| HOME PAGE
SPORT
GOVERNMENT
Custom3 Page
Custom4 Page
|
|
 |
Death of a Sage
(awoko)
Last Thursday, July 31, around 6am, Cyril Patrick Foray historian, Head Department of History, Dean of the Arts Faculty, University Orator, Vice Principal, Principal of Fourah Bay College, Minister of External Affairs, High Commissioner to the Court of St. James etcetera etcetera suffered a massive heart attack and passed away at the age of 69. I had heard a lot about Ngor* CP or CP, as he was fondly referred to by many, but had the privilege of meeting the man on several occasions during his second stint as our High Commissioner to the Court of St James. He had first served in this capacity under the NPRC government. The moment I saw him one person came instantly to mind. His demeanour, his customary bowler hat and his height, to be politically correct Ngor CP was vertically challenged, reminded me of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Ngor CP was our own Winston Churchill, at least in his looks, vision and oratory. He was great orator and a very humorous and witty one too.
By all accounts, Professor Foray, a product of St Edwards Secondary School, was a compassionate and considerate person; open-minded, judicious; gratifying and intellectually alert. He was a good listener who was always willing to help even beyond his means. The affable pipe-smoking CP had a zest for life and for living. He was self-deprecating and unassuming; he respected the opinions of others even when he disagreed with them; above all, he always had a word of encouragement and support for all; this made him the teacher whose quest and thirst for the acquisition and spread of knowledge knew no bounds. He was the father figure in the academic life of many of his students. Ngor CP was a passionate and dedicated teacher. He challenged his students to think and be creative; he enthused them to make history a “living subject†and to make it a discipline that rewards intellectually and scholarly. He never discriminated amongst his students: they were all just students. This attitude he fostered in the classroom he also brought to his dealings with other people at large.
Professor Foray was a complex man. His complexities endeared him to many but he had his detractors. As Dean of the Faculty of Arts and later Principal of Fourah Bay College, CP was accused of partiality toward students from the provinces. It was suggested that he admitted unqualified students from the provinces that failed to satisfy the minimum entry requirement into the college and as a result this started the “decline†of Fourah Bay College. True, during his tenure as Dean of the Arts Faculty, there was a significant infusion of non-Creoles into the Faculty but this was not because CP was biased or unfair. His tenure as Dean coincided with a dramatic change in the educational landscape of Sierra Leone. Students from the Provinces were performing just as well, or even better, than students from the Western Area at the GCE ordinary and advanced level exams and earning their deserved places at Fourah Bay College. A positive reality which Ngor CP was pleased with and which he had help set in motion and encouraged as a history teacher several years earlier. An admirable act for which Professor Foray should have been commended rather than castigated.
If CP was anything, he most certainly was not tribalistic. His relationship with Sierra Leoneans cut across ethnic, tribal, and regional lines. He was a mende married to a creole. He never cared where you came from as long as you are a Sierra Leonean. He never judged people because of their being Mende or Temne or what not. He simply took people for who and what they are, but always primarily as a Sierra Leonean. This was clearly exemplified in his life. He advertised his National Democratic Alliance Party as the most progressive and representing the multiplicity of Sierra Leoneans. His vision for politics and for the governance of Sierra Leone was one guided by the progressive view that political parties must always broaden their appeal across tribal, ethnic, and regional lines if they were to indeed reflect the realities of the nation.
A further complexity in Ngor CP’s life was his ambivalent relationship with students at Fourah Bay College. As Dean of the Arts Faculty and as Principal, CP was well liked by his students, who saw him as a natural ally and a champion of their cause. This association turned acid when in the late seventies, the College fired three lecturers and expelled and suspended several students. This decision was widely seen as unwarranted and unjustified. CP was an influential member of the administration that took that decision and consequently many students blamed him for betraying their cause. But CP alone did not take this decision. The University authorities under considerable influence from the government decided. CP had little choice but to conform.
In recent years, CP had another blemish when he was taken to task by his trusted friend Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah over the unauthorised sale of the lease on the Sierra Leone Chancery at 33 Portland Place, London. CP resigned as High Commissioner and to his credit admitted he had been misled by lawyers acting on his behalf but denied any wrongdoing. The whole affair merely showed that even CP was human. It would be wrong to judge his entire life on this incident. I will not. I will remember the man for his humility, humour, grace and commitment to fairness. I will not mourn but will celebrate the numerous contributions he made to our country as a teacher, historian, writer and diplomat and, if I had the means, I’ll name a chair after him. He served his nation well. Adieu Cyril Patrick.
|
How will we forget Foday Sankoh
(awoko)
How will we forget Foday Sankoh, when we will have to remember the bitter cries and unheeded sighs for forgiveness and sympathy and silent requests understanding and redemption of dead Sierra Leoneans still float in the air, whispering and reminding us grimly and sadly of their death! How will we ever forget Foday Sankoh when we will have to remember all those half completed phrases, never completed sentences, never uttered words, never accomplished task of those killed in that war and who never had the chance and the loving opportunity to say good-bye to their loved ones? How will we forget Foday Sankoh, when we have restless souls and spirits who were violently and brutally killed for no just cause in a war they never understood?
How will we forget Foday Sankoh when we will have to forever see the bullet holes left by his guns on houses, on school buildings, on colleges, on hospital walls, on Mosques doors, on Church steps, on bridges, on roads and streets reflect the painful and agonizing holes he punctured in our own very hearts? How will we forget Foday Sankoh when we will have to forever hear the loud and cacophonic sounds of his guns, RPGs, AK47s, grenades, landmines echo in our ears and the beat of our hearts? How will we forget Foday Sankoh, when we have to continue to see people in that country who have been permanently traumatized by his war! Sierra Leoneans who will still dream all those horrible dreams that reflect the very reality of their brutal and brutish experience in the hands of Foday Sankoh and his thugs?
How will we forget Foday Sankoh when there are Sierra Leoneans with the gory nightmares they will have to live with for the rest of their lives? How will we forget Foday Sankoh when there are Sierra Leoneans with the very visible scars on their bodies that will never be obliterated? How will we ever forget Foday Sankoh when there are Sierra Leoneans with invisible scars caused by the war, emotional scars, psychological scars, that will never go away even with the death of Foday Sankoh? How will we forget Foday Sankoh when there are many, many, many Sierra Leoneans still painfully crying in their hearts trying to make sense of the terrible violence of his senseless war! How will we ever forget Foday Sankoh when all Sierra Leoneans know how he took us from a kind and loving and gun-fearing people and reduced us to a heartless and violent and gun-toting people? How will we ever forget Foday Sankoh when he not only mortgaged, but negatively transformed, our humanity to one of humiliating and disrespectful brutality?
Yes, Foday Sankoh is dead!! But where do we bury him? We can choose to bury him anywhere—at least physically. But will that burial ever seal Foday Sankoh’s unforgetting and unforgettable memories he left in the hearts, minds, psyche, and emotions of Sierra Leoneans? In his death, all Sierra Leoneans will come to this painful realization: that we all have a grave somewhere in our hearts created by the ten years of war Foday Sankoh unleashed on our country. I pray for a grave that will be big enough where we will put all our sorrows created by Foday Sankoh and his war and seal them forever—if that were ever possible.
|
Disgraceful
(awoko)
Awoko Sports has been investigating the matter concerning the present position of the U-17National team and has found out that the Sports Council and the Ministry of Sports are not happy and it seems like they -the Sports Council and Ministry want to bring shame to Sierra Leone.
The situation at present for the kits is still the same. After Mohamed Kallon had brought down the price from Le 69 million to 35 million Leones, last Friday, the Sports Council had the guts to take along a mere Le5 million Leones to Kallon’s shop begging them that they will pay the remaining balance later. The money was rejected and they pledged to make a payment of 20 million Leones today (Monday).
It has been learnt that two Friday’s ago, the Minister of Finance released government’s undertaking to the U-17 for them to make use of, but up till this moment the Sports Council has not spent a single cent.
The FA has paid 3.2 million Leones for the visas, and even sent one of their staff to Nigeria to see how best he could get the Finnish visa. The Sports Council should have done all of these. They have been meeting the player’s needs when the Sports Council should be in full control. It is really pathetic and disgraceful to note that even the Minister is not in control.
I want to make it clear to all Sierra Leoneans that if U-17 fails to make the trip, we will vent our anger on Sports Council and that we are monitoring all expenses especially the kits as the correct figure is 35 million Leones. After the tournament, we would like to know government’s input because the way they are behaving now seems like they have something up their sleeve.
A fund- raising committee was formed to help raise funds for the team, if the Sports Council cannot meet their demands, please let the fund- raising committee check their accounts at the bank and pay for the kits as the new deadline is fast approaching. The fine for not keeping our date at the tournament will be almost the same cost we are now paying for the kits. So, the earlier the money is paid the better it would be for all of us in Sierra Leone. Somebody should wake up and stop playing with our soccer destiny. Afterall, this nation is bigger than anybody’s ego.
|
President Kabbah Says Taylor Already Jailed Once in Freetown
(allafrica)
Freetown
Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is wanted for war crimes in Sierra Leone, spent time in a local jail during the 1980's when he was planning the rebellion that eventually brought him to power, Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has said.
Testifying before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) set up to investigate atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war, Tejan Kabbah said on Tuesday that Taylor came to Freetown to seek the government's support in overthrowing the then Liberian president Samuel Doe.
He said the government of former president Joseph Momoh "first received him and encouraged him to do so," but then changed its mind.
Tejan Kabbah said Momoh's government "had a change of heart and had Charles Taylor arrested, incarcerated at the Pademba Road prison for a while and then expelled from the country."
Taylor, who launched a rebellion against Doe in 1989 and eventually came to power in Liberia in 1997, has been indicted by a UN-backed Special Court in Freetown for supporting rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone in exchange for smuggled diamonds. The RUF killed and maimed tens of thousands of civilians and became notorious for its brutality.
The court prosecutor issued an international arrest warrant for Taylor's arrest on 4 June. The Liberian leader has been trying to get the indictment lifted before stepping down and going into exile in Nigeria.
In his testimony, Tejan Kabbah sought to distance himself from atrocities committed the Civil Defence Force (CDF), a militia set up to help defend his government from attacks by the RUF, after he was first elected president in 1996.
Sam Hinga Norman, the former head of the CDF, who was Tejan Kabbah's interior minister until his arrest by the Special Court in March this year, and a couple of other CDF leaders, have also been indicted for war crimes similar to those committed by the RUF.
Tejan Kabbah told the TRC "As President I did not and could not have interfered in the operations or the internal organisations of the CDF as I was not a member of the society to which all the members of the CDF had to belong and which created a bond among them."
He added: "My role was confined to ensuring that the government provided the required funds and logistics and to insisting that the membership of the CDF was contented, motivated enough to perform their security roles."
I Was Never a Kamajor, Says Kabbah
(allafrica)
Osman Benk Sankoh and Jemilatu Nababa
Freetown
When Internal Affairs minister and coordinator of the Kamajors, chief Sam Hinga Norman was indicted by the Special Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, there were mixed reactions within the ruling SLPP and other quarters.
Those who saw Norman as hero of the Sierra Leonean people opined that there was no way he could have been asked to account for the deeds of the Kamajors without dragging along president Kabbah who made him his deputy defence minister and also gave his blessings to the activities of the militia group.
While Norman is being incarcerated at the Special Court's Bonthe detention site, Kabbah Monday used the opportunity given to him by the Truth Commission to send a signal to the Special Court and his detractors extricating himself from whatever ills Norman and his Kamajors might have committed.
Kabbah denied being a Kamajor. " As president, I did not and could not have interfered in the operations or the internal organisation of the CDF as I was not a member of the society to which all members of the CDF had to belong and which created a bond among them," he defended himself.
The president however said his role was confined to ensuring that government provided them with the required funds and logistics and, " to insisting that the membership of the CDF was contented, motivated enough to perform their security roles." Kabbah did not however say whether he puts in place mechanisms to see that these kamajors who were being taken care of from government coffers did not became over adventurous.
|
|
|
|
