Dr. Gboku,
Sierra Leone belongs to all of us and as such, we all have a vested interest in its future or the lack thereof. We should not keep silence simply to avoid confrontations with others. Debates, confrontations, whatever we call them are not necessarilly bad.
Babies are born as a result of confrontations with their natural environment. Without such a confrontation, they will stay in the womb and eventually be expeeled as unwanted invaders of the mother's body. This sounds too morbid, but it is as simple as I can put it. Storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc are all confrontations that ultimately result in the greater good of nature and hopefully the greater agenda of the Master of nature itself.
In my opinion, Sierra Leone has deteriorated to its present stage principally because most Sierra Leoneans are too timid to confront each other. It is not an SLPP/APC/PMDC thing. It is a Sierra Leone thing. No matter which Sierra Leonean organizations you and I belong to, we are never as effective as we should be because nobody wants to be unpopular.
It was the venerable father of demcracy, Thomas Jefferson, who observed in 1787 that "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing". We should engage each other constantly in order to learn, to teach, to grow. People like Martin Luther, Martin King, Malcolm X, Mandella, Ghandi and in our case Charles Margai, Hinga Norman who choose to dance to a different drummer often pay a price for their "little rebellions" but in the end, we as a people gain from their lives. Imagine where christainity will be today without Luther's "little rebellion" at the Congress of Worms. Or the United States without King's Montgomery Bus Boycut. Or the world without the Boston Tea Party.
This is not to castigate you personally or to sermonize your comments to Dr. Gbakima. It is just my general observation that we should as a people be more "confrontational" without being disrespectful if Sierra Leone is ever going to climb out of the bottom of the food chain. We owe it to poterity to argue, debate, disagree and challenge each other constantly for a better home land. Sierra Leone is not Kabbah's or Berwa's or Charles Margai's or Bai Koroma's. It is ours. It is for all of us to: "Thy cause to defend aand to stand for thy right". If any or all of these people had the sole proprietorship to the truth about our country, we will not be at the bottom of the cesspool. They were all alive when the leone went from 80 cents to the dollar to 3,000 to one. Wrong?
A. SamForay.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gboku Matthew,Dr <Gboku@mopipi.ub.bw>
To: leonenet@lists.umbc.edu; Aiah Gbakima <aiah_gbakima2000@yahoo.com>; gibrilkoroma@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 4:55 am
Subject: RE: [Leonenet] Nyuma in Freetown
Thank you Professor Gbakima for this email. I have always read all the emails on the leonenet but I reserve any comments because of the way messages are written. Some of the writers express overt bias in their presentations that replying to such may mean asking for confrontation with the individuals rather than engaging in any constructive debate that will take the nation to higher levels.
Prof since you are on the ground and your message seems to be neutral, could you tell us what the facts are concerning the Ernest Koroma – Nyuma incident?
Thanks.
Matthew Gboku
Now that the fact is out, please let us leave the candidates to do their campagning. I was very worried both for the life of Mr. Ernest Koroma and Mr. Tom Nyuma, but I refused to come to premature conclusions untill the fact is out. We on leonenet should really be patient when we hear all these false accusations, and it does not matter who may be involved. This is our country and we must stop the spreading false and negative news.
What is sickening that some people are now selling the photo of Mr. Ernest Koroma in Freetown about the false allegations. The Kailahun incidenrt was another false and negative news about our country. No one was shot and Mr. Margai's life was not in danger. If anything, the police ecorted him team out of town. So, some thing is working for a peaceful elections. Please. please let us leave it at that. We are all brothers and sister of Sierra Leonean citizenship, no matter our polirtical differences.
Tom Nyuma is back in Freetown
By Jonathan Leigh, Freetown.
Tom Nyuma was been brought down to Freetown last evening and hospitalized following the incident in Bo in the early hours of Sunday morning in which he and two others were severely beaten on an allegation of attempting to assassinate APC Leader, Ernest Bai Koroma.
It was Finance Minister, John Benjamin who arranged for him to be brought to Freetown and also intervened for him to be treated in Bo when he visited the police station where he was briefly detained. The police were insisting that they obtain statement from him before allowing him to seek medical attention.
There are conflicting reports as to what exactly happened. An early report says Koroma arrived at the Countryside Hotel around 4am from Matru Jong. He was tired and immediately checked into Room 4 of the hotel which was reserved for him.
Soon afterwards, some of Nyuma’s bodyguards were seen around Koroma’s room and his security suspected that they were on a clandestine mission. The suspected bodyguards of Ernest Koroma departed for their respective rooms. Few minutes later, it is alleged, Tom Nyuma surfaced and then went straight to Koroma’s room and while he was attempting to turn the lock turning he was caught red-handed with a pistol.
According to Police Local Unit Commander in Bo, Chief Superintendent Foday Umaru Karefa Dabo, they(the police) have been able to establish that Nyuma checked into the hotel shortly after midnight, three hours before Ernest Koroma’s arrival and it was around 3 a.m that he(Dabo) got a phone call from the Inspector-General of Police from Freetown for him to proceed to the hotel following a complaint made by Ernest Koroma to Acha Kamara about the incident.
The police say they were told upon investigation that two bobyguards of Nyuma were returning to the hotel after spending the night out. They subsequently encountered the bodyguards of Ernest Koroma, one of them being Idrissa Kamara alias Leatherboot.
Both groups of bodyguards are ex-combatants and knowing one another, the Nyuma group quickly explained to them that Nyuma was at the hotle after being queried by the Koroma group as to their mission in the area.
Also staying in Room 22 of the hotel was John Benjamin who was returning to Freetown from Kailahun with some of his security personnel. Infact, he had to be smuggled out of the hotel through a back door and went straight to the police station to see Nyuma who was reportedly bleeding profusely.
Benjamin arrived in Freetown this afternoon as he had planned to travel with Nyuma early in morning to Freetown, according to an arrangement between the two when they met in Daru.
The two bodyguards to Nyuma were grabbed and severely beaten by bodyguards of Ernest Koroma . They also rushed to the room were Nyuma was sleeping with his girlfriend, broke down the door and took him out and he too was severely beaten.
Nyuma, according to reports, was passing through Bo from Daru where he had gone to see his relatives for the first time since he was deported back from the USA three weeks ago.
His girlfriend whose name was given as Lynette was also abducted but was later released.
Dr Kaitel, who was treating Nyuma confirmed he was hospitalized at Dr. Yillah’s hospital and his condition was said to be serious. He said Nyuma had series of stab wounds on his body.
Chief Superintendent Dabo also said they were trying to get Ernest Koroma’s bodyguards who are said to be involved in the incident for questioning but were unable to lay hands on any of them. He said he told Ernest Koroma to ensure they were turned over to the police for investigation.
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