Comments on: Sierra Leone: Election update

By: VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH

VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:51:11 +0000

The polical season for now has ended and very few articles are being sent to the press as compared to the period of the election fever. Some are satisfied now that they have achieved their goals, while some still remain in quest. I have long since set a gaol, which I must achieve before I become content. My agenda is about Sierra Leone’s future and it has no relationship to political events there.
I have three blogging sites on my book “From Harvest to Our Dinner Table. Here are my sites for all of you there with real interest to build Sierra Leone for the better. ( vakanneh.blogstream.com/; muyeinnovations.blogstream.com/; and jojoima53.blogstream.com/;). Please review the articles at each site, may be there is something in them that can encourage you and friends to buy this book. Be engaged to help all of Sierra Leone. Thank you for reading this text and my the Good Lord (Alah) Bless you and your family.

By: Emilija

Emilija — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:42:31 +0000

Nisam politicar i nikada se nisam bavila politikom ali jedno mi je jasno zasto ste bili u ratu i zasto ste tako danas siromasni pored toliko bogastva kojim vasa zemlja raspolaze. Bog vam je sve dao, rudna bogastsva, plodnu zemlju, umerenu klimu, prelepe plaze, okean…. Ukratko sve imate u cemu je onda problem? Mislim da bi trebalo da iskoristite svoja znanja koja ste stekli iz proslih vremena sve do sada i krenete hrabro napred u izgradnju vase zemlje i jacanju poljoprivrede, turizma, uvoza-izvoza, Diplomatije i Zakona.Zakoni postoje za ljude
kji nemaju osecaj za pravdu, moral i brigu o ostalim ljudima ali isto tako i da zastite one koji su nevini u ovom slucaju vas narod i vi trebate taj Zakon. To je svima poznato. To sto se dogadja kod vas je samo u pitanju losa organizacija i slaba kontrola pojedinaca. Morate insistirati kod najvisih Sudova van vase zemlje da zastite vasa rudna bogastva, zemlju i ljude u njoj od pljackanja i rasipanja a time i svakog pojedinca ce te zastiti unutar zemlje. Kao sto rekoh ne znam mnogo o politici ali jedno znam da iskreno zelim sto brzi oporavak vase zemlje tako i svakog pojedinca u vasoj zemlji. Smatram da imate dovoljno obrazovanih i skolovanih ljudi i da vam nece biti problem da veoma brzo stanete na svoje noge kao ponosan i bogat narod.

I wish you whit oll my hard to oll Sierra leone people Hapy and prosper New Jear 2008 and oll best from Belgrade.

By: VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH

VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 01:35:57 +0000

Elections are now over in Sierra Leone. The tone of our converstions must now change to coming up with ideas and projects, books to help develop the total infrastructure of the nation. The question is “what you can do for your country; not what your country can do for you?”
I consider myself a Public Health Professional; attempting to provide relivant health research information to all of you, no matter where you live in this informative age.
I am seriously engaged on a research venture to help Sierra Leone in the medical services. My personal goal is to build a medical infrastructure somewhere in Sierra Leone to train Public Health and Medical services personel for our nation’s future. In this quest I have written four books and one of these books is now available for purchase on the internet. I am please asking or begging all Sierra Leoneans who can afford $20.00 to buy one of these books in order to make my dreams come through. This book called “From Harves to ou Dinner Table” is a Food Safety volume that can be useful to all households. As you may want to know, it is non political. The proceeds from sale should help my project to go forward. This book can be ordered at (www.atlasbooks.com or http://www.bookmasters.com); search for my book under new tittles.
Author’s point of view on Food Safety, is that there is a distinct difference beween food quality and food safety. The quality of food is mainly associated wth price, richness, and tast and sometimes with culture. On the other hand, food safety has no class, no gender, and no human color preference, and has never recognized culture. This means that when ever anyone (a farmer, messanger, president, queen, prince, judge etc)eat an unsafe food, he or she can get sick regardless of price that was paid for the food, how delicious it tasted; their position in residing community, their ethnicity or race. Food Safety is a management tool that can be based upon an individual or a group’s dedication and commitment to practice the proper personal hygiene, recognize, learn and follow needed health regulations, in order to consistently provide Safe Food and best of services to all at all times.
I wan my audience to know this distinction with Food Safety. Thank you for reading this article and may our God Bless You abondantly.

By: Alieu Dumbuya

Alieu Dumbuya — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:06:45 +0000

First of all I’d like to warmly congratulate the people of Sierra Leone for their bravery in deciding the faith of the elections. As most of us living in abroad will agree, the recent transition of our democratic process is been praised for its overall fairness especially for a country like Sierra Leone that emerged from a very troubled and bitter past. I give special credit to Mrs. Thorpe for showing to the world that Sierra Leonean women can be as equally or more effective as Hillary Clinton, or Margarette Thatcher. She handled the Electoral Commission with extreme intelligence and delivered something unique that will always remind us of where most organizations have failed in the past. Bravo Madam Thorpe!
To our current leader, I say to you、develop a system. It may be very difficult for some Sierra leoneans to understand what I mean by the word “system”, but if we take a closer study of what’s going on in the West, Japan and even China, we can see that they have already established a system. This system covers areas like health care, tax reforms, housing, research(education) that form the backbone of any country’s social infrastructure. A standard code of procedures should be modeled for each sector of our social infrastructures under equal opportunities for all Sierra Leoneans. We are a nation that has been blessed by God with vast natural resources and beautiful land. All that politics need to do now is to properly manage those resources and deliver good services to the society in a professional way. To our leader I say to you, always ask God to be your greatest adviser. If you have ever been far from Him, it’s time to come much closer and call on him before making any decision. Don’t forget that bad politics usually comes from the seeds of the devil. So watch out for even your closest associates and be brave to make decisions that will be good for all.
To my fellow compatriots, young as well as old, please stop the tribalism sentiments. It breeds hatred and retards development. We should be ready to unite under one country as one people and show patriotism for our beloved country. Let’s pray for good governance and transparency this time.
Alieu Dumbuya
Student (Japan)

By: MOHAMED (NEW JERSEY) US

MOHAMED (NEW JERSEY) US — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:46:10 +0000

I’M FROM THE NORTH BUT, ONE ADVICE MR. PRESIDENT DO NOT REVENGE OVER ANY TRIBAL INCIDENT THAT MIGHT HAPPEND BEFORE YOU. 2 THIS IS NOT A JUST A NORTHERN GOVERNMENT BUT A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 3. MAKE SURE ALL MAJOR OFFICES ARE OPPERATED BY MULTI TRIBAL BY QUALIFICATION EG.. MENDE,TEMNE, LIMBA OR ANY OTHER QUALIFIED GROUP NOT JUST ONE SET OF TRIBE EVEN IN THE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. FOLLOW THE US WAY OF RULING BY NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW I BET YOU WILL SUCCEED. I LOVE THE AMERICAN WAY. WHY? IT DOES’NT MATTER IF YOU’RE GOVERNOR RICH OR POOR IF YOU BREAK THE LAW YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT.GOOD LUCK

By: Francis J Mammi

Francis J Mammi — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:19:43 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m encouraged by most of the posts I’ve read so far, which tells me that there are still some who cares about that poor little country. And believe me this is what we should be doing: embracing one another and reminding ourselves that we can make it.

Now elections are over and the winner has taken the throne, what’s next? While most might be thinking that that’s the end of things, I’m here to remind you that this is just the beginning. The new leader will need the support of the people of Sierra Leone in order for him to succeed. This is not time to sit back and relax only to complain again of the evils that the government has perpetrated on the country, as it is typical of Sierra Leoneans to mess up, abuse public property, public funds, boycott their maths lessons in school, only to start blaming the government of the day for their status on the social and economic ladder.

Look, here is what we have on our plate now, a new president, an old party, a relatively peaceful “new” country. These qualities collectively make it a brand new second-hand country, but hey, we can still develop it if we want to. Already there are good signs, because for the very first time in the history of the country we had a system where an opposition has won elections. What do we do next? Where are we heading? Remember there is no electricity in Freetown and in most areas of the country. We all know that Sierra Leone is famous for impoverished roads, poor health conditions, very low wages, wars, tribalism, illiteracy, to name but a few. Bumbuna Hydro is still unfinished. But at the same time it’s the country that is sitting on top of some globally envied precious stones among other strategic minerals and a vast arable land. Hey, our country is rich!

Are we going to continue wasting time on sentiments? If someone from another tribe does well why not give the credit they deserve and move on? We should be looking at more profound things – important things that will bring a lasting solution to the problems listed above and which, to my knowledge, no political party has ever managed to solve completely. So many northerners experienced unemployment and went to bed hungry during APC’s 27 year rule and likewise so many in the south did during the SLPP era.

The question that we should be asking ourselves is: “what has Mr. Koroma and APC got to offer us the people of Sierra Leone?” So far we have had successful elections, though with some minor problems here and there, but we came out of this without war, which is commendable at least for a country like ours, which is just emerging from a terrible war. On this present, planet it is impossible to have an election that doesn’t report even a the smallest irregularity. Hey, even the America that everyone is looking up to had polls from Florida in their last election that had some question marks. So what do you say about that?

At this point, I must say bravo to His Excellency Ernest Koroma, the APC and the people of Sierra Leone for victory in the elections. On the other hand, I must say bravo to Pa Kabba and SLPP for facilitating the peace that we all enjoy in Sierra Leone today and most especially for making such a heroic move and handing over power to the deserving winner of the 2007 polls. This has proved that we are ready for change and still we have sincere people in our country, which we must be proud of. If you do not know what I’m talking about, and if you are someone who follows the news, then please count how many countries in Africa whose leaders have tampered with the constitution just for them to be allowed to rule for the third, fourth, fifth or lifetime.

Veterans of democracy will prove to you that a change of government is a healthy practice for any promising democratic system. But another big question: will Mr. Koroma do what Pa Kabba has just done, when he handed over power to the rightful winner? Let’s hope he does what the people of Sierra Leone expects of him, as we need this to be ongoing thing.

Now to you and I, what are we going to do for the land that we love, Sierra Leone? We cannot continue to be proud of seeking refugee on another man’s land. It’s the same earth let do something to change our own portion of it. Besides, everyday you are reminded that you are a foreigner there, no matter what your contributions are or no matter how you try to change your accent to sound like them. It doesn’t make sense if we keep bragging about another man’s country. By doing so, we are just adding the wrong feathers to our hats, because these are the results of the hard works others have done to make their country what it is today, the benefits of which you’re are enjoying. Considering that anyone else can by one way or the other enjoy the very previledges you sign about, so try and make your reason for moving out of your own country meaningful by learning some engineering, trade, economics, management, politics, science, medicine etc. and bringing all of those ideas to develop Sierra Leone like some are doing for their countries.

Advocating for sentiment is not the answer to our problems, I believe that all Sierra Leoneans, who have hands and feet should work hard so that we can afford the things we want in this life, in this way we live as free people and not having to dance to someone else’s tunes, or vote for them just in order for us to gain favour or earn a living: this kind of thing is absolute laziness. Wake up Sierra Leone!!!
If you work hard and stay away from evil you will see good results. Rome was not built in a day so stop thinking that some political party is going to make you a millionair over night, or even if they do believe me it is not without some horrible strings attached that will destroy you in the long run.

Personally, the results of this election did not change anything in me other than the fact that I see this as a step higher in my country’s democracy. And I do not intend to sell this freedom in exchange for anything. My policy has been and will always be hard work. I live and work in China. After passing my GCE exams with a Distinction and with three A-levels I got a scholarship, came and studied Engineering in China. Now I work for a good US company as a well-respected Mechanical Engineer and I commute between China and America every now and then. And I’m planning to take this education and experience to go and develop my country in due time. Likewise, I know there are a lot of my countrymen/women out there with even better qualifications who could do wonders in that country if they wanted to.

Elections are over, what do we do next? This is just the beginning. Fula, Temne, Mende, Loko, Lomba, Krio, Soso, Madingo, Yalonka, Kurankor, Sherbro etc. all make up the beatiful Sierra Leone that we have.
So, please fellow Sierra Leoneans, lets us stop hating and destroying one another and join hands together, embrace, accept and respect one another , work hard for the bright future of our country, Sierra Leone.

By: Fatie Tucker

Fatie Tucker — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:51:35 +0000

My fellow Sierra Leoneans, I am a Sierra Leonean living in London for many years it is with great pride and yet great concern we should view this election. Pride in the sense that democracy is at it best in that an opposition will dear win an election in a country like ours where not very long ago it was a one party state. And concern that we are very divide along tribal lines. Are we not all Sierra Leoneans first and foremost? Should we not be seeking the interest of the country first? We should be united in holding our leaders into account, questing and analysing their every move. Sierra Leone is ours and we should all be united in looking after Her. May God bless the Land that we love and God bless you all.

By: mohamed Kamara (moe)

mohamed Kamara (moe) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:06:42 +0000

Bockari Ngamoh, Jenneth Tutu Kebbie huna hush yaaa! My fellow sierra leoneans have finally realized that you should not judge a man by his tribe but by the content of his character. For that say thank you and kudos to the Mende people who voted for change. You know I went back home last April after ten years all I saw quagmire. Young girls are forced in to prostitution, no medical plan for the citizens what so ever, 7 out of 10 people are living on less that a dollar a day. No sanitation system. Since I got there up to the day that I left the clock tower at eastern police said 2:55. If SlPP can’t fix that clock all this time(10years) what makes you think they are capable of leading.Leadership_ the ability to keep people moving in the right direction by example, persuasion, and guidance. I pray that all of us lay our tribes down and try to build a better nation for our childern and grand children. The west has been good to some of us. America gave some of us opportunities that our mother’s land never gave us. But at the end of the day there is no place like home.

By: mohamed Kamara

mohamed Kamara — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:57:18 +0000

The thing that amazes me is how greed can convert well educated people to ill- breds. These sinisters have suppress our counrty so bad that the foundation is about to give in. South Africa took one of their few natural resources (diamond) and build their nation. According to a program on the discovery times our diamond exporting right is granted to less than seven people (foreigners)who decide how much dread crumbs to give the workers in the mines.We have more natural resources than districts yet there is only one nation in the world that we are doing better than. I pray to God every day for people in my country to stand up and make that country what it should be. The only thing in life we most fear is fear it self.

By: Alusine Afriju

Alusine Afriju — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:22:11 +0000

I just left S/L august 28, I was sad about the then S.L.L.P party about breeding tribalism in most govenment jobs.Most offices were held by the mendes and marginalising the other tribes as if they are the only educated tribes of S/L.Infact they are just square pegs in round holes.Immediately they took power they started removing people that are not mendes in most government jobs. I am a citizen of U.S and former student of N.U.C the mendes are too tribelistic so they are not to rule S/L WHY?because the west actually did see it and that is the reason of not getting a single seat in the city.

By: SAIDU PAUL KAMARA

SAIDU PAUL KAMARA — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:39:43 +0000

hello all, am so happy they way people of sierra leone have gain awearness and tired of suffering,this time of the century the people of sierra leone has to choose thier own leader and not by selling thier votes to the wrong canadiate who is not going to deliver what the nation is expecting.
am a concerned sierra leonean based in the united states of america and i have been monitoring the election through the internet and by calling home to confirm what i have read. by God’s grace we will have the right canadiate this time,the wind of God’s grace is incessantly blowing.The present government will not seat in power for as long as they want this time the people of sierra loene will remove them by voteing,it goes without saying.we need someone who will managed our resoures,to get good education,dicipline,constructive,and fullfill your promises, so our people will live a better lives.
MAY GOD BLESS OUR LEADERS AND DIRECT THEM TO DO THE RIGHT THINGS FOR THE COUNTRY AND MAY GOD BLESS SIERRA LEONE.

By: Ahmed Sheriff Hassan

Ahmed Sheriff Hassan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:13:49 +0000

Fellow Sierra Leoneans, most of you might think I’m a foreigner because of my name. Fortunately, you are right, but my dad is a Sierra Leonean and my mom is a Liberian, so I believe I have the right to speak about my father’s land.
Now, about the election in sierra leone, choosing a president is the most important of all for a country in political views. We all know how long we have struggled from our unreasonable war. Many of us are still lost about the eruption of civil war in sierra leone, whether is tribalism or greed or something else. Maybe somebody who is older might explain the non-fiction story about our civil war. Is this how it started? The beginning of this present election seems to be one of the peaceful election in west Africa, but now we are loosing it. Does is matter who win the election, I mean all that matters here is who the belove people of sierra leone will vote in as the president. We just need somebody who can really listen to his people and re-build our lovely country. My dad said in the seventies and eighties our country was peaceful, the money was valuable and nobody goes to bed hungry, but now we are the second most poorest country in the world. Now I don’t care what tribe or who ever the president is, all I care about is a president who can listen to the voice of our fore-fathers and the people of sierra leone including the children. I’m presently here in the US, and I always talk to my dad of visiting sierra leone, now i’m tired of waiting for peace to revail. so please, all the leaders of sierra leone come together as a nation not as tribes and re-build the land of your fore-fathers and mothers.
Good luck to all the presidential candidates

By: Gbandikolo Dandakarr

Gbandikolo Dandakarr — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:24:24 +0000

I do believe that opinions are free but facts are sacred so lets speak our minds. We all know that Most discussions here are sentimentally motivated even as some may think anyone is good enough.

Let me just say this today again that “all these debates about politics and power struggle is about self-actuallization” whether good or bad. In most cases the common man/woman just stand for what they want but not what is good for them.

However, We cannot blame them alone for their ways of thinking because they, like the very leaders themselves donot know what is good enough for their people.

I believe our God is not a selfish God and therefore for every NATION he had provided enough to satisfy their WANTS but their GREEDs. There would be no problem if those in authority where are to be paid a wage of a middle class worker with no prefential treatment of any kind. We can see that the quest and struggle for power is all about satisfaction of their GREED. THERE IS NEVER EVER ENOUGH TO SATISFY YOUR GREEDS.

By: Ahmed Alfred Bowling

Ahmed Alfred Bowling — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:51:40 +0000

Ahmed Alfred Bowling:
I do respect people’s opinion, but I will strongly disagree where ever lies any expresssd thought of tribalism. I do bvelieve that a Sierra Leonean is easily associated to his/her political preference based on the criterion of people’s family name. It is deregatory to media our opinion in any manner justified by discriminatory expressions. At this point we must all grow in our political analysis and try not to make judgements in haste. We must look at ourselves as one people, one nation and not in the divisive mende/temne perspective. This is a long time struggle to accomplish the true definition of change and development. I believe whoever wins; deserves to because only a Sierra Leonean is mandated by the constitution to run for electoral offices, based upon this criterion, all candidates aspiring for the top seat are legitemately and legally qualified irrespective of their tribal origin.

By: VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH

VANDI ABRAHAM MOI-KANNEH — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:21:32 +0000

Some of us are older than most of these people writing these articles. Psychology predicts that it takes more than half the lifespan of a relationship to be dissolved. At the beginning, there were no regional devides in Sierra Leone. Then the politics of division was premeditated by the one party system, to control the majority by the smallest of all the tribes in Sierra Leone. Two presidents and several vice presidents were appointed from a minority, totally taking the largest ethnic group from political scenes ( an unpresidented act). The country Sierra Leone was dragged from been the envy of all Africa with their educational system to the dumpster without a major imput of the majority. Them the people of greater South East( from mile 91 to Koidu and Kiondu at the far east to join with each other for survival, since they became the victims of the APC regime. At this point in Sierra Leone they have become almost sel-suffucient and have lost every taste of favor for Apc. The people of the greater South East have realized their political power (4 million from 6 million from world demographics)since democracy has been institited in the constitution. You may call it tribalism or regionalism; this is a political reality that must be recognized and respected. What ever was the intention of leaders in the 70s through the 90s has gone beyond their initial plans, with greater consequences for the planners, now an enormous advantage for the victims. Let the leadership of Sierra Leone realize today that the people of the greater South East are ready to nulify that previous status quo, but at this moment, I think they should be in control to determine and guide the destiny of Sierra Leone slowly forward to what it was in the Sixties,then lead this country to true peace and traquility setting the stage to again welcome outside investors to rain, no matter what anyone says or wants.
Sierra Leoneans have a projector bill board mirror in front of each one of us; stating that we are looking at the ugliest beast of the world. We must not look for that ugly beast elsewhere or behind that mirror in our abstract imagination. It is a relfective mirror, my dear; that ugly beast is what each one of us is seeing in that reflective mirror in the front. Crying for tribalism, regionalism will not solve the problems. There must be detailed and constructive interraction and dialogues on this issue with all intensions to difuse the sensitivity of the situation that appears to be overlooked. My personal salute to Mr. Berewa, Mr. Koroma and Mr. Margai, who are all aware in depth and I hope that they are going to work vigorously to change it for the better.

May the Lord provide wisdom to all for the RUN-OFF.