Posted by Mankanaki on January 10, 2009 at 10:45:55:
Culled from New People newspaper
— It is exactly Ten years today when the RUF Rebels and Kamajor Militia entered Freetown with vengeance. That day ought not to be forgotten because it brought genocide to our peaceful people and destroyed not only our city, but the economic and social fabric of our nation.
Many innocent souls were destroyed by the RUF REBELS, the Kamajors aka Civil Defense Force, and the Nigerian led EGOMOG who were relied upon by the SLPP government to protect the innocent citizens.
Rape of women old and young, arson on private homes and government infrastructures like the City Hall and the City Hotel to name a few, vehicles and schools etc were the order of that moment. Human indignities by one set of crude humans to other humans pervades every nook and corner of peaceful Freetown.All these inhuman behavior came to pass due to the perverse SLPP government's intolerance and negative attitude for reality.
What was inflicted on the people and their properties that day and the subsequent days that followed could not be cataloged in any book. It changed the whole dynamics of humanism in our people. Sierra Leoneans who were known for their docility and kindheartedness became hewers of their brethren's limbs.
The government which was supposed to protect the people was non-existent and could be seen proscribing from neighboring Guinea with instructions to ECOMOG to kill everybody in Freetown if that is what it takes to restore them back to power. The absence of a government created untold misery into the lives of our people and the country. Hence its reversal to a period of 30 years backwardness. Things fell apart because there was no center piece to hold it.
These were the results of a parody of blunders by the Kabbah Presidency. His unethical dismissal of the entire loyal, though unequipped military was the first major blunder committed by President Kabbah. The Transformation of the Kamajor Militia, a rag tag bunch of Mende Tribal heinous killers ( a Hinga Norman sponsored militia ) into a bogus Civil Defense Force after the extinction of the National Army was an other problematic blunder made by the Kabbah power brokers.
These blunders gave cause for the dismissed soldiers to form the West Side Boys that increased banditry in the city and its metropolis. Now all those evil eventful years seemed to have been shoved under the bed and all we could hear from those perpetrators and harbingers of those evil events are false praises for their lackadaisical and laconic administrative ineptness.
While the whole world knew that their Government was a complete wasteful eleven years and billions of dollars in cash and substance that was meant to rebuild the country and its economy, the shameless SLPP stakeholders could be seen vehemently opposing the APC government for doing those things they were incapable of doing during their tenure in office. There was a complete leadership vacuum in their administration. The President was politically impotent and lacked the political will to effect any change or progress in the country.
His vice President, Solomon Berewa was so power thirsty that he immunized himself with false pretences and arrogance and believed he was infallible. He could not care less about the social well being of the people, all he wanted was to be president. This was the reason he was using Kanja Sesay and the NacSa funds to enrich himself and finance his campaign. Kanja Sesay could be seen in the United States several times to purchase campaign memorabilia in Maryland and New York at the behest of his Master. He was like the walking stick of Solomon Berewa. Wherever Solo B went, you are sure to see Kanja Sesay at the expense of our nation. All they could boast of were shallow water wells and ill constructed court barrays in the chiefdom headquarters and major towns. They could not think of any vital infrastructure to refurbish, say CITY HALL except acquiring illegal government lands and built Mansions for themselves and their families with donor oriented government money. Instead of procuring new machinery for the electricity, they gave unbidden contracts to their Lebanese cronies and political thugs to deal in what was popularly called Kabbah Tiger generators that were not only noisy, but polluted an already filthy and squalid environment.
As we are witnessing the astute and dedicated leadership of our Leader and President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, it goes without saying that progresses are being made in deliberate haste , though his detractors are in acute denial of those facts. There are even arm chair self-proclaimed freelance consultants who could be seen exhibiting overbearing irrational expectations of a President that inherited a bankrupt and depleted government a little over a year ago.The fact that Sierra Leone was in an abyss could not be overemphasized.Yet the pundits with their irrational exuberance expects the President to conjure with a magic wand in order to transform Sierra Leone into a fairy land with milk and honey in abundance. A land where there shall be no more deaths, no more hunger, no more poverty, and no more anything that instills sufferings to any Sierra Leonean.
One thing I am very happy about is that our Leader and President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma , unlike his predecessor, stands for something. That is: truth, honesty, love for the country and his people, dedication to the course of Justice , transparency and accountability, and the emancipation of his people from a chronic culture of corruption. President Kabbah did not stand for anything, that was the reason for his abysmal failure. Remember, a man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Therefore, as we reflect on the evil events that wrecked our nation and subjected it into the infamous status of Least Developed country on the surface of the earth, let me leave you , dear readers, with the thoughts of a wise Arab saying: "Ignore not what you feel in your heart for it sees things your eyes cannot see, and knows what your mind finds difficult to understand". Mohamed Aziz Nabe.