attempts at democracy building is that ruling political parties and liberation movements have failed to establish a democratic political culture. Democracy has been interpreted in a highly limited way as meaning elections, even if a Government’s practices were highly democratic.

The lecture will be a taster of Gumede’s forthcoming book, Democratic Deficit: Africa's Lost Years, to be published by Zed Books later this year.

Subject: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: TERRIFIC
To: All
Date Posted: 23:17:53 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
After looking at the picture of Berewa posted by Karamo Kabbah in one of the postings below, I was left numb. Solomon Berewa is so ugly in that picture that if he shows up anywhere as Sierra Leone's president, he will scare everyone at the conference, and Sierra Leone may never get a dime from the international community. Ay bo. The bra too worwor. I know it's not all about looks, but common now. The bra is too ugly for international presentation.

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: Forthright
To: All
Date Posted: 13:18:26 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-138-126-135.range86-138.btcentralplus.com at 86.138.126.135

Message:
What do you wawnt, a President or a Male Model??Make up your mind please.

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: Chez Winakabs Europe
To: All
Date Posted: 01:45:46 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-200-131.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.200.131

Message:
A caucasian sees a blackman like berewa more handsome than what you will choose to be handsome. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Beuaty is a relative term. Berewa's inner beauty compensates for what you call outside 'ugly'. What has his face got to do with his ability. My compatriot, let us have a chat on serious matters that will make us as a nation better. berewa will surely deliver without fail. The west have confidence in this man.

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: ok dok
To: All
Date Posted: 05:29:02 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: okdok@yahoo.com
Entered From: wnpgmb11dc1-166-204.dynamic.mts.net at 142.161.166.204

Message:
Small eyes see small things.

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: Special Cut
To: All
Date Posted: 23:33:21 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: gw1.dc.gov at 164.82.146.3

Message:
Berewa in mot lek ooh day eat snuff

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 06:04:54 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Besides,Berewa is also irresponsible,he smokes and fell asleep on important gatherings like the un.

Subject: Re: NAR SO BEREWA WORWOR?
From: Doctor
To: All
Date Posted: 09:52:19 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-148-169.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.148.169

Message:
Do you call someone's medical condition - irresponsible.

Subject: SIA TIYAAMA IS BACK
From: BOUT MAN
To: All
Date Posted: 23:10:08 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-dtc-aa14.proxy.aol.com at 205.188.116.18

Message:
Sia Tiyaaman is back on COCORIOKO. Where is that PMDC propagandist, Bra Enviable?

Subject: Re: SIA TIYAAMA IS BACK
From: okdok
To: All
Date Posted: 05:31:34 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: okdok@yahoo.com
Entered From: wnpgmb11dc1-166-204.dynamic.mts.net at 142.161.166.204

Message:
Sobber people visit once in a while to reply hopeless people like jimmy kandeh

Subject: Re: SIA TIYAAMA IS BACK
From: SLPP
To: All
Date Posted: 10:09:51 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-142-167-243.range86-142.btcentralplus.com at 86.142.167.243

Message:
U MEAN our batman Marda Mustapha is back

Subject: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: WHAT IS IT?
To: All
Date Posted: 21:43:46 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 144.226.173.69

Message:
M. Alieu Iscandari Esq.
Yaya Fanusie
Karamoh Kabba
Bob Jusu
CADMUS
John E. Leigh
Sengbe
Alie Formeh Kamara
Moijue
Albert Moinina

Subject: Re: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: Waiting to Exhale
To: All
Date Posted: 07:38:04 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
waiting for you to tell

Subject: Re: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: WHAT IS IT?
To: All
Date Posted: 11:13:21 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-69-255-182-17.hsd1.va.comcast.net at 69.255.182.17

Message:
Wait no more!
They are all opportunists.
Forget the noise they make here, they will return to Sierra Leone ONLY if their respective party wins.
You can now exhale.

Subject: Re: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: WAITING TO EXHALE
To: All
Date Posted: 11:50:55 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
I dont think that all of them are "opportunists" as that word is strictly defined. You need to refine your list. What do you think/ Is your opinion about these people based on your having personal contact with them ie: do you know them personally? I know some of those people on the list and I can tell you that from what I know of them, they are not opportunists. what do you think?

Subject: Re: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: WHAT IS IT?
To: All
Date Posted: 23:33:30 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 144.226.173.69

Message:
Opinions vary and I respect yours.
But once again, if those people I mentioned are not opportunistic, there is no better place to practice their trade than on the ground in Sierra Leone.

Subject: Re: 10 FORUMITES WITH SOMETHING IN COMMON
From: MUNKU BOB
To: All
Date Posted: 22:06:19 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
I only know about my friend, Munku Bob Jusu. He has used more than six handles here. They are:

1. Mathew Williams
2. Carl Thomas
3. Ibrahim Babaloko
4. Robert Koye
5. Abazam
6. Bassie Amara
7. Bob Munku Jusu

Subject: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 20:35:19 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
The SLPP is busy holding democratic elections for parliamentary candidates. By and large these elections have been free, fair, and down right impressive. The voice of the people is being heard.
When is APC going to conduct theirs? I strongly believe that APC is not going to conduct any elections. Instead they are going to "select" their parliamentary candidates. That is a damn shame and goes to show that the APC has not changed at all. (NEW APC my foot!)
The PMDC is also not conducting any elections, and I do not expect them to do so. Money constraints and the fact that they are led by a one-maniac dictatorship tells us that SELECTION is the name of the game in the PMDC.

BRAVO SLPP
DOWN WITH THE APC & PMDC

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: All Peoples Congress
To: All
Date Posted: 22:01:29 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
The APC will chose its candidates at a time of its choosing and nothng you say right now will change that

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 02:17:30 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Indeed, they will "SELECT" their candidates at a time of their choosing. The folks from abroad paying the highest amounts will get the "symbols".
You APC folks are undemocratic, shameless, crookish, corruption-prone, poverty-spreading, tribalistic idiots.
You can call yourselves NEW all you want, but we all know that you are still the same old thieving APC.....
You will never win a presidential election in Sa Lone for the next 30 years....

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: All Peoples Congress
To: All
Date Posted: 07:40:29 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Why should it worry you what the APC does. Its not an organization that YOU belong to. Why dont you worry about the organization that YOU belong to and let us worry about the organization that we belong to.

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 10:49:53 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Really???
It is my business how APC elects/selects their candidates. I have found out from inside sources that party symbols are being given to the highest bidders.... most of the bidders are from abroad, and have very no political base. You people are crooks!!!
You keep complaining that there is not enough time to campaign. Yet you are not making any efforts to select/elect your candidates openly for them to start campaigning. Doesn't that smell badly???? Man, you party is busy selling the symbols......Lie Lie en tiff tiff APC

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: All peoples Congress
To: All
Date Posted: 11:59:14 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
and have very no political base.

If they have no political base then they will lose the elections and that would be good for your party wouldnt it? So whats your gripe man? So lets assume that we sell our symbols which is not true any way, and that is something that the MEMBERSHIP of the the APC agrees to you got a problem with that? Man mind your own business with your own party and forget about us.

You keep complaining that there is not enough time to campaign. Yet you are not making any efforts to select/elect your candidates openly for them to start campaigning--------------------------------------------
As if there was some sort of corelationship between not enough time for campaigning and the selection of our candidates which is none of your damn business anyway. So whats next?

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 13:43:42 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
As a citizen of Sa .Lone, it is my business to ensure that the right people get elected to parliament, and that undemocratic folks be defeated. I have the right to question all parties & politicians who want to be elected to serve our country. I do not expect you to understand that given that you are one of the undemocratic and intolerant type....

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: All Peoples congress
To: All
Date Posted: 20:10:29 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Sure you do have a right and the ony you can reallly exercise that right is to campaign for and vote in the candidate who in your opinion makes the best fit. Your duty to see that undemocratic folks are not elected, stops where you want to ensure hat the other Party complies with your mandate.
been ery tolerant f your usua
You do not know me so how can you come to the conclusion that I am undemocratic and intolerant. I have engaged you in a very civil manner so far havent I ? I have also been very tolerant of your nonsensical arguments and have engaged you that notwithstanding. Can we continue talking, I am trying to learn who you are and how you think its good to know for la raza.

Subject: Re: WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE ELECTIONS FOR APC PAR. CANDIDATES?
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 21:37:59 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
"been ery tolerant f your usua"?????? Hmmmmm
"think its good to know for la raza"??????? Hmmmmm

Don't understand most of what you wrote. Too many typos man.

So you are both undemocratic and do not know how to type....... Hehehehehehehehehehe

Subject: TIME DON DON WE DON TIRE NAR FOR GO NAR DOE
From: mM. Alieu Iscandari Esq.
To: All
Date Posted: 15:47:00 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Freetown: Irate youths demand Victor Reider´s departure
- Thursday 7 June 2007.

By Sorie Sudan Sesay, Freetown.
Wednesday, 6th June turned out to be a nightmare for the Propaganda
Secretary of the ruling Sierra Leone People´s Party (SLPP), Victor Ibiyemi
Reider(photo), when desperate youths from his constituency in central Freetown demanded
that he must no longer represent them in Parliament.
"Tem don don, Victor Reider yu for go nar doe" meaning, "Time is up, Victor
Reider you must leave," the irate youths sang and chanted repeatedly in
front of he party´s regional office at Rawdon Street.
Reider is seeking a re-election for a Parliamentary seat in this year´s
Parliamentary elections, but according to a spokesman of the youths, "Victor
Reider is proud, he is not a down-to-earth individual and above all, he has not
done anything for the Central 2 Constituency."
The politically charged crowd which was expecting the long anticipated
election for the SLPP symbol became disappointed when they were informed that the
election had been postponed, apparently because of the seemingly tense
atmosphere.
Addressing the disgruntled crowd at the regional office auditorium, a member
of the Electoral College, Alex Rogers, revealed that he received a phone
call from Vice President Solomon Berewa who informed him that he was worried by
the on-going political developments at Central II and therefore deemed it
necessary to take the necessary line of action.
Rogers said that the constituency chairman, Eke Halloway, had earlier sent a
petition to the Vice President requesting him to take necessary action with
regards to that constituency, disclosing that "the VP is about to take action
in relation to those petitions."
He further disclosed that, the VP has summoned the SLPP regional chairman,
Alhaji Cole, the National Chairman UNS Jah to his Spur Road Lodge to discuss
the ugly situation in the constituency.
With this development, members of the constituency are worried that some
behind-the-scene maneuvers are about to take place to retain Reider in that
constituency, but according to an irate youth, "that will only lead the SLPP to
self destruction in that constituency."
Repeated attempts to contact Mr.Reider for his reaction have so far failed.

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Subject: Re: TIME DON DON WE DON TIRE NAR FOR GO NAR DOE
From: Yaya Fanusie
To: All
Date Posted: 20:03:05 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: Futatoro@gmail.com
Entered From: adsl-75-17-56-112.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net at 75.17.56.112

Message:
Alieu,
I was informed by Wole John who just came back from Freetown that he observed the temperment of the young people in Freetown about their plight. Wole John is not a supporter of the APC. I hope the SLPP members on this forum understand the significance of somebody who does not like the APC observed that the youths blame the SLPP for their plight. I know what report I get often from Salone and I do not know how an austute politician like John Leigh supports the SLPP. I guess he is keeping his hope alive for his recovery of his $90,000 Kabbah held on to. Come August 11, 2007, John can kissed his $90,000 goodbye. How sad! I can imagine/see John strolling along the streets of Freetown and the kids taunting him with shouts of " 90,000!! 90,000!!!!!90,000!!!!!!!!"
Very sad very sad. A brilliant man turned a flunkey in his old age. Would it not have better that John leigh repeats Form three three times rather to end a fulumonku in his old age? Very sad indeed. Long live "shinny" accomplishments of the Margais.
Yaya Fanusie-APC

Subject: Re: TIME DON DON WE DON TIRE NAR FOR GO NAR DOE
From: okdok
To: All
Date Posted: 21:00:19 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: okdok@yahoo.com
Entered From: wnpgmb11dc1-50-206.dynamic.mts.net at 207.161.50.206

Message:
Can you really go home and see things for yourself?

Subject: SLPP govt and rebels were one and the same
From: Karamoh Kabba
To: All
Date Posted: 15:36:19 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/2819.cfm

Subject: Re: SLPP govt and rebels were one and the same
From: Independent Man
To: All
Date Posted: 20:27:41 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-68-126-148-4.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net at 68.126.148.4

Message:
Karamoh,
It is good to know that you are back to your idiotic self. given your return to your normal status, you can now apply to be Maggi's (or is it Margai) spokeswoman.
The spokesman's position is now occuped by Kabu face Morie (or is it Morrie) Mustapha

Subject: Re: SLPP govt and rebels were one and the same
From: phoolomunku detector
To: All
Date Posted: 12:03:55 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
It so easy to know when you write and you are so easily detectable. You are one reason why Mohm J says that Phd "nor mean say you smart".

Goodbye

Subject: Re: SLPP govt and rebels were one and the same
From: Seasoned Politician
To: All
Date Posted: 20:23:30 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-159-59.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.159.59

Message:
Can we talk something new?????This is a stale issue.Victors write histories!!!!

Subject: Re: SLPP govt and rebels were one and the same
From: kapu sense
To: All
Date Posted: 11:52:06 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Victors write histories!!!!

and your point is??????

Subject: GOOBBLEDYGOOK
From: FAN OF LEIGH
To: All
Date Posted: 15:20:33 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 144.226.173.69

Message:
"If I said earlier that Berewa is unfit to govern under any and all circumstances for the next 100 million years, then I mean likewise that Ernest Koroma is 15 times worse to govern than Berewa and that Maggai is twenty times worse than Berewa to govern for the next 100 billion years."

Subject: Re: GOOBBLEDYGOOK
From: PEACE
To: All
Date Posted: 23:30:26 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: gw1.dc.gov at 164.82.146.3

Message:
After making such careless remarks the other day, Obasanjo is getting ready to send 1000 Nigerian troops, a move which according to him will help in the smooth running of the elections.This completes the recipe for unwarranted disaster.We day wait.

Subject: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 14:44:45 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Alieu dont deny your tribe.You are a stupid,bush mende man with no respect for human rights.You have to start schooling again.Reading and writing will not be enough for you,but to teach how to behave.When we are talking about intelligence,we do not mean to get a good score on a debate,or even the ability to do well in school.These are at best only indicators of something larger,deeper,and far more important.By intelligence we mean a style of life,a way of behaving in various situations,and particularly,in new,strange and upsetting situations.The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do,but how we behave when we dont know what to do.To crown it all Pa Alieu, you are not intelligent and you need help.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 15:45:49 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
I am a Sierra Leonean. Thats what i am. Its people like you who put tribe before country(Nation).
What tribe i am is a secondary issue, what is the issue is your bigotry and tribalistic sentiments that you display everytime you open your mouth or shall i say you hands?
By the way born in the south to a southern dad and a northern mom, have a fourahbay woman( western) and vacation frequently in kenema with Friends.

So you see why ar say me nar salone man instead of mende, temne, loko, susu, fullah?

Its because of DUMMIES/wannabes like you, that sierra leone is what it is today.

By the way go back to school and finish up or go to adult school get your GED and hopefully you will learn something in other to have an intelligent debate.

Everytime i sqeeze you, you tend to get irrate and become the PARK BOY that you were back in FREETOWN.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 08:51:34 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Pa Alieu,I hope you got the definition of intelligence.Anyway,the Suffering Sierra-Leone populace wont forgive the greedy and blind supporters of this ahlaki slpp.Just give me two reasons for your support for the failed slpp,besides your tribal affiliation.Sierra-Leone initiated the first institution of higher education in Africa,but where are we today?The poorest nation on earth.SHAME ON YOU!I wont bother myself to disclose my qualification because at this stage it is of less importance.We need to face issues genuinely affecting the nation.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: Alieu sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 15:07:38 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
Thats because you do not have one. Your writings prove me right. You are stupid.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: MUSA KAMARA
To: All
Date Posted: 04:41:55 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: luna.hypair.net at 194.50.180.4

Message:
Pa Alieu,you are born primitive and you will remain primitive till the end of your life-mende man.Frog-snake and human flesh consumer.Stupidity is part of your culture.

Subject: Re: ALIEU SESAY IS ASHAME OF HIS TRIBE
From: Alieu Sesay
To: All
Date Posted: 11:43:17 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-75-66-114-24.hsd1.tn.comcast.net at 75.66.114.24

Message:
You see how primitive you are?
Your party is notoroius for canibalism, under the APC, people would disappear, only for their body to be found with missing body parts. You know why? Because APC-Temne people dem nar canibals.

Subject: 15 June Former Child Soldiers Event
From: Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell
To: All
Date Posted: 14:14:02 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: sbradwell@cdd.org.uk
Entered From: at 213.166.72.5

Message:
Usifu Jalloh to perform at the West Africa Night, a fundraiser for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers from Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Event to be held on Friday, 15th June at the London Irish Centre, Camden Square

London, UK –West Africa Night is an event hosted by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) from 6pm to 10pm on Friday, 15th June to raise funds for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The event will include a dinner of exquisite West African cuisine, an auction of statuettes, paintings and other artefacts from all over West Africa, a special showing of Amnesty International’s documentary “Time for Truth, Justice and Reparation for Liberia’s Victims” and live performances by Usifu Jalloh, a professional actor, dancer, percussionist and storyteller from Sierra Leone and Christina Oshunnyi, a Nigerian actress and dancer.

With the guest list including the Sierra Leonean Deputy High Commissioner, the Liberian Ambassador, other diplomats, foreign dignitaries, friends and supporters of the CDD, West Africa Night promises to be the event of the month.

The CDD is an international, non-profit and non-governmental organisation that has dedicated itself to the promotion and consolidation of peace, democracy and socio-economic development in West Africa for over 10 years.

Tickets are available for £ 19,99 and there are special discounts for couples and groups.

For more information, please contact Sylvie Bradwell, Co-ordinator of the CDD International Office, either by e-mail at sbradwell@cdd.org.uk or telephone 020 7359 7775 / 077 170 517 42.

Subject: KABBS KANU PREDICTION CAME TO PASS FOR OUR NATIONAL TEAM
From: BUFORD HWY
To: All
Date Posted: 12:11:43 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-074-228-219-218.sip.asm.bellsouth.net at 74.228.219.218

Message:
Issues

PLAYMAKER AND TRIGGERMAN MOHAMED KALLON WAS SORELY MISSED BY LEONE STARS LAST SUNDAY
By Wilfred Kabs-Kanu


With the disastrous helicopter accident that soured everybody's mood further under investigation , it is time for a postmortem on that unacceptable 0-1 defeat suffered by Leone Stars at the hands of the Togolese national team in the African Nations Cup last Sunday

The point is not that the Sierra Leone national team was worsted once again in battle. That they were defeated at home is not also the main issue. Even the best soccer teams get thrashed at home at times .The fact that is bugging the minds of all soccer fans is how a team could play so dominantly, appear to be completely on the driver's seat , create so many beautiful scoring chances and yet turn out to be losers as Leone Stars did last Sunday .

The undisputable fact is that not even the Togolese believed that the Leone Stars would have let them off the hook the way they did.The opponents came into the match clearly disoriented and unsettled and Leone Stars hit them with waves and waves of attacks .But the prediction made by COCORIOKO in our preview of the game last Saturday came to pass. If Leone Stars must ever achieve laurels , they have to do something about their finishing.

Having watched the Leone Stars in and out of Sierra Leone, I made bold to say last Saturday :"Hitting the bulls' eye ! ! Fire-cracking, sabre-rattling marksmanship or simply call it beautiful finishing and you know Leone Stars' biggest problem that has kept them out of the portals of international glory.Yes, firing on target and getting those nets quivering has been our greatest ailing and it is this setback that will stand between victory and defeat for the Leone Stars against Togo on Sunday"

Oh, how this malady came back to haunt the Leone Stars again last Sunday. They dominated the Togolese so badly in the first half that they had one sitter after another and if they had converted their chances, by halftime they could have been leading by at least 3-0. But for reasons that perplexed everyone, the Sierra Leone players took their opportunities like they did not need goals. And so once again, glory eluded them, glory that was within grasp and that everyone thought they would have grabbed.

If any coach would ever make any mark on our national team, our players have to be taught how to shoot. It is not known whether it is stage fright, inferiority complex or lack of confidence, but it has happened once too many .Leone Stars would dominate a match even in Conakry or Monrovia or Accra, and still end up at the wrong side of the game--Defeat.

Also, it must be conceded that another major reason why Leone Stars were all at sea last Sunday was the absence of their playmaker and triggerman, Mohamed Kallon. All teams have their talisman and for the present Leone Stars team, the man whose brilliant touch they dare not miss at any time is Kallon. The Monaco striker is an excellent motivator and prime mover of opponents.His presence would not only have made a difference--It is safe to say that at the worst, Kallon could have converted at leat one of the many scoring opportunities the Leone Stars fluffed during the first half when they had the Togolese on the ropes And any goal at that time could have demoralized and taken the fight out of the Togolese. .However, as it often happens in soccer, once the Togolese found out that the Leone Stars were toothless bulldogs , they grew in confidence and boldness and pulled a fast one on the Sierra Leoneans by scoring against the run of play early in the second half.

And another problem that affected Leone Stars was that once the Togolese had scored, they gave up the battle too soon. If they had continued to dominate like they did in the first half, at least they could have forced a draw, which could still not have benefited them but could have saved some national pride, at least.

At a time when sports have a telling impact on national pride, the repeated defeats of the national team have shattered the morale of soccer lovers. It is not the wish of Sierra Leoneans for their national team to become a punchbag for other countries. Leone Stars have to rise again and start to shine and win .Lat Sunday is gone with any chance we had of sneaking into the Africa Nations Cup, but a stronger and better and more winsome Leone Stars must be produced by Sierra Leone. We have the means and the resources. I will revist some suggestions I had made before about how Sierra Leone can become formidable once again as in the days of King Kama Dumbuya, Christian Cole, Chicko Cole, "Lady Left " Saidu Mansaray," English Footballer", Bai Kabia, Abdulai Garrincha Sesay, Manneh Peters, Sentu Johnson, Akie Noah, Brima Mazolla Kamara, Joseph Toby ,John Jeboh Sherrington and others. I will look at some famous victories scored by Leone Stars in those days and examine the formulas that helped them win them.Web site designed & hosted by leeroy kanu © 2006 at Homestead™

Subject: Re: KABBS KANU PREDICTION CAME TO PASS FOR OUR NATIONAL TEAM
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 12:40:40 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
A Great article by Wilfred Kabs Kanu (with some sociology too). You should always be there at least standing on the sideline, to impart the benedictions and some holy water to sprinkle on the home turf---- you see all these South American players making the sign of the cross whenever they succeed in punishing the net the opponent’s goalkeeper….

Remember someone was asking, ”Where are all the sports writers?”
All we need to say is: Read this!

The other day it was all glory. It was like a dream football world cup final,

Sweden 5 – Iceland 0

In 1958, the World Cup final in Stockholm was Sweden - 2 Brazil - 5
That’s when Pele made his debut and scored three goals ……

Subject: The Review of the Constitution: What the Report Says and Sho
From: LOTTA TEALE
To: All
Date Posted: 11:56:22 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
The Review of the Constitution: What the Report Says and Should Sierra Leone Make These Changes?
By Lotta Teale, Freetown
May 9, 2007 - 6:32:50 PM

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Since the report of the Constitutional Review Committee was published in April 2007, with proposals for changes to the Constitution of Sierra Leone, there has been considerable discussion about a possible referendum, but there still seems to be very little public knowledge about what changes the report is proposing. This article sets out to clarify some of the confusion and to highlight the main amendments that would be made if the recommended amendments are introduced.

As a background to the report, there has been considerable pressure in recent years to carry out an overall review of the existing Constitution introduced in 1991. Not least, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission made a series of recommendations of changes that should be made to the Constitution, many of which it categorised as ‘imperative recommendations’, meaning that they are required and must be done immediately or as soon as possible. Many organisations concerned with the position of women have also been pressing for the reform of one particular section relating to discrimination against women (section 27(4)).

The Constitutional Review Committee was set up in order to consider such changes. The Committee held meetings in February and March 2007, meeting three times each week for three hours. There were 44 members on the Committee, representing a cross section of government and civil society. It also considered written and oral submissions from other organisations and individuals, but this wider consultation at that stage remained limited. The Committee came up with a series of suggested amendments in their report issued at the end of March. In April, the Committee took their report around the country seeking input, in consultative meetings taking place in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Freetown . The suggestions made have been considered by the Committee who have amended the original report. The Committee is still seeking input and anyone interested is welcome to send letters to the Committee, at the address found below. As such, the amendments set out below were the recommended amendments at the time of going to press, and changes may be made to them in the forthcoming months.

Although at first the Committee hoped to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Review at the same time as the elections, it became clear that considering the complexities of the issues involved, this date was too soon, and it is now envisaged that a referendum will be held on the Constitutional Review some time in 2008, most likely at the time of the local elections.

This article sets out a summary of the main proposed amendments and briefly explains why they have been suggested. There are many additional proposed amendments which are not set out here, and there will be further discussion of each of these main changes in subsequent editions of The Monitor.

1. Constitution to be made the Supreme Law of the Land

Currently the Constitution does not state that it is the supreme law of the land, it is just one among other laws. The changes propose that the Constitution is made the supreme law.

2. A New Senate

Currently Sierra Leone has one legislative chamber, the place in which laws are passed, and that is Parliament. It is entirely elected by the people, except for 12 Paramount chiefs. The Committee proposes that there should be two legislative chambers, one being a Chamber of Representatives (this would entail a simple renaming of what is currently called Parliament) and the other, a Senate (the ‘Second Chamber’).

Many other countries have two Chambers, with different roles and responsibilities. Sierra Leone ’s Senate would be able to review laws proposed by the Chamber of Representatives and suggest changes, but those suggestions would not be binding. If the Senate does not finally agree with Parliament, the law could still be passed. This is unlike the Senate found in the US which has the power to veto laws, and more like the House of Lords found in the UK , which has no veto. Like the House of Lords, the idea of having a Senate in Sierra Leone is to slow the legislative process down so that the issues can be considered more thoroughly, and with more debate and input from respected members of the community. The Senate would be appointed every five years, just after the election of a new government. Its members could be dismissed in the same way as Parliamentarians.

The Committee suggests that the Senate in Sierra Leone should be composed of 44 people. This would include 12 Paramount Chiefs (who would no longer sit in Parliament), and 31 persons appointed by the President. As the draft currently stands, these would include people who had formerly held power, such as a former President, a former Vice President, a former Chief Justice, a former Commander of the Armed Forces, etc etc. Provision for such persons to have seats in the Senate is controversial, especially since given Sierra Leone’s recent history, for some of the posts there are not many candidates to choose from and as such it represents a guaranteed continuation of political power for certain persons. However, other people would also be represented on the Senate, including people who have ‘distinguished themselves in business or politics or in their professions and have made significant contributions to the development of the nation’, and representatives of the major religions. There would also be people nominated by recognised Professional Associations and others nominated by Civil Society Organisations. The Constitutional Review Committee is also proposing that some members of the Senate be chosen by the different political parties.

There is ongoing discussion as to who should be appointed to the Senate and how much power the President should have over the process, and this will need to be made much clearer before any referendum. The system suggested is in many ways similar to that by which members of the House of Lords are currently appointed in the UK . However, there has been much debate recently in the UK as to whether appointment is appropriate in a democratic society, and moves are being made towards having an elected House of Lords, or a combination of the two. What is best for Sierra Leone , and whether any kind of second chamber is necessary, will be discussed in subsequent articles.

3. Citizenship

The 1991 Constitution, unlike the original 1961 Constitution at the time of Independence , contains no mention of citizenship. The Constitutional Review Committee proposes a new section on citizenship, which details the different ways in which people can become citizens. The Committee suggests that the Sierra Leone constitution should provide that people can become full citizens regardless of the colour of their skin or their racial origin and that naturalised citizens should have all the same rights as other citizens, except that they could not become President. It is questionable whether such detail is necessary in the Constitution; the Chief Justice, for example, proposing that Sierra Leone should have a simplified section on citizenship such as is written in the South African Constitution which states merely ‘No citizen may be deprived of citizenship’.

4. Freedom of expression and information

The Committee proposes changes to the section of the Constitution dealing with freedom of expression, and expanding it to include freedom of information.

In terms of freedom of information, the State currently holds a great deal of information which staff members are very reluctant to give to the public, for example about its workings. Although it might harm the State to release some information, for instance information relating to security, other information is harmless or would help people to monitor the effectiveness of state institutions. In most countries, for example South Africa , the public has a right to access such information. The Constitutional Review Committee proposes that everyone should have a right to access information under the Constitution. The government could however, introduce reasonable safeguards, and may introduce ‘reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the State’; for example they may require a small search fee.

In terms of freedom of expression, under the existing Constitution, it is unlawful to establish a television or radio station without authorisation by government or someone authorised by the President. The Committee proposes to reduce the President’s power over the media by requiring that any television or radio station be authorised by government or by the Independent Media Commission (rather than the President).

5. Establishment of Property Compensation Tribunal

Currently when land is taken by the government in the interest of the public (a normal practice throughout the world) they are required to give compensation. However, the procedure for obtaining compensation often takes many months to navigate. The Committee proposes that a special tribunal dealing with property compensation cases be established to fast track the process.

6. End to laws discriminating against women

Currently, although discrimination is mostly prohibited by the Constitution, it is allowed in most cases governing the family, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption. As such, many customary laws which discriminate against women in these areas are still binding. This contravenes the many international conventions that Sierra Leone has signed, under which the government has promised to abolish discriminatory laws. There has been considerable pressure across Sierra Leone to change this section. The Constitutional Review Committee recommends the removal of this section altogether. As such, laws which currently discriminate against women would no longer be lawful.

7. The Death Penalty

Currently the death penalty applies in Sierra Leone for offences such as murder and treason. The Committee proposes that the death penalty should remain. This is controversial in that there is considerable international pressure, and pressure from within Sierra Leone for the death penalty to be abolished altogether. The Committee does suggest that the death penalty be abolished for cases of treason where there is no loss of life. Additionally it suggests that the Constitution should state that Parliament shall review the issue of the death penalty, with a view to abolition, every 5 years.

8. Age of retirement of Judges to Increase

Currently the age of voluntary retirement for Judges is 60, and the compulsory retirement age is 65. Temporary judges can also be appointed when they are older than 65. There is a shortage of experienced Judges in Sierra Leone , contributing to delays in the justice system. Moreover, although experience accrues with age, there is also concern that there should be a certain point at which Judges should be required to retire. The Committee recommends that the Constitution be changed to address these issues by increasing the voluntary retirement age to 65, and the compulsory age to 70, and prohibiting the appointment of temporary Judges beyond the age of 65.

9. All Judges to be approved by Parliament

Currently, if there are not enough Judges, the President is allowed to appoint other Judges without the consent of Parliament. This has been controversial recently with the appointment of temporary Judges. However, with the current shortage of Judges, some flexibility can in practice be useful, as encouraging people to move between private practise, academia and the bench, for the benefit of the judicial system as a whole. The Committee proposes that Judges must all be approved by Parliament, whether they are temporary or permanent. Some argue that Parliamentarians are not experts in judicial practice and thus their power to appoint judges is purely ceremonial and should be abolished.

10. Automatic right of appeal from military courts to the court of appeal

Currently, if someone is convicted by a military court, the rules of procedure are different from ordinary courts and they have no right to appeal to the national courts. Sentence is carried out immediately. The Committee proposes that people convicted by a military court could appeal to the national courts.

11. Prison Service Council to be established

Currently, prisons are badly managed and detainees live in poor conditions, even before they are convicted. The Committee recommends the establishment of a Prison Service Council, with representatives from a cross-section of high level officials interested in prisons, including senior members of the government, the prison service, the judicial system and medical, legal and psychiatric services. It would be responsible for the organisation and maintenance of prisons, prisoner welfare, and improving the Prison Service. Regional Prisons Committees would also be established for each region.

13. Prohibition on Parliamentarians bidding for government contracts

Currently Parliamentarians can bid for government contracts, for their personal financial benefit. There is concern that Parliamentarians may take advantage of this, awarding contracts unfairly for their personal financial gain. The changes propose that Parliamentarians would no longer be allowed to bid for government contracts.

14. Immunity for Ministers

Contrary to certain concerns that have been expressed in the press, the Committee is not proposing to introduce lifetime immunity from prosecution for Ministers. The Committee does suggest the introduction of a clause prohibiting the execution or service of court proceedings on Ministers when they are at work, or on their way to or returning from work. This is merely an expansion of an existing provision under the 1991 Constitution, which states that Parliamentarians, the Speaker and Clerks of Parliament cannot be served with such documents on their way to or returning from work.

Conclusion

Further articles discussing these issues and other prospective changes will appear in subsequent editions of The Monitor. It is still important to consider whether all the detail into which the amendments go are necessary in a Constitution and provide the necessary flexibility, and whether details could instead be introduced through legislation, which can more easily be altered according to circumstance.

Anyone interested in making suggestions to the Constitutional Review Committee, either comments on suggested changes or additional amendments which could be made, should address comments to the Chairman Dr Tucker, at the Offices of the Law Reform Commission.

© Copyright 2007 by SLCMP

Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: UNICEF
To: All
Date Posted: 11:00:11 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Rights Bill
By UNICEF

Freetown: Thursday 7th June 2007: ‘As a Government we owe it to the children of this country to ensure that their well being, survival and development are secured,’ Madame Shirley Gbujama, the Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs, stressed.

Another huge step forward has been made by the approval by the Sierra Leone Parliament of the National Child Rights Bill on Thursday 7th June.

The Bill is the outcome of the review of the laws of Sierra Leone both statutory and customary, as they pertain to children. It domesticates to a large extent the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child with modifications and local adaptations. The National Child Rights Bill supersedes all other existing national laws and adopts the international definition of the child, i.e. any person under 18 years of age. As such it represents a unique opportunity for making a number of national laws and policies more aligned with international standards, which is unprecedented in the history of Sierra Leone.

With the principle of non-discrimination as one of the guiding principles of the Bill it provides the overall framework for ensuring adequate standards of care for all children in Sierra Leone. These include prohibition of early marriage, of conscr1ption of children in to the armed forces, the right to a name and nationality, free and compulsory education, protection against domestic violence and child trafficking, structures and systems for the protection of children at village and chiefdom levels, as well as protection against harmful traditional practices affecting children including female genital mutilation.

The Bill emphasises the accountability of duty bearers focussing on the best interests of the child as a primary consideration in any decision or action that may affect children. As stated above, Sierra Leone owes it to their children to ensure that their well being, survival and development are secured.

According to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Action Group for Child Survival (PAGOC), the Hon A.O.D. George, Parliamentarians and all child protection professionals are “the gatekeepers” of children's safety. “Without this vital legislation, for example, the current practice in affording children their right will rest on the whims and caprices of executing officers’, Hon A.O.D. emphasised.

Sierra Leone’s recent history puts children in a very precarious situation. Poverty is endemic. According to the 2006 Human Development Index, Sierra Leone is ranked 176 out of 177 countries listed. An analysis of the key indicators shows that children and women suffer the most. The country has one of the highest infant, under-five and maternal mortality rates in the world: Infant mortality is estimated at 158/1,000 live births, under-five mortality rate at 267/1,000 (MICS 2005) and maternal mortality rate at 1,077 per 100,000 live births (MICS 2005).

However, much progress has been made. Immunisation coverage rates are steadily improving with 35% children 12 – 23 months fully immunised, with 63% of them immunised against measles (MICS 2005). Almost all the country’s peripheral health units at the community level have been fitted with solar powered refrigerators for vaccine preservation. Most important however is the strong commitment from the Government to make reduction of child and maternal mortality one of its two highest priorities.

The education system is slowly recovering with 4,600 primary schools now operational and net enrolment standing at 69%. The work done to support teacher training through the UNICEF supported SABABU Education Project funded by the World Bank, made a direct contribution to Sierra Leone qualifying for debt relief by reaching the completion point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Sierra Leone has also developed an Education Sector Plan which qualified it for catalytic funds from the Fast track Initiative.

Children are exposed to violence, exploitation, abuse and deprivation. Almost one half of children aged 5-14 years are engaged in some form of child labour, with regional disparities (urban 27 per cent and rural 57 per cent). About 11 per cent of children are orphans and 20 per cent do not live with their biological parents. Sexual and gender-based violence remains a serious concern. (MICS 2005)

In 2000, the Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasized the need to ensure a consistent definition of the child; establish a minimum age for marriage; ratify the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption; provide protection and services for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse; give every child access to primary education; have alternatives to imprisonment; seek international assistance to address the high child mortality rates; and address the high prevalence of female genital mutilation. Sierra Leone submitted its second periodic report to the Committee in 2006.

UNICEF is committed to continue its support to Sierra Leone through 2008 – 2010 and beyond by focusing on the national priorities of child survival, education and protection of children from violence, exploitation, abuse and deprivation from primary care-givers.

“The implementation of the Child Rights Bill provides us with an operational framework for the roll-out of child rights in Sierra Leone”, said the UNICEF Representative, Geert Cappelaere. “UNICEF will continue to assist the government with the implementation of the Bill to make sure that all children get the respect for their rights as they deserve. Today’s adoption of the Child Rights Bill marks for all children in Sierra Leone one of the most significant events since the end of the war in 2002. It is clear also from discussions in Parliament that many more efforts are needed to ensure a fully fledged culture of children’s rights in all parts of society,” the UNICEF Representative concludes.

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: Bassie Amara
To: All
Date Posted: 11:01:53 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
This is nonsense. The SLPP has failed the people of salone. The PMDC is the only party that can save the children of that country. Charles Margai has adopted more than 500 kids, and is helping more than 10,00 kids with their sschool fees. This man is God sent, and he will surely rule salone.

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: Bassie Amara (Abazam)
To: All
Date Posted: 13:32:48 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: eduproxy2.k12.de.us at 167.21.254.12

Message:
It seems like there is a "name-sake" of mine in the forum. This posting on Charles being a God Sent is not mine. Other postings today in response to John Leigh and Morie Mousaffa were mine. In future, I will include my nick name in parenthesis, i.e. Abazam. Especially so because I like to "BAZ" loosers like John Leigh.

The other Bassie Amara, you are welcome to the forum.

Abazam

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: Critical Thinker
To: All
Date Posted: 11:56:31 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: sph16-204.harvard.edu at 128.103.16.204

Message:
"This man is God sent, and he will surely rule salone"

Not so fast dude not so fast.

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: Njai
To: All
Date Posted: 11:11:17 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: static-70-20-197-79.phil.east.verizon.net at 70.20.197.79

Message:
"This is nonsense. The SLPP has failed the people of salone. The PMDC is the only party that can save the children of that country. Charles Margai has adopted more than 500 kids, and is helping more than 10,00 kids with their sschool fees. This man is God sent, and he will surely rule salone."-Bassie Amara.
When did Charles adopt these kids? Are you trying to tell us that Charles is also paying fees for 10,000 or 1,000 kids? Or is this just politics?

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: Bob Jusu
To: All
Date Posted: 11:02:54 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Bassie, I like people like you. You saw right through the SLPP lie lie. The PMDC is the only way oout. One Margai, one salone. Welcome the next president of salone, Charles Margai.

Subject: Re: PRESS RELEASE: Sierra Leone Approves the National Child Righ
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 11:08:18 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
Bob Jusu, how can maggai save the children of sierra Leone, when the man is a ().

Subject: SLPP ----WINNERS + DROPOUTS
From: bankie
To: All
Date Posted: 09:58:32 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: bank@aol.com
Entered From: ac8fff62.ipt.aol.com at 172.143.255.98

Message:
CAN WE PLEASE BE INFORMED ABOUT UPDATED LIST OF SLPP ASPIRANTS FOR PARTY SIMBOLS
THANKS

Subject: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: Toegondoe Sagbah
To: All
Date Posted: 09:57:35 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: mendemoi@yahoo.com
Entered From: pool-72-82-169-250.cmdnnj.east.verizon.net at 72.82.169.250

Message:
Fellows,
A new website about Sierra Leone is born. Frontpage articles will be updated on a weekly basis. Copy the link and paste it on your browser address line
www.OneSaloneNews.com

Subject: Re: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: M. Alieu Iscandari Esq
To: All
Date Posted: 07:52:37 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198

Message:
Nice site man, I bookmarked it for future reference

Subject: Re: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: Bassie Amara
To: All
Date Posted: 10:24:39 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: eduproxy3.k12.de.us at 167.21.254.13

Message:
Good Job Morie,
Be it PMDC website or not, make sure you put a lot of national flavor to it. The more the merrier.

Subject: Re: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: MUNKU BOB
To: All
Date Posted: 10:27:47 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ac202-050.resnet.stonybrook.edu at 130.245.202.50

Message:
Good job Bob Jusus, you are a munku. How is Ibrahim babaloko doing? You worwor munku Baboo.

Subject: Re: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: APC
To: All
Date Posted: 10:05:26 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 67.63.2.157

Message:
Checked it out. looks more like the PMDC website.

Subject: Re: CHEK OUT THIS NEW SIERRA LEONE WEBSITE
From: Neutralman
To: All
Date Posted: 10:19:49 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-151-1-241.range86-151.btcentralplus.com at 86.151.1.241

Message:
It is PMDC website, by every standard.I have no objection to it, but they should not camouflage it by giving it National name.Nothing wrong in calling it PMDC website

Subject: John Leigh Bogus Front Page Article
From: Bassie Amara
To: All
Date Posted: 09:34:34 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: eduproxy3.k12.de.us at 167.21.254.13

Message:
John Leigh's article on Cocorioko's front page today is another manifestation of his obsession to get a job with the SLLP government (if they win) so that he can recuperate his monetary losses during his failed attempt to lead the SLPP corruption machine. I hereby challange a few of his pointless point from his Table1:
Point #17:Press freedom
We came a long way with press freedom largely due to international pressure.......but remember your masters jailed Paul Kamara illegally for over a year and Sylvia Blyden (an SLPP go-around), can say any rubbish she wants and challenge credible and well establish journalists (and even a high court judge)with impunity. Our developing press freedom MUST not be credited to the SLPP, rather to a world wide wind of change.

Point #27: SLPP establish anti-corruption commission: Tell me what progress has been made in that area. Infact the so-called anti-corruption commission has corrupted even its current chairperson, Prof. Joko Smart. I say so because those of us who studied at FBC when the man was a Law Professor there can attest to the fact that a lot more was expected from him when he was appointed. The fact here is that there is more corruption in the current SLPP government than the entire reign of the APC government. There was no time during the APC reign when they recieved up to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars within a short period of time. SLPP recieved such humongous amounts of monies and can not even provide electricity for Freetown.

You claim that corruption is societal and can not be changed by any regime. That makes you a big fat lier again, maybe because you are embroiled in the same corruption. Are you familiar with the strides made by the NPRC government of young and inexperience soldiers? They had all those "boboh belleh" permanent secretaries report to work on time and stay till 5pm, they spread fear (genuinely so) among all government workers that corruption will not be tolerated. If they did not start to get too big-headed, I would have prefered they stayed in power. Sierra Leone would have been way better.

Your blind support for the SLPP is definitely messing up your thinking process. By the way what is your take on the helicopter crash that happened last week? Do you think the SLPP government is to be blamed or not. At least your boss Kabba made a good move by suspending the inefficient Prince Harding.

Subject: Re: John Leigh Bogus Front Page Article
From: Toegondoe Sagbah
To: All
Date Posted: 10:09:02 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: mendemoi@yahoo.com
Entered From: pool-72-82-169-250.cmdnnj.east.verizon.net at 72.82.169.250

Message:
The man thinks, behaves and writes like a juvenile. Only juveniles will take him seriously. As for getting back into the good graces of the SLPP, he burnt that bridge when he was given the $10,000 purchased position of Ambassador to the United States.

They know better than to trust him with another position within the SLPP. He will air out all of SLPP's laundry at Cotton Tree and the various websites he makes noises in. Cocorioko is a very fair medium, so thet's where he is continuing to make noise.

THE MAN IS DONE WITH THE SLPP, HE JUST DOESN'T KNOW IT, OR IS REFUSING TO ACCEPT IT, OR IS HOPING THAT SOMEBODY WILL GIVE HIM ANOTHER CHANCE. But to give a chance to this man will be like laying a loaded dynamite at your door hoping that it won't blow your house up just because its not yet corked.

Toegondoe Sagbah

Subject: SHADY CONTRACT NETS SL DIAMOND COMPANY $4M FROM ITS KOIDU OP
From: BUFORD HWY
To: All
Date Posted: 08:26:52 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-074-228-219-218.sip.asm.bellsouth.net at 74.228.219.218

Message:

Shady Contract Nets Sierra Leone Diamond Company $4 Million From Its Koidu Operations
Posted by David Mahdi Koroma on Jun 8, 2007, 04:50

While the people of Kono District continue to live in squalor and degradation with their land being plunder everyday as a result of mining activities, the convicted drugs offender Executive Chairman of The Sierra Leone Diamond Company Frank Vasile Timis continue to gloat in his company’s exploitative gains from Sierra Leone

According to sources from the Toronto Stock Exchange the Sierra Leone Diamond Co Ltd recently realized a gross income of four million United States dollars from its third diamond sale. SLDC claimed to have sold 7,965.54 carats of rough diamonds at 504.25 United States dollars per carat. These diamonds the report continues were mined from SLDC’s alluvial operations in Kono District

Ever since it was granted the largest portfolio of mineral rights in Sierra Leone, covering some 36,364 square kilometers the diamond and mineral exploration company has been embedded in a lot of controversies. The rights which some Civil Society activists claimed was granted in a shady manner gives SLDC not only diamonds exploration rights but also precious metals, base metals, iron ore, rutile, bauxite and uranium. Recent reports have confirmed that SLDC has identified a 4,000 square kilometer zone of anomalous 5 to 30 parts per million uranium results in Sierra Leone.

Subject: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: BUFORD HWY
To: All
Date Posted: 08:22:36 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-074-228-219-218.sip.asm.bellsouth.net at 74.228.219.218

Message:

Commercial Sex Workers on the Increase in Sierra Leone
Posted by Saidu Kamara on Jun 8, 2007, 02:01

The prostitution industry in Sierra Leone has gradually grown big over the years due to economic hardship that forces women and teenagers to go into it as commercial sex workers. Many reasons advanced for the course of this is said to be to make ends meet.

Before now, the number of commercial sex workers in the country especially the capital, Freetown, was very small if any. But due to the growing depression on the living standards of people, the act has become widespread attracting large number of peoples.

In the capital, life at centers like Bode Ose, Lumley Beach, Aberdeen, to name but a few, are very active spots when the sun goes down for commercial sex life, smoke and drink.

Amongst the clients involved in this misdemeanous act are school going children especially the girl-child, between the ages of 14 and 19 in pregnancy.

Immorality and lack of ethics by parents at home are some of the main causes that have affected young girls into running into this problem. The problem and its effects needed to be tackled with a greater attention if Sierra Leone is to improve its health sector.

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: Oberver Neutral
To: All
Date Posted: 20:31:01 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-159-59.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.159.59

Message:
If you ask Mr Leigh, his answer will be, all whores are members of APC.So this is not a Natiopnal Problem, but Party problem.

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: Yaya Fanusie
To: All
Date Posted: 20:30:40 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: Futatoro@gmail.com
Entered From: adsl-75-17-56-112.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net at 75.17.56.112

Message:
Buford Hwy,
I am in pain from minor surgery but your posting is more painful to me. COA is planning to put a project together for he youths in Sierra Leone. I plan to meet Emmeson and Amadu Massally in Oakland on Saturday to get their ideas on the Youths. I will continue later on today my conversation with Dr. Cecil Blake who would be going to Freetown soon. I told him I want him get ideas from the young people what would they like to see us-COA come up with to make life better for them. COA is non-partisan. I think the situation of our young women should be a national concerns/issue and not left to the political parties to resolve.
Please contact me at Futatoro@gmail.com so I can make you a member of the COA TEAM tackling this problem.
We need to create jobs for them so they do not get into prostitution or get them out of it. Let us help our young women. We need a team approach and let us forget about the politicians let us go ahead and solbe the problem. To hell with the parties and politicians. We outside have the keys and resources to solve this situation. Let us stop talking let us act on the young. The are very talented and intelligent. What they have gone through is hell. Let us help them move into Paradise. Let us help them. Let us do not wait for the govt. Let us help them.
Yaya Fanusie

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: Bella Barrie
To: All
Date Posted: 09:00:01 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-wan-217-154-29-181.mistral.co.uk at 217.154.29.181

Message:
It is really sad to know that prostitution is on the increase, poverty is one of the main causes of this. However what can we do collectively to reduce the rate at which this is growing? The buyers also need to be targeted, 'JOS CAME' or JC are also to be blame for this because the areas you sited (Aberdeen, Lumley etc)are hot spots for JCs. Some People go on holiday mainly to take advantage of the poor, when can we as Sierra Leoneans stop this kind of attitude and start thinking positively.
The government owns a responsibility to this, but we collective can do something to stop this.
Please don’t go to SL just to use your dollars or pounds and force these poor teenagers into prostitution.

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: BUFORD HWY
To: All
Date Posted: 10:26:10 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-074-228-219-218.sip.asm.bellsouth.net at 74.228.219.218

Message:
Bella Barrie,

"The government owns a responsibility to this, but we collective can do something to stop this."

As you would know PROSTITUTION is the OLDEST trade on Earth,but I think we can REDUCE if not ELIMINATE it by doing the following;
Firstly,Provide EMPLOYMENT for parents with enough to take home so that they in turn can take care of their families.
Secondly,Provide QUALITY education if not FREE for our younger sisters.
Thirdly,I do not know if there is a LAW in place against PROTITUTIONS,but if there is NON,I say pass a law that will ABOLISH LEGAL PROTITUTION JOINTS, and make sure that it is ENFORCE to the MAXIMUM.For those us who grew up in the 80s,there use to be joints like LAMAR TAMAR,LONG STEP,RACE COURSE and MATADY,but with continous raiding from the Police,even though they took BRIBES from the Proprietors,but the constant fear of the law detered them from allowing such practise in their joints.

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: bankie
To: All
Date Posted: 10:13:56 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: bank@aol.com
Entered From: ac8fff62.ipt.aol.com at 172.143.255.98

Message:
How come that you are so well informed about this booming industry.STOP this as i personally know you.YOU were in Freetown last christmas and fully utelised and rotated yourself between the named premises

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: Bella Barrie
To: All
Date Posted: 11:05:05 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-wan-217-154-29-181.mistral.co.uk at 217.154.29.181

Message:
Bankie,

I don’t think you know me; by the way I was not in Freetown last Christmas.

Please use your real name so people will know who you are. You must be one of them; my advice to you is PLEASE stop taken advantage over this poor souls.
LONTA

Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS ON THE INCREASE IN SALONE
From: bankie
To: All
Date Posted: 11:14:48 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: bank@aol.com
Entered From: ac8fff62.ipt.aol.com at 172.143.255.98

Message:
Thanks for the piece of advice

Subject: For oNLINE with luv
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 08:09:16 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Re: the nice figure you cut with your
http://www.hwforums.com/2179/messages/30255.html
“If your wife were to kick you out of her house today, where would you go? Timbuktu?”
Your country boy imagination’s main fascination.
Here Zaddik Isaac is trying to be as Sierra Leonenean as can be.
You are a fan of John Leigh. I am not. But I am a fan of Derrida etc.
Nothing wrong with Leigh. He is as ordinary as me and we are on the same side, that’s all.
I’m not a fan of the greatest Sierra Leonean writer, thinker or politician either; whoever you may consider him or her to be.
As I was saying my dear friend, Soulay Daramy, on the strength of what he wrote, and what I read with my critical eyes, is a writer on par with Lucilda Hunter and others. If you could write like him, you would probably consider yourself a great writer. Soulay is a good story teller, writing in the first person as he does and not in the (as often) the omniscient overview/ point of view/perspective of many writers.
He has one thing – a thing – a quality that you lack so abysmally: HUMOUR.
His is not a litany about dead bodies, a parade of corpses, amputations, hunger and starvation, as if you were born in a wardrobe containing your doctor’s skeleton……
I just wanted to add this. Of course, if he ( Soulay) had been some “other” kind of guy after writing what he wrote ( it was unputdownable when I read it , and I read it at one sitting) he would henceforth have only identified himself as a writer, like Karamoh Kabba, Bankole Marke and others. For some the title “writer” is a status symbol (“devoutly to be wished”) by which you join the ranks of Caryl Phillips and such like beings.
You “onliner” probably know your father’s name, but you don’t even have a big mouth or know how to praise or curse. Your onliner words on this and the other thread are poorly and pathetic “you’d have made progressive strides “etc (I’d give you an E) and as I said, profiling you is easy. You have a chip on your shoulder, a great Napoleonic complex. Why do you have to compare yourself with me of all people? You should be more concerned with the ignorant (like yourself) and suffering masses of the people of Sierra Leone and some of your other less endowed relatives.
I threw away my pen (temporarily) after reading Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s “Petals of Blood”. He was my friend in Ghana, by the way, whilst he was writer in residence there. He wanted me to teach him Swedish – when he spent a year here in Stockholm, learning film as a medium. Now his request was a joke – he is the strongest advocate of decolonising minds like yours and for African Literature returning to its roots and - roots with a future in African mother tongues. Your onliner words are very ineffective and only show up - and reveal terrible inadequacies in judgment and some awkwardness and shortcomings in self-expression (sub-standard education) – if indeed, you are talking to me. This is all my critical point of view.
About writing, Please do not consider me yet. You will never be my rival in that department but I should never say never. Who knows, perhaps you will be inspired by the Holy Ghost to compose both poetry and prose.
I have not and do not intend to read what an uncharismatic ignoramus and semi-literate called "onliner" has to say to Cornelius Hamelberg. I said this earlier on, but then took everything that you had written in at a glance, less than fifteen seconds to “read” what you wrote, and that’s why I’m responding to your pathetic attempt at being a cavalier.
Debate?
In which language?
You don't even know how to propose a toast.
Tell us a little about you.
The main difference between us is CULTURAL.
You stink of illiteracy and you wanna be, who? Like me?
Please leave John Leigh out of it. We are on the same side and I’m not aware of his having done or being able to “beat me “in a debate about some given topics in a range of topics that would come under the label of liberal arts and aesthetics is a part of it. – a part of how you perceive yourself and others too. How you read. What you like.
Leigh is less eloquent (with the babes too) and perhaps does not have as great a range of ideas. Anyway, the san san boy in me is still learning. If I wanted to show off - at such a debate as you would organise and referee, well, I refuse to be that unkind. As I’ve told you, Leigh and I are on the same side.

I wouldn’t think that you would normally be the type who laughed loudly at Englishman John Cleese’s hysteria and histrionics. I’d say that you’d be more a Benny Hill kind of chap - and less a Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy or Steve or Bernie Mack or Lenny Henry or Toju kind coon.
Jewish humour is quite different from Irish humour. Just as the Pope is quite different from the Archbishop of Canterbury or Dovid Weiss, Arafat’s’ rabbi.
I wouldn’t like to “debate” (in a live and direct TV transmission) Ernest Bai Koroma or Charles Margai or even Dr. Berewa or president Kabbah or spokesman Kanji Daramy the spokesman or Jimmy Kandeh: You are as Kandeh would say, simply “a waste of space”
I would not like to make an inarticulate fool out of you in such a debate – about e.g. what you quote so glibly, “Cogito ergo sum”- I’ve read a few essays on just those three words and thought about the import of those words you quite so glibly. Have you?
Yah, I know, you too think before you write.
I notice that you are trying to be what you think is academic or intellectual with me with what you think is flair:
“"Know you seff nor to cuss," says an old krio adage, and as Manuel the imitated Barcelona butler in John Cleese's Fawlty Towers would say, "You know nothing."
For Socrates, it's the acceptance of one’s ignorance, for Confucius, the path of virtue and benevolence, Mohammad the submission to the will of God, for Jesus the acceptance of faith.”
And what undistributed middle do you intend with your
“Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am, Descartes said.”
So, like me, you read some philosophy too? When did you start and when did you stop?
We are now dealing with the sort of issues that Kwame Anthony Appiah and Lewis Gordon (of Jamaica) take up.
What I’ve been doing in Sweden? It’s been mostly happening in my head. You want me to share it all with you? What have I been doing?
I’ve been dancing Jam-mama Kuni- kunni with Dolly Parton and for some Toubabas too. That’s what, I’ve been doing. I have not been chopping off some hands and legs (as you would like to do to me too) or stealing and lying. I’ve been loving my neighbour as I love myself.
And reading with a critical understanding, world literature, philosophy, Judaic studies, keeping abreast of ever current affairs and keeping abreast with music that I like, on my guitar. Enough erudition and critical acumen for more than one PhD……
It takes time to read you know, even if you can read as quickly as I do.
You tell lies about me, but unlike my contemporaries (and I don’t know why) my hair – all of it, is still a natural black and growing as quickly as when I was in the Cacademics.
Tell us some truths about YOU and your strong foundation, your honey and your wife (if any) and your big bag of diamonds or money stashed in that Swiss Bank.
I did win a national scholarship. Did you? Give us some details.
About my wife, (still dreaming about her?) Well, If I didn’t love and cherish her as much as I do, there are a thousand others standing in line and ready for me not only in Sweden but in the USA, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Scotland too and I still look a lot younger than you and Johnny Leigh.

Subject: Re: For oNLINE with luv
From: Onliner
To: All
Date Posted: 16:43:19 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: adsl-66-141-186-66.dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net at 66.141.186.66

Message:
It doen’t make you look less daft than what you already
are. "You sabi but you nor know", is the usually krio adage, but in your sorry ass situation, "You know but you nor sabi" best describes your dilema.

Poor use of judgment, insensitivity to nuances for someone who may have been otherwise intelligent has made you the pathetic pariah and victim of the very
circumstances some of us are thriving in.

.. "Man was born free and everywhere he is in chains." Rousseau.[

Subject: Re: For oNLINE with luv
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 19:27:58 06/09/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Long may you prosper

Subject: onliner, only three mis-takes here
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 08:36:39 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Re: the nice figure you cut with your

http://www.hwforums.com/2179/messages/30255.html

“If your wife were to kick you out of her house today, where would you go? Timbuktu?”
Your country boy imagination’s main fascination.

Here Zaddik Isaac is trying to be as Sierra Leonenean as can be.

You are a fan of John Leigh. I am not. But I am a fan of Derrida etc.

Nothing wrong with Leigh. He is as ordinary as me and we are on the same side, that’s all.
I’m not a fan of the greatest Sierra Leonean writer, thinker or politician either; whoever you may consider him or her to be.

As I was saying my dear friend, Soulay Daramy, on the strength of what he wrote, and what I read with my critical eyes, is a writer on par with Lucilda Hunter and others. If you could write like him, you would probably consider yourself a great writer. Soulay is a good story teller, writing in the first person as he does and not in the (as often) the omniscient overview/ point of view/perspective of many writers.

He has one thing – a thing – a quality that you lack so abysmally: HUMOUR.
His is not a litany about dead bodies, a parade of corpses, amputations, hunger and starvation, as if you were born in a wardrobe containing your doctor’s skeleton……

I just wanted to add this. Of course, if he ( Soulay) had been some “other” kind of guy after writing what he wrote ( it was unputdownable when I read it , and I read it at one sitting) he would henceforth have only identified himself as a writer, like Karamoh Kabba, Bankole Marke and others. For some the title “writer” is a status symbol (“devoutly to be wished”) by which you join the ranks of Caryl Phillips and such like beings.

You “onliner” probably know your father’s name, but you don’t even have a big mouth or know how to praise or curse. Your onliner words on this and the other thread are poorly and pathetic “you’d have made progressive strides “etc (I’d give you an E) and as I said, profiling you is easy. You have a chip on your shoulder, a great Napoleonic complex. Why do you have to compare yourself with me of all people? You should be more concerned with the ignorant (like yourself) and suffering masses of the people of Sierra Leone and some of your other less endowed relatives.

I threw away my pen (temporarily) after reading Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s “Petals of Blood”. He was my friend in Ghana, by the way, whilst he was writer in residence there. He wanted me to teach him Swedish – when he spent a year here in Stockholm, learning film as a medium. Now his request was a joke – he is the strongest advocate of decolonising minds like yours and for African Literature returning to its roots and - roots with a future in African mother tongues. Your onliner words are very ineffective and only show up - and reveal terrible inadequacies in judgment and some awkwardness and shortcomings in self-expression (sub-standard education) – if indeed, you are talking to me. This is all my critical point of view.

About writing, Please do not consider me yet. You will never be my rival in that department but I should never say never. Who knows, perhaps you will be inspired by the Holy Ghost to compose both poetry and prose.

I have not and do not intend to read what an uncharismatic ignoramus and semi-literate called "onliner" has to say to Cornelius Hamelberg. I said this earlier on, but then took everything that you had written in at a glance, less than fifteen seconds to “read” what you wrote, and that’s why I’m responding to your pathetic attempt at being a cavalier.

Debate?
In which language?
You don't even know how to propose a toast.
Tell us a little about you.
The main difference between us is CULTURAL.
You stink of illiteracy and you wanna be, who? Like me?
Please leave John Leigh out of it. We are on the same side and I’m not aware of his having done or being able to “beat me “in a debate about some given topics in a range of topics that would come under the label of liberal arts and aesthetics is a part of it. – a part of how you perceive yourself and others too. How you read. What you like.

Leigh is less eloquent (with the babes too) and perhaps does not have as great a range of ideas. Anyway, the san san boy in me is still learning. If I wanted to show off - at such a debate as you would organise and referee, well, I refuse to be that unkind. As I’ve told you, Leigh and I are on the same side.

I wouldn’t think that you would normally be the type who laughed loudly at Englishman John Cleese’s hysteria and histrionics. I’d say that you’d be more a Benny Hill kind of chap - and less a Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy or Steve Harvey or Bernie Mack or Lenny Henry or Toju.

What kind of coon are you?

Jewish humour is quite different from Irish humour. Just as the Pope is quite different from the Archbishop of Canterbury or Dovid Weiss, Arafat’s’ rabbi.

I wouldn’t like to “debate” (in a live and direct TV transmission) Ernest Bai Koroma or Charles Margai or even Dr. Berewa or president Kabbah or spokesman Kanji Daramy the spokesman or Jimmy Kandeh: You are as Kandeh would say, simply “a waste of space”
I would not like to make an inarticulate fool out of you in such a debate – about e.g. what you quote so glibly, “Cogito ergo sum”- I’ve read a few essays on just those three words and thought about the import of those words you quite so glibly. Have you?

Yah, I know, you too think before you write.

I notice that you are trying to be what you think is academic or intellectual with me with what you think is flair:
“"Know you seff nor to cuss," says an old krio adage, and as Manuel the imitated Barcelona butler in John Cleese's Fawlty Towers would say, "You know nothing."
For Socrates, it's the acceptance of one’s ignorance, for Confucius, the path of virtue and benevolence, Mohammad the submission to the will of God, for Jesus the acceptance of faith.”

And what undistributed middle do you intend with your
“Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am, Descartes said.”

So, like me, you read some philosophy too? When did you start and when did you stop?
We are now dealing with the sort of issues that Kwame Anthony Appiah and Lewis Gordon (of Jamaica) take up.

What I’ve been doing in Sweden? It’s been mostly happening in my head. You want me to share it all with you? What have I been doing?
I’ve been dancing Jam-mama Kuni- kunni with Dolly Parton and for some Toubabas too. That’s what, I’ve been doing. I have not been chopping off some hands and legs (as you would like to do to me too) or stealing and lying. I’ve been loving my neighbour as I love myself.

And reading with a critical understanding, world literature, philosophy, Judaic studies, keeping abreast of ever current affairs and keeping abreast with music that I like, on my guitar. Enough erudition and critical acumen for more than one PhD……

It takes time to read you know, even if you can read as quickly as I do.

You tell lies about me, but unlike my contemporaries (and I don’t know why) my hair – all of it, is still a natural black and growing as quickly as when I was in the Cacademics.

Tell us some truths about YOU and your strong foundation, your honey and your wife (if any) and your big bag of diamonds or money stashed in that Swiss Bank.

I did win a national scholarship. Did you? Give us some details.

About my wife, (still dreaming about her?) Well, If I didn’t love and cherish her as much as I do, there are a thousand others standing in line and ready for me not only in Sweden but in the USA, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Scotland too and I still look a lot younger than you and Johnny Leigh.

Johnny Leigh! Johnny Leigh! Who or what is Johnny Leigh to me?

Look before you leap:

Subject: For "onliner"
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 07:38:03 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:

Re: the nice figure you cut with your

http://www.hwforums.com/2179/messages/30255.html

“If your wife were to kick you out of her house today, where would you go? Timbuktu?”
Your country boy imagination’s main fascination.

Here Zaddik Isaac is trying to be as Sierra Leonenean as can be.

You are a fan of John Leigh. I am not. But I am a fan of Derrida etc.
Nothing wrong with Leigh. He is as ordinary as me and we are on the same side, that’s all.
I’m not a fan of the greatest Sierra Leonean writer, thinker or politician either; whoever you may consider him or her to be.

As I was saying my dear friend, Soulay Daramy, on the strength of what he wrote, and what I read with my critical eyes, is a writer on par with Lucilda Hunter and others. If you could write like him, you would probably consider yourself a great writer. Soulay is a good story teller, writing in the first person as he does and not in the (as often) the omniscient overview/ point of view/perspective of many writers.

He has one thing – a thing – a quality that you lack so abysmally: HUMOUR.
His is not a litany about dead bodies, a parade of corpses, amputations, hunger and starvation, as if you were born in a wardrobe containing your doctor’s skeleton……

I just wanted to add this. Of course, if he ( Soulay) had been some “other” kind of guy after writing what he wrote ( it was unputdownable when I read it , and I read it at one sitting) he would henceforth have only identified himself as a writer, like Karamoh Kabba, Bankole Marke and others. For some the title “writer” is a status symbol (“devoutly to be wished”) by which you join the ranks of Caryl Phillips and such like beings.

You “onliner” probably know your father’s name, but you don’t even have a big mouth or know how to praise or curse. Your onliner words on this and the other thread are poorly and pathetic “you’d have made progressive strides “etc (I’d give you an E) and as I said, profiling you is easy. You have a chip on your shoulder, a great Napoleonic complex. Why do you have to compare yourself with me of all people? You should be more concerned with the ignorant (like yourself) and suffering masses of the people of Sierra Leone and some of your other less endowed relatives.

I threw away my pen (temporarily) after reading Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s “Petals of Blood”. He was my friend in Ghana, by the way, whilst he was writer in residence there. He wanted me to teach him Swedish – when he spent a year here in Stockholm, learning film as a medium. Now his request was a joke – he is the strongest advocate of decolonising minds like yours and for African Literature returning to its roots and - roots with a future in African mother tongues. Your onliner words are very ineffective and only show up - and reveal terrible inadequacies in judgment and some awkwardness and shortcomings in self-expression (sub-standard education) – if indeed, you are talking to me. This is all my critical point of view.

About writing, Please do not consider me yet. You will never be my rival in that department but I should never say never. Who knows, perhaps you will be inspired by the Holy Ghost to compose both poetry and prose.

I have not and do not intend to read what an uncharismatic ignoramus and semi-literate called "onliner" has to say to Cornelius Hamelberg. I said this earlier on, but then took everything that you had written in at a glance, less than fifteen seconds to “read” what you wrote, and that’s why I’m responding to your pathetic attempt to be cavalier.

Debate?

In which language?

You don't even know how to propose a toast.

Tell us a little about you.

The main difference between us is CULTURAL.

You stink of illiteracy and you wanna be, who?

Please leave John Leigh out of it. We are on the same side and I’m not aware of his having or being able to “beat me “in a debate about some given topics in a range of topics that would come under the label of liberal arts and aesthetics is a part of it. – a part of how you perceive yourself and others too. How you read. What you like.
I wouldn’t think that you would normally be the type who laughed loudly at Englishman John Cleese’s hysteria and histrionics. I’d say that you’d be more a Benny Hill kind of chap - and less a Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy or Steve or Bernie Mack or Lenny Henry or Toju kind coon.

Jewish humour is quite different from Irish humour. Just as the Pope is quite different from the Archbishop of Canterbury or Dovid Weiss, Arafat’s’ rabbi.

I wouldn’t like to “debate” (in a live and direct TV transmission) Ernest Bai Koroma or Charles Margai or even Dr. Berewa or president Kabbah or spokesman Kanji Daramy the spokesman or Jimmy Kandeh: You are as Kandeh would say, simply “a waste of space”
I would not like to make an inarticulate fool out of you in such a debate – about e.g. what you quote so glibly, “Cogito ergo sum”- I’ve read a few essays on just those three words and thought about the import of those words you quite so glibly. Have you?

Yah, I know, you too think before you write.

I notice that you are trying to be what you think is academic or intellectual with me with what you think is flair:

“"Know you seff nor to cuss," says an old krio adage, and as Manuel the imitated Barcelona butler in John Cleese's Fawlty Towers would say, "You know nothing."

For Socrates, it's the acceptance of one’s ignorance, for Confucius, the path of virtue and benevolence, Mohammad the submission to the will of God, for Jesus the acceptance of faith.”

And what undistributed middle do you intend with your
“Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am, Descartes said.”

So, like me, you read some philosophy too? When did you start and when did you stop?
We are now dealing with the sort of issues that Kwame Anthony Appiah and Lewis Gordon (of Jamaica) take up.

What I’ve been doing in Sweden? It’s been mostly happening in my head. You want me to share it all with you? What have I been doing?
I’ve been dancing Jam-mama Kuni- kunni with Dolly Parton and for some Toubabas too. That’s what, I’ve been doing. I have not been chopping off some hands and legs (as you would like to do to me too) or stealing and lying. I’ve been loving my neighbour as I love myself.

And reading with a critical understanding, world literature, philosophy, Judaic studies, keeping abreast of ever current affairs and keeping abreast with music that I like, on my guitar. Enough erudition and critical acumen for more than one PhD……

It takes time to read you know, even if you can read as quickly as I do.

You tell lies about me, but unlike my contemporaries (and I don’t know why) my hair – all of it, is still a natural black and growing as quickly as when I was in the Cacademics.

Tell us some truths about YOU and your strong foundation, your honey and your wife (if any) and your big bag of diamonds or money stashed in that Swiss Bank.

I did win a national scholarship. Did you? Give us some details.

About my wife, (still dreaming about her?) Well, If I didn’t love and cherish her as much as I do, there are a thousand others standing in line and ready for me not only in Sweden but in the USA, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Scotland too and I still look a lot younger than you and Johnny Leigh.

Subject: SLPP planted the seed and APC nurtured it
From: Almamy Seray-Wurie Si
To: All
Date Posted: 06:42:27 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: almamysi@hotmail.com
Entered From: 24hrpc7.cpmc.columbia.edu at 156.111.18.146

Message:
Amb John Leigh knows it was SLPP's Margai who planted the seed of our culture of corruption and APC's Siaka Steven nurtured it to bountiful fruition. He keeps blaming APC for all evil like some religious fanatic would say to unbelievers/disbelievers of his faith.
Another quote of Siaka Steven has nothing to do with corription. Siaka Steven did say, "You Say Davidson Nicol, Ah say, Bailor Barrie"
Are you saying the two men mentioned represented corruption and integrity?

Subject: Re: APC Planted & Nurtured the Seed of Cult-Corruption
From: John E. Leigh
To: All
Date Posted: 11:39:34 06/09/07 ()
Email Address: johnernestleigh@yahoo.com
Entered From: cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.116.8

Message:
Mr. Almamy Seray-Wurie:

SLPP'S Sir Albert did not plant the seed of cultural corruption as you claim. True, there was corruption under Sir Albert's premiership but such corruption never had public official sanction. It was all done undercover, very secretive, hush-hush and tiny – and quite embarrassing indeed.

Under Sir Albert, the Davidson Nicole upright model was left intact. Hence, people gave Stevens a chance to govern because he implied he would abolish corruption and thus protect the Davidson Nicole Model when in power.

It was Siaka Stevens who gave corruption official sanctioning by toppling Dr. Davidson Nicole as our role model and substituting it with Bailor Barrie's.

Thus, "oohs sye den tie cow nah dey ee go eat grass" became both a cultural creed and a practical modus operandum under the APC one-party regime and but only until several years after Stevens had first assumed power in 1968. Thus Stevens, too, had retained the Davidson Nicole Model for a while.

And public corruption in Sierra Leone reached outrageous, endemic proportions only when Stevens was preparing Freetown for his coronation as OAU Chairman.

Stevens is today reported by intelligence services to have stolen $500 million from poor Sierra Leoneans during his 17-year tenure. On the other hand, there is no allegation anywhere that Sir Albert stole a single penny himself during his two- or three-year tenure as prime minister.

The bottom line is this: Like the Momoh-Shahid Jamil's APC PeggyBoy, APC’s Victor AFRC/RUF Vouchergate Tiff-Tiff Tey-Tey, Disbarred Tiff-Tiff Lawyer, Crooked Bangucrooks, the Dumb Frog Doctor and the King of Stupid, etc., Stevens promised the people of Sierra Leone that he would abolish corruption if given the chance to govern. Instead, he deliberately institutionalized corruption but only after he was entrenched in power and had started hanging civilian dissenters to make his point.

Finally, many people in the know believe that the shocking killing of Governor Sam Bangura of the Bank of Sierra Leone was, by example, to frighten and silence all those decent human beings of Sierra Leone
who still dared to fight Stevens’ notorious cow & grass creed and restore the Davidson Nicole Model. Thank you. - JL

Subject: Re: APC Planted & Nurtured the Seed of Cult-Corruption
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 02:28:15 06/10/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Davidson NICOL, not nicole
DAVIDSON NICOL

Subject: Slave passge found at Washington house
From: AP news
To: All
Date Posted: 06:40:05 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 88-67-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.67.88

Message:
PM ET

PHILADELPHIA - Archaeologists unearthing the remains of George Washington's presidential home have discovered a hidden passageway used by his nine slaves, raising questions about whether the ruins should be incorporated into a new exhibit at the site.

ADVERTISEMENT

The underground passageway is just steps from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was designed so Washington's guests would not see slaves as they slipped in and out of the main house.

"As you enter the heaven of liberty, you literally have to cross the hell of slavery," said Michael Coard, a Philadelphia attorney who leads a group that worked to have slavery recognized at the site. "That's the contrast, that's the contradiction, that's the hypocrisy. But that's also the truth."

Washington lived and conducted presidential business at the house in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was the nation's capital.

The findings have created a quandary for National Park Service and city officials planning an exhibit at the house. They are now trying to decide whether to incorporate the remains into the exhibit or go forward with plans to fill in the ruins and build an abstract display about life in the house.

Making that decision will push back the building of the exhibit, which had been slated to open in 2009. But the oversight committee won't rush into construction, said Joyce Wilkerson, the mayor's chief of staff.

"We never thought we'd be faced with this kind of decision," she said. "We would've been happy to have found a pipe! And so we don't want to proceed blindly or say, 'This isn't in the plan.'"

Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pa., was so moved when he visited the site last week that he declared: "We need to rethink what we're doing here."

"It's astounding, absolutely astounding," Brady said. "I'm going to fight to keep it open, I'll tell you that much."

Aside from the passageway, archaeologists have uncovered remnants of a bow window, an architectural precursor to the White House's Oval Office, and a large basement that was never noted in historic records.

"We actually found a lot more of the remains of the President's House than anyone expected. Myself included," said Jed Levin, an archaeologist with the National Park Service.

Thousands of visitors have been drawn to the ruins, standing on a small wooden platform to gaze down at the house's brick and stone foundation. The public response spurred officials to continue the excavation until at least July 4; it began in March and had been scheduled to end last month.

Archaeologists have served as guides, answering visitors' questions. Cheryl LaRoche, a cultural heritage specialist, said she enjoys educating people about how even a prominent statesman like Washington could own slaves.

"We've been striving to present a balanced view of history that stands apart from what's been taught in history books," LaRoche said.

Most of Washington's slaves lived at his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. When Washington died in 1799, he had more than 300 slaves. In his will, he arranged for them to be freed after the death of his wife.

Before the ruins were unearthed, officials had planned an exhibit without archaeological findings. The planned design included a framework of the house, LED screens and other audiovisual elements explaining its history, including stories of Washington's slaves.

The remains would crumble if left unprotected. If the design included elevators, ramps or stairs to move visitors down into the newly dug ruins, costs would increase significantly.

Coard said he is confident the oversight committee will find the best way to tell the slaves' stories.

"Everybody's on board in terms of seriously considering incorporating the architectural dig into the design," Coard said. "The question now is: Is it doable? Nobody is saying, 'No, it shouldn't be done.'"

David Orr, an anthropology professor at Temple University, has visited the site at least four times. He posted a note on the President's House Web site urging officials to keep the ruins on display.

"It's just fantastic," Orr said. "I can't tell you enough how exciting it is. For years and years and years I've been trying to promote that kind of public archaeology."

Subject: John Leigh questions Berewa's honesty and propriety
From: news
To: All
Date Posted: 06:34:55 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: 88-67-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl at 88.159.67.88

Message:
What Leigh wrote about Berewa in the past:

LACKS ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS TRAINING

Berewa’s attitude regarding the development of our country is most discouraging. His reasoning as to how a country like Sierra Leone is going to develop reminds me of someone not schooled or experienced in either economics or international affairs but who has, instead, been isolated in a cultural wasteland for much too long. Yet, this same misguided individual is been touted in certain quarters as the next president of Sierra Leone!

How can such an individual, lacking in understanding of how nations become developed, ever hope to successfully construct social and economic institutions that would help our country advance from last place position and make Sierra Leone into a place like Britain and the United States?

Subject: Re: John Leigh questions Berewa's honesty and propriety
From: Politician
To: All
Date Posted: 20:32:22 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: host86-129-159-59.range86-129.btcentralplus.com at 86.129.159.59

Message:
He just wants a job ,so he will go quiet, the moment he is given something.

Subject: Dr. Solomon E. Berewa
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 05:12:47 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
So will it be congratulations to His Excellency

Subject: Re: Dr. Solomon E. Berewa
From: Toegondoe Sagbah
To: All
Date Posted: 10:16:39 06/08/07 ()
Email Address: mendemoi@yahoo.com
Entered From: pool-72-82-169-250.cmdnnj.east.verizon.net at 72.82.169.250

Message:
No surprises here under the current burden of the SLPP administration. Everyone is now dancing to the tune to keep their jobs including Chancellors and Vice Chancellors. After all, Kabba stopped short of honoring a dog with the Order of Rokel, so it can be expected.

My only concern is the politicization of our academic institutions which will end up adversely affecting its integrity and, perhaps, stability when its neutrality becomes compromised.

TOEGONDOE SAGBAH

Subject: Re: Dr. Solomon E. Berewa
From: Cornelius Hamelberg
To: All
Date Posted: 12:08:50 06/08/07 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: c-378472d5.01-32-73746f42.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se at 213.114.132.55

Message:
Toegondoe Sagbah, you and Sorie Touray and Jibao the Activist Farmer were my first friends on Leonenet.

The politicisation of the SLU with Gbakimah licking Berewa’s ass:

“the Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Professor A.A. Gbakima in his statement did not his mince his words in the avalanche of praises for the Vice President as he noted the expectation of the people, which he said relied very strongly on the "dynamic leadership" the Vice President will provide on his assumption of the Presidency after the August 11 elections.”

This too is cultural and to me a little low-handed and disgusting to be included in the motivation for the award, I mean the “and the good relationship between junior staff of the college and the college administration on the one hand, and the administration and the student body on the other over the years”

It was enough to motivate the award in consideration of / “in recognition of the Vice President’s role in the restoration of durable peace and stability to Sierra Leone.”

My only reservation is about the timing of the award. It gives Berewa another feather in his cap – and in a more - or less illiterate society, this could be seen as an added advantage.
But what to expect?

The SLPP appointed Gbakimah and Gbakimah does his thing for the SLPP. If he doesn’t think that I am speaking correctly, he or onliner can take me up on this issue, on this Cocorioko Forum. He is after all educated enough to discuss the issue amicably on this Forum. Onliner is not ( sufficiently educated to discuss this issue with me on this Forum , under his or any other name – his words have already shown that – but he doesn’t know that.

You witnessed president Kabbah giving the highest national awards to some of the Judges. I have heard personal reservations expressed and questions asked about the timing of these awards – considering that these are the guys that some members of the Cabinet and other high SLPP government functionaries that could be dragged to court in the near future to face charges for crimes committed with impunity, whilst in office. Sceptics and more than a few cynics have expressed reservations and even suspicions that these judges who are somewhat human could be less motivated to bite the hand that has not only been feeding but also honouring and rewarding them.

Should a Supreme Court judge accept an award being given by a certified crook?

The 148 Chiefs that were assembled to meet their own kind, shrilly to be crowned I see as part of the electioneering campaign too.

You say continuity? He may not be the fiercest of warriors when it comes to taking over as another toothless commander-in-chief in the war against corruption, but I do not grudge Solomon Berewa being granted an honorary LLD. He was after the AG that brokered the Lomé agreement, and is a decent chap really. Bolstered by a PhD, he is more entitled to take the national pledge more seriously and to exhort all his countrymen and women - well before Election Day, to assert the cautionary advice contained in this paragraph:
” VP Berewa called on the students and the entire population of Sierra Leone to be law abiding and disciplined, and noted the absence of lawfulness, respect for authorities, discipline and regard for public property as some of the reasons for the country present predicament. Under his administration, he assured "all these bad traits will be reversed through disciplined and principled leadership," he asserted.”
What is needed here is separation of powers - the executive and the judiciary, the executive and the Academy, so that the medical school does not produce first class surgeons, who only know how to butcher and experiment on people’s hearts

Indeed, "the politicization of our academic institutions" could compromise standards - if it could only take the VP’s “sweep of his pen" to order Gbakimah to regularise this or that relatives or client’s student grade.
I am still astounded about the FIVE first class honours given to students in the Mass Communication department, without that standard of Excellence corresponding to what we see issuing from out journalist’s pens. Taking about journalists, Lans Gberie and David Keili are obviously the doyens of the SL crew. My assessment and point of view. (Onliner is dim last position in that too or does he think that he can challenge me in that if I want to get sweet, rough, or brilliant?