Posted by HP on January 10, 2009 at 14:51:35:
What follows will indeed seem very strange behaviour on the part of a "Reverend," someone who claims to be a "man of God." But it is nonetheless true.
During the early holiday season (late November), discussion on Cocorioko forum turned to the dire sufferings of people in Salone and thoughts about what Christmas would be like for them this year. In response to a post by someone who styled himself "We Are the World" (aka King Loggy), a few regular participants of varying political outlooks began discussing a project to raise funds among Diasporans on the forum to send back home to alleviate, if only in a small way. Initial guidelines for the project were laid down: 1) It was to be wholly devoid of political advantage for any party; the charge was to extend a gesture of love and concern from Diaspora to motherland without any political benefits accruing to parrtipants. 2) To make it a truly trans-regional, thus national, gesture, it was decided to direct aid to different parts of the country, mainly the provinces, north and southeast, but also something in Freetown. Many recipients and forms of aid were suggested, including education, clothing, maternal and infant health care, et. al.
In the early discussion phases of the project the issue of trust and integrity naturally arose in light of the fact that most on the forum hid their identities. Several people proposed that the Rev. Kabs would be the most fitting choice, as proprietor of the forum, to spearhead the collective effort and entrust with monies given. Repeated appeals were made to the Reverend, who failed to even respond to the numerous postings over the first couple of weeks.
Eventually, Kabs posted a hasty response that explained how busy he was with the new Diaspora Initiative, and how he had not been reading his forum lately. He promised that he would look over the posts and give an answer in three days time; this was in mid-December. The answer never came in the three days, it took about three weeks.
The idea of the project disappeared from the forum for a couple of weeks, after several forumites with experience in such matters had taken the time to make many good suggestions and volunteer their services. One forumite, Mr. Mohamed Kutubu Koroma, then raised the issue again and implored the proprietor to please make good on his promise and address the issue of the project.
Finally, after New Years Day, Kabs responded,"No, I can't do it." He gave a flimsy excuse (that no one believed, please, we are not freakin idiots!)that he had to protect himself from enemies, that he had once been responsible for some $700 in charity funds collected that mysteriously disappeared from his bank account about a decade ago. He explained that he replaced the missing money by emptying his own savings account to avoid any accusations that he had tiffed the money. How some unnamed source was able to clean out this account without a signed check, ID, or account number is beyond me, but that is what he told us.
Anyway, after this refusal to get involved, other forumites stepped forward, or were proposed as persons of integrity, to get the project off the ground. It was established as a legitimate charity with federal ID #, bank account, and P.O Box. A name for the organization was recommended, Concerned Diasporans for Development (CDFD) by Zakmal, one of those who agreed to take responsibility for the effort, and all preparations were in place to begin sending money this past Thursday, January 6 2009, when an announcement to that effect was posted on the forum.
A curious shift had began on the forum as the arrangements for CDFD were being finalized this past week. A rabid and offensive tribalist, who has been a constant nuisance and source of inappropriate postings, began bombarding the forum with an arbitrary array of urls to youtube videos; posting one every few minutes it seemed. The clutter was such that normal postings lessened as a result of having to wade through the trash to locate legitimate discussion threads and information on the CDFD project.
The very next day, to put it bluntly, all hell broke loose on the forum. A few fed up forum regulars decided to take matters into their own hands and go after this obstructionist, who fraudulently calls himself a doctor.
Some semblance of normal discussion of issues seemed to be returning, very focused on recent news and official corruption, then strangely enough, Kabs was on the forum monitoring all day, despite his busy schedule and the fact that school has resumed. The topic everyone kept discussing, and wanted addressed honestly, was Kab's defense of Alex Mansaray, and allegations that he had illegally netted a rice contract as a result of corrupt connections. Kabs had vowed to look into the matter as an "unbiased" journalist and give AM's side of the story. He was warned several times, even by APC supporters, to stay away from the topic because no one with half a brain could believe him capable of carrying out any investigation fairly and objectively. And that is when the deletions and banning began in earnest.
Unable to defend against his detractors with a reasoned argument and facts, and unable to keep his finger on the "delete" button long enough to keep new critical posts from appearing for others to read, the Reverend went off on an irrational anti-Mende diatribe, pasting old racist literature from the colonial era, and taunting the SLPP participants on his forum with questions like "how they liked a dose of their own medicine."
People were shocked and apologies were called for. It was pointed out that such was hardly a taste of "SLPP medicine" since no one who ever claimed to affiliate or support that party ever used tribalism or insulted any group in Sierra Leone as a political strategy, it was only APC participants who resorted to such base tactics. It is a very different thing to question the moral integrity or actions of a public official than to cast dispersions on an entire group of innocent people. Lord knows, it has been hurled at Bush and his lackeys for eight long years in the US. But no retractions were made or apologies issued to the Mende people after numerous calls to do so. Sometime late last night, Kabs shut down his forum, like a sore losing boy who gathers his marbles up and takes them home so no one else can play.
What does this all have to do with the CDFD project? I believe there is indeed a connection, though only apparent to someone who has kept up with the forum daily over the past couple of weeks. First, there is the issue of Kabs totally ignoring the project, even after his refusal to play a role. Kab's refusal to take the lead role in the CDFD project was understandable, whether or not his excuse for not doing so was true. Such an undertaking involves enormous responsibilities and time, and it was subsequently decided that several people would be best entrusted rather than one.
With that said, wouldn't one expect that the proprietor of the forum, on which this noble effort was conceptualized and being launched, would at least offer his moral support, suggestions and advice, and participate in the daily discussions to get it off the ground? Some encouragement, I think, ought to have been forthcoming from a "man of God." But Kabs never addressed the issue again, or gave even the slightest morsel of encouragement, after his one posting exempting himself from the lead. When discussions were at a height last Sunday night, the most Kabs could do was post a few youtube links to songs of a romantic nature, odd considering that the bombardment began in earnest the very next day by the forum pest.
Here is how I see it: the bombardment of the forum with postings over several days by the resident lunatic, combined with his provocative insults aimed at a couple of people involved (known SLPP supporters) in the project, then the uninterrupted presence all day yesterday of busy Kabs, too busy to acknowledge the aid project, culminating in his Mende-bashing and closure of the forum until further notice, suggest that all of it was part of a grand strategy to undermine this goodwill bi-partisan effort underway on his forum. The effort is all but dead without the forum as a means of communication and update. And it will only be up and running when "busy Kabs" is there to 'monitor' (censor) discussion. Who will bother to post there anymore when it fits Kab's schedule to 'open shop'?
I posted several messages accusing him of all this yesterday, but they disappeared in a "New York minute."
One might wonder, why would Reverend Kabs want to undermine this wonderful project? It seems to me that bi-partisan cooperation among Diasporans, in a way that totally foreclosed the possibility of political gain for any individual or party, was simply at odds with the mission and aim of Cocorioko forum. Its whole reason for existence is of course to serve as a propaganda outlet for the APC.
So why let something bi-partisan and positive like the CDFD project proceed when it does nothing to further this mission? Such a project in may ways can set an example of the sort of national unity and cooperation possible and needed to move the country forward. But Kabs and his APC masters (thugs) are not interested in the welfare of the country as a whole. Their only concern is selfish, narrow APC interests, to stay in power at all costs, through lies, corruption, theft, betrayal of the public trust and task force brutality. And Kabs, through his paper and forum, is their main tool and apologist.
You may or may not believe this, but I ask those who remain skeptical: How else can such strange behaviour by a self-professed "man of God" be explained?
HP
PS: If anyone is interested in the project contact Mohamed Kutubu Koroma at 202-725-0809.
Donations can be sent in his name (personal check or money order, no cash) to: 15114 Kalmia Drive, Laurel, Maryland 20707