By Tommy Somah
My Beloved.
You guard the noble green, white and blue hue.
Corruption and hooliganism are stains that cut through
your honour, marred to the core.
Are you now an emblem of disgrace that leaves us in awe?
My Beloved.
You once dispensed law and order,
neighbours, dazed and amazed, crossed borders,
gleaned how you defend human rights.
You’ve slandered yourself in darkened daylight.
My Beloved.
With outstretched hands, you trade
Justice for putrid accolade.
You stand in grand halls, draped in robes, secure in your wigs,
a camouflage of woeful and shameful deeds.
My Beloved.
Justice’s scales, once balanced and fair,
heavily tip with corruption’s weight and snare.
Pungent deals whisper in shadowy rooms,
where rigged elections reign, and fairness doomed.
My Beloved.
You massacre Justice, its plea unheard,
drowned by brutal echoes of party cards.
Your name archived in shameful realms
that swim in endless and corrupt streams.
My Beloved.
Kush gangster is what you have become.
Or a deranged puppet of greed.
We cry out for Justice, honour and peace,
and the day your deceitful acts will cease.
There are indeed many things we can read in the inscriptions of the AGM of the Sierra Leone Bar Association. These things debunk the cacophony of lies the APC and SLPP Vampires incessantly peddle: Their fight against corruption.
It’s abundantly clear that corruption is ingrained in the country’s DNA. The culprits are mostly those in the higher rung of the state. It’s the truth. The AGM meeting attendees were high-ranking officers, such as Ben Kefala.
Accusations of corruption engulfed the meeting. What happened was not a novel incident. It reflects long-standing incidents of election rigging that mock any mention of democracy in the country from when the plague (APC and SLPP) began to the present day.
It is staggering to witness the Sierra Leone Bar Association, once a paragon of decorum and integrity, now resembling a gang. The deluge of social media posts on this issue speaks volumes.
The APC and SLPP took their battalions to the Bar’s AGM, ready for battle. The saga lent a toxic face to a noble institution that should serve as a beacon of camaraderie in any society. What happened at the AGM mirrors the country’s dismal condition.
Unfortunately, denials about the country’s deplorable condition continue unabated. Some denials are so loud they’re worth mentioning.
The Critical Mind on the Sankara Radio commendably analysed the Tollgate saga.
The Critical Mind told us the Bio administration couldn’t fulfil their promise to review or cancel the Tollgate contract.
The Critical Mind said to have done so would tarnish the country’s record and deter prospective investors. I’m afraid I must disagree.
The current SLPP government cancelled the $400m Mamamah Airport Chinese-funded project.
Wu Peng, the then-Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, told the BBC, ” I don’t think the airport project should affect our future bilateral relations.”
Indeed, it hasn’t. The relationship between Sierra Leone and China remains cordial.
SLPP said President Bio saw no need for the Mamamah airport and was “considering a bridge from the capital to Lungi airport.”
The cancellation of the Mamamah airport did not deter the Turkish company from signing the contract for the current new airport.
It’s logical to assume that if the SLPP government had cancelled or reviewed the Tollgate contract, prospective investors would have been alerted that one must have clean hands to do business in Sierra Leone.
Also, the SLPP allegedly cancelled or suspended some mining projects, including the Tonkolili and Marampa iron ore mines. I guess the Critical Mind is unaware of these.
One can suggest that Tollgate was APC’s cash cow. The SLPP should have, as they promised, cancelled or reviewed the Tollgate deal in the national interest. They did not. As it stands, the agreement is inimical to the nation’s genuine interest.
The government discovered that the Tollgate has juicy bits that are too sweet to cancel. Critical Mind, can we agree on this?
Good day Mr Abubakar Kamara.
Mr Abubakar Kamara (APC) asked: “Are politicians from the diaspora more liabilities to Sierra Leone or Blessings?”
Mr Abubakar wants diaspora politicians to use their “fat salaries” to cure Sierra Leone’s problems, a problem Jesus Christ himself cannot solve.
Mr Kamara, diaspora people cannot and should not heal Sierra Leone’s sickness.
Do you know your EBK is allegedly one of the richest in Africa?
Are you aware of the unexplained wealth of past and present government ministers whose ostentatious mansions obscure those of the ministers in the diaspora?
Are you aware that some of the ruling elites, by looting the country’s resources, allegedly have underworld foreign bank accounts, leaving the nation poverty-stricken?
Do you know that billions of dollars illegally disappear from government coffers without investigation?
Do you know the diaspora remits approximately 280 million dollars into the country annually?
While those in the diaspora remit into the country, some of its elites loot it into foreign banks.
If we’re serious about healing the country’s sickness, we should confront it honestly and holistically. We must stop patronising the culprits.
Putin couldn’t have summed it up better when he said the African soil could feed Europe, America and Asia, but their problem is just one: THEIR LEADERS.
If Putin had seen the fact, why are we still in denial and outwardly blaming everyone instead of the Vampires?
Sierra Leone’s nemesis is itself.
Finally, Sierra Leone spoke clearly by voting against Ernest Bai Koroma’s corrupt APC government. Yet, we focus more on the past than confronting the chaotic present.
The focus should now be on the current regime. Criticising the current government’s malpractices is not the same as opposing the government.
We must take our cue from Singapore. We must stop blaming and begging others. The medical treatment to heal Sierra Leone is in Sierra Leone.
ODE TO MY BELOVED BAR ASSOCIATION
By Tommy Somah
My Beloved.
You guard the noble green, white and blue hue.
Corruption and hooliganism are stains that cut through
your honour, marred to the core.
Are you now an emblem of disgrace that leaves us in awe?
My Beloved.
You once dispensed law and order,
neighbours, dazed and amazed, crossed borders,
gleaned how you defend human rights.
You’ve slandered yourself in darkened daylight.
My Beloved.
With outstretched hands, you trade
Justice for putrid accolade.
You stand in grand halls, draped in robes, secure in your wigs,
a camouflage of woeful and shameful deeds.
My Beloved.
Justice’s scales, once balanced and fair,
heavily tip with corruption’s weight and snare.
Pungent deals whisper in shadowy rooms,
where rigged elections reign, and fairness doomed.
My Beloved.
You massacre Justice, its plea unheard,
drowned by brutal echoes of party cards.
Your name archived in shameful realms
that swim in endless and corrupt streams.
My Beloved.
Kush gangster is what you have become.
Or a deranged puppet of greed.
We cry out for Justice, honour and peace,
and the day your deceitful acts will cease.
There are indeed many things we can read in the inscriptions of the AGM of the Sierra Leone Bar Association. These things debunk the cacophony of lies the APC and SLPP Vampires incessantly peddle: Their fight against corruption.
It’s abundantly clear that corruption is ingrained in the country’s DNA. The culprits are mostly those in the higher rung of the state. It’s the truth. The AGM meeting attendees were high-ranking officers, such as Ben Kefala.
Accusations of corruption engulfed the meeting. What happened was not a novel incident. It reflects long-standing incidents of election rigging that mock any mention of democracy in the country from when the plague (APC and SLPP) began to the present day.
It is staggering to witness the Sierra Leone Bar Association, once a paragon of decorum and integrity, now resembling a gang. The deluge of social media posts on this issue speaks volumes.
The APC and SLPP took their battalions to the Bar’s AGM, ready for battle. The saga lent a toxic face to a noble institution that should serve as a beacon of camaraderie in any society. What happened at the AGM mirrors the country’s dismal condition.
Unfortunately, denials about the country’s deplorable condition continue unabated. Some denials are so loud they’re worth mentioning.
The Critical Mind on the Sankara Radio commendably analysed the Tollgate saga.
The Critical Mind told us the Bio administration couldn’t fulfil their promise to review or cancel the Tollgate contract.
The Critical Mind said to have done so would tarnish the country’s record and deter prospective investors. I’m afraid I must disagree.
The current SLPP government cancelled the $400m Mamamah Airport Chinese-funded project.
Wu Peng, the then-Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, told the BBC, ” I don’t think the airport project should affect our future bilateral relations.”
Indeed, it hasn’t. The relationship between Sierra Leone and China remains cordial.
SLPP said President Bio saw no need for the Mamamah airport and was “considering a bridge from the capital to Lungi airport.”
The cancellation of the Mamamah airport did not deter the Turkish company from signing the contract for the current new airport.
It’s logical to assume that if the SLPP government had cancelled or reviewed the Tollgate contract, prospective investors would have been alerted that one must have clean hands to do business in Sierra Leone.
Also, the SLPP allegedly cancelled or suspended some mining projects, including the Tonkolili and Marampa iron ore mines. I guess the Critical Mind is unaware of these.
One can suggest that Tollgate was APC’s cash cow. The SLPP should have, as they promised, cancelled or reviewed the Tollgate deal in the national interest. They did not. As it stands, the agreement is inimical to the nation’s genuine interest.
The government discovered that the Tollgate has juicy bits that are too sweet to cancel. Critical Mind, can we agree on this?
Good day Mr Abubakar Kamara.
Mr Abubakar Kamara (APC) asked: “Are politicians from the diaspora more liabilities to Sierra Leone or Blessings?”
Mr Abubakar wants diaspora politicians to use their “fat salaries” to cure Sierra Leone’s problems, a problem Jesus Christ himself cannot solve.
Mr Kamara, diaspora people cannot and should not heal Sierra Leone’s sickness.
Do you know your EBK is allegedly one of the richest in Africa?
Are you aware of the unexplained wealth of past and present government ministers whose ostentatious mansions obscure those of the ministers in the diaspora?
Are you aware that some of the ruling elites, by looting the country’s resources, allegedly have underworld foreign bank accounts, leaving the nation poverty-stricken?
Do you know that billions of dollars illegally disappear from government coffers without investigation?
Do you know the diaspora remits approximately 280 million dollars into the country annually?
While those in the diaspora remit into the country, some of its elites loot it into foreign banks.
If we’re serious about healing the country’s sickness, we should confront it honestly and holistically. We must stop patronising the culprits.
Putin couldn’t have summed it up better when he said the African soil could feed Europe, America and Asia, but their problem is just one: THEIR LEADERS.
If Putin had seen the fact, why are we still in denial and outwardly blaming everyone instead of the Vampires?
Sierra Leone’s nemesis is itself.
Finally, Sierra Leone spoke clearly by voting against Ernest Bai Koroma’s corrupt APC government. Yet, we focus more on the past than confronting the chaotic present.
The focus should now be on the current regime. Criticising the current government’s malpractices is not the same as opposing the government.
We must take our cue from Singapore. We must stop blaming and begging others. The medical treatment to heal Sierra Leone is in Sierra Leone.
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